Eagle-eyed Forum members would have spotted recently that my avatar has changed from an orange to a blue buggy
After some careful consideration, it was decided to make HW2 a BLUE buggy, the main reason being that there is a brand new blue Lolette shell available at Volkspares, and it has my name on it!
HW1 was originally metallic blue when I got it, and during the repaint, it was discovered that the original gel coat was a lighter shade of blue, so the choice in colour is not that far off. I restored HW1 to match this battery-operated model Manx I had for some years, and I am sure I got pretty close to it.
But there will always be only one HW1, and to be honest I think I have tried a bit too hard to make HW2 a clone of it, and that will never be possible. One of the prominent features of HW1 was the fibreglass canopy, which was the same as the model Manx, whereas HW2 will have an easily-removable vinyl soft top. Then there was the Karmann Ghia passenger grab handle, the 411 sedan rear chrome number plate cover, the VDO foot-operated window washer, to mention a few parts I will most probably never get again. Volkspares have also popped several orange Lolette shells out of their moulds the past few months, and although it is still one of my favourite colours for a buggy, I want HW2 to be a little bit different from the others. This water cooled orange buggy was at Modderfontein on Sunday:
I have the plain and simple 'classic 60's-look' in mind, almost like this pic below - but without the enormous Beetle steering wheel
(the new shell is almost the same shade of blue):
So expect a few updates WAY different from the initial ideas in this thread, as the HW2 build goes on. This weekend I marked out a draft idea for the positioning of the gauges in the dash, but then decided afterwards that I will stick to only 3 gauges - speedo, tach and fuel gauge. (After all, I don't want the dash to look like the cockpit of a stealth bomber).
I have however injured my left knee at Modderfontein on Sunday (jumped over a closed gate), and can only see the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday. Hope they won't need to operate on it. I am currently on crutches, and driving is extremely difficult and painful. But if all goes well, the new HW2 bodyshell and roll cage will be home towards the end of this week, and some long overdue progress can be made on the project
