Ok not a splitty but next best thing in the family.

Once a seedling blossoms what next when your kids reach that age. For me like my 18 year old daughter Hollie just has it was time for her first car, hols was instantly a stock classic beetle dad.
Ok not a splitty but this is the bank of mum & dad at the end of this so Air-cooled , flat-four’d with all the love you get from an old VW will suffice & all she’d need, so that’s my girls says this proud dad. So March 2014 purchased one & for this last year having been restoring the beetle doing everything in true home resto fashion in the cave on my own...... working evenings, weekends amongst cruising in the bus, camping out with mates, surfing & normal life.
We spent ages last year as you do hunting & looking at many for something reasonable & solid. Looked at a lot of rotters & was able to walk away looking with our head & not heart. This took some time to find what we wanted but eventually found a 72 std 1300, solid in the right places with good pans, heater channels, A,B posts. Needed some work on the doors, with some rust bubbles here & there with the paint looking very flat but for the age & price had allot of potential compared to others we had seen. Would of loved to get older but had to be realistic as old is exspensive & this would be Hollie’s daily so decided budget was more important. The engine had zero end float purred like a kitten & didn’t smoke so on to a winner there. Inside very tatty & like a chicken coop but the vision was there to tidy up leave with aged look as a first car that would inevitably get a bang or two. No chance i want it shinny dad “ GULP “ so a full resto was now on the cards, oh well all good practice for the bus so money exchanged & cruised home in now who is known as Peggy. That 15 mile drive gave me all i needed & loved every minute of it, totally hooked.
Spent a few weekends stripping & cleaning out to see what we truly had & what we had actually let ourselves in for. Lists were made of what we needed, made space & plunged in at the deep end.











Luckily with the wings off peggy just fitted in the garage, bit of a squeeze & pain but still needed access to all my tools for building so just needed forward planning. My bus could just still park up behind & squeeze in so a result as many bits would be bare metal for a time so all dry. Just required the bus reversing out & plenty of room to work away.




Jobs that needed doing seat refurb & new headliner, outer lower skin of both doors & inner frame. Skuttle rails on bonnet & front wheel well making good as that was a poor repair, the washer bottle area had also rotted through. Once the wings were off both rear bumper mount sections revealed themselves as these had rotted away hidden by bumper irons & some other little areas that needed new metal to cut out the rusty spots. But all in all a soild project & worth the waiting & hunting.









So first job bare metal chassis inside & out making good then re treat, red oxide & seam seal. later on outside areas were all stone chipped & left black. The body had been off before to put the new pans & heater channels in so no need for body off this time.






Doors was my first time doing any kind of skin work & working above areas you can’t see but gently gently got the repairs done, gaps checked & in etch prime. Hollie helped in taking doors back to bare metal, well the one & only day but saved me a job plus made her feel good .








Learnt loads on panel beating & dent removal, the wings bonnet & engine lids all had little dings so made plenty of noise. After that some metal repairs & with a light skim of filler, all these now back in primer, wet flatted & ready for top coat.

Main body took ages as skuttle rails got chopped out & replaced from a donor front end. In some ways could of been easier replacing whole panel but that was way above my ability at that stage. Luckily all the bad bits on peggy the donor front end was good so was a simple chop out weld in, amazingly got the complete front for £30 bargain.
For the skuttle rail made the cut behind the ali trim line to hide if it went wrong but went a peach.

Then it was prep time on main body so flatted back, all rust chopped out & replaced with new metal luckily not allot. Light skim of filler as required & 2 good coats of high build , In all areas learning as i went so got carried away going through primer first time but another coat then wet flatted & all set for top coat. Being the first time for any of this had never appreciated how much work & prep goes into this so often felt like i was getting know where fast but then felt like leaps and bounds when paint went on. Happy though as know the hard work is hopefully good for years to come again.

Took advantage of the shows on discounts & swap meets, picking up all the goodies plus original chrome bits as some bits that we had was damaged so all good shinny stuff to put back on. Eg headlight chrome rings, wing mirrors etc plus the vw badge as like normal some ass nicks it.




At this stage was now November 14 & eventually ready for top coat, still relatively warm although fired up the heater in the cave to speed things up so all masked up & ready for top coat . A massive learning curve as never sprayed anything this size, the high build primer side learnt technique & the gun. Top coat was advice from a pro over the phone & start on small bits, progressing from fuel flap & glove box lid to then doors finally progressing to bonnet & wings. The roof was my dread but a trestle down each side of car & took the plunge. Plenty of mistakes on all parts as i went, learning each time from them but nothing that couldn’t be flatted back. Second coat had to be right & all went to plan, although some areas got a small amount of orange peel this was a simple fix.
The advice worked well on a big compressor mine a 3hp 14cfm never struggled, gun lvlp 1.8mm & 1.3mm nozzles for primer & top coat respectively, working with 2 pack. My skills and garage not sterile enough for an out the gun finish on the big bits but a flat back, mop & polish gave a finish i was chuffed with & a great shine.

Next was rebuild time so over the xmas period had a good break from the fire brigade & my building business. So new underlay & carpets, Headliner was a 2 day battle. Heinsite a summer job & would do it different if to do again but first time solo headliner fit not to shabby.

















Door refit was a joy to head inside the house, all new seals were fitted, felts runners etc.







The difficult part was all the finshed items & not to damage so bits were all over the house so once refitting stared was such a moral boost as felt like massive steps were being made. Plus the nagging eased & the misses started to smile.


Engine had a refresh so all tin wear got a respray. New flywheel seals & good service setting gaps again. It would always stay stock as wanted something reliable & cheap on insurance. Once engine was done all fitted back in with new plugs leads coil etc all set to fire up again.











All heat exchangers connected & working, new heat pipes connected as this was to be hollies daily creature comforts would be needed.

Seats got a clean up & fresh paint although you do not see much metal, then new pads wadding & covers. This again was a battle but well worth it & now fitted with new cards is like a new car inside.

Homeward stretch now & doors on.




Rear wings on after a coat of stone chip, then lights & trims.








At this stage it was time for peggy to go outside as once the front wings got fitted there was not enough room for the bug and the bus. So wings lights etc & bingo almost done.







Wheels now came off & shot blasted the rims, gave them a fresh coat of paint & new boots .




With all bearings replaced, new pads & shoes. New master cylinder & running gear overhauled Peggy flew through Mot. Had several small electrical problems prior to mot but these were all contact related so once cleaned all working & easy fix.





In the test centre little old pegs drew a good crowd & i felt very humbled and chuffed as comments were overwhelming at the standard i had achieved in just a normal garage.


Well that was my resto, ive driven her 3 times, first on buying her, test drive to bed in & then drive to test centre and back. Keys now go to my very lucky little girl who is chuffed to bits. She took me for a drive which scared the crap out of me but i guess very different from what she learnt in so a little more practice & she’s loose. Probability it’s going to get a few knocks but hopefully nothing i can’t fix now.
Still the refurbed classic radio to fit & adjust rear spring plates as the front has been lowered which i had not realised but simple to do but all on hold as just had a hernia operation so banned from cave for 6 weeks now which is torture.
So now Hollies adventure in life begins.

To be continued.........

Great story and write up, thanks for sharing this, a pleasure to read.


EDIT:

Bug looks real nice, well done.

Sorry, I was that humbled by what you had done for your daughter I forgot to say about the excellent quality of work and how fantastic it looks.

I had best not show this thread to my daughter, she'll want one!!

Quality posts Bren, is exactly what I have in mind for my children, just got to find the right bugs.

And what a great resto, she looks a beaut, you must be well pleased with that, take it easy for a few weeks!

This will be me too in the not too distant future (eldest lad is 16 in a few months).

You've done a cracking job. I'm hoping my lad likes ratty bugs....



Nige

Hell Bren,

you've made a cracking job of that and what a cool first car for Hollie

Great thread, nice work. I too hope to do this one day. Still lots of time for me but before my son gets it I suppose I could test drive it for a decade or so.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hi Been

What sort of paint did you use? It looks a good finish.

Thanks for all your comments although im now not in the good books. Hollie used it for first drive to work this morning got 1/2 mile down the road & alternator light came on so she drove it back, huffed at me & Sandra drove her in. Will get 2 of those looks later oh dam it.

Steve paint was 2 pack ie paint & hardner for both high build primer & top coat keeping both the same as mixing with cellulose gets reactions. Was adviced 2 pack as its easier to work & repair when it goes wrong as a novice sprayer, It was great advice as you simply flatted back & resprayed which i did several times.

1/2 the car simply flatted back the paint for a good key then high builded & top coat. Bonnet was only bit that fought back and reacted. had option to use a blocker but always had a risk so best advice was bare metal & start again ( thanks MarkP )

suppose 1/3 of the car ended an out the gun finish the rest due to paint used bought it back with different polishing papers, mopping & more learning.
Hope that helps

Blimey, that looks lovely. My 16 yo has started to think about what car she's after. Been doing young driver lessons in a VW Up! Which is a neat thing.

I asked what she'd like as a first car; the answer was Mini, Beetle or Fiat 500. Sadly not the originals. All that time taking her round car shows has done nothing to get her looking at anything retro/classic. B*gger.

Well done mate, nice write up and the bug looks good

I've got about 17 years and 3 months before I have to worry about this, by which time I'll be too old anyway

Cheers, Lee.

Bren, your daughter is so lucky to have you, car is lovely.

My son Matthew did a couple of months of Young Drivers Scheme near us at Earls Colne, which was great as it is all roads around an airfield and industrial park with the chances of encountering real traffic and lots of junctions (not car park and cones! which a lot of venues are). He has set his heart on a '60 Beetle but is willing to wait a little while. In the meantime he is looking for something cheap to practice and for the first bit after passing his test. He was 17 on 20th Feb and has 2 lessons on the road under his belt. Unfortunately I can't get him added to the insurance on my car (as it is a sport edition!!).

Terry we decided keep thing consistent and not confuse hollie with different cars so she only drove instructors car till she had passed. Took her just on the year so luckily encounterd driving in all conditions so at least she's aware of them. We was worried on insurance costs but this came in at £520 fully comp in her name with myself and wife as named drivers.

Just had another drive with her today and she's now ready to go solo. Took a while to adjust to the beetle and learn to drive a classic car more than the ease of how a modern car drives.
She loves her wheels.