Aircooled VW South Africa

lol you guys. It's that moment of dawning comprehension that I live for

Right, so guess where I have just been... having not read this thread since this morning... Carrera motors...

Peter is really taking a shine to me

I was driving past and decided to pop in. They still have that random yellow replica in there with the flat six hanging out the back. I spent a while chatting to Peter about my car and his cars... all of them, through the ages...
I ended up walking out with a set of rear euro lights. I figured I might as well get the whole hog since my bezels are crap anyway. Wish I had known that you guys where scheming... oh well.

Still no number plate up-lighters in stock though... which I actually went in to get. I am a misguided shopper.

Dammit.. Sorry man, I thought your and gary were in regular contact.
Well you got a nice set of bits for your baby nonetheless.. Care the share what Carrera want for theirs? or the entire light cluster incl bezel?

I didn't get a price for the lenses by themselves, but the whole kit; lens, rubber bezel, two globes, globe tray and chrome surround was R1300 per side, which didn't seem too bad. Then I looked at the invoice and found it was ex VAT. by then it was too late... so call it R3k for both ... Not German, Made in Taiwan. They are very nice though. I am pleased.
I think I will pull a mould of the lenses as well, on the off chance something happens to them.

EDIT: Went past there yesterday and got a price for the teardrop lenses by themselves. R476.52 (ExVAT) each.

Thanks,
Well I'm going to as mine are melted stuffed up, so up to you.. Not doing it to make money at all.
cheers

Well my car finally arrived home on Friday. Well, not quite home, my folks place, which is close enough I guess.

We spend Saturday afternoon cleaning the car inside and out. The car was covered with some kind of black glue(like someone had taken a break from finger painting with black gel coat to work on my car) this came off with a bit of elbow grease and polish.
I removed the seats and door cards for cleaning. I first noticed that both door cards are torn on the corners from being moved our the workshop so I will have to re-cover those.
Once all the dust and over spray was cleaned off the seats I was overcome with the sickening realization that the seat vinyl is damaged beyond repair. The one seat looks like it has even has fiberglass resin spilled on it.... I don't really know what to say further. I am disgusted that someone can treat another persons property with such blatant disregard.

Anyway I am probably going to have to redo the seats at some point but I have decided I will make all new seats that are more accurate. I did my best with what I had at the time but I can do better this time round. Lemons, lemonade

I had a quick look at the fit for the bonnet handle and it fits perfectly with the curve of the new bonnet, once it is placed the correct distance from the front of the bonnet. While I was looking at the bonnet I noticed that the paint hasn't cured fully yet and if it hasn't cured now, I isn't likely to ever cure. The tell for this is the paint underneath where the bonnet was attached (bad English) has been pressed in, I suspect this is due to an incorrect amount of hardener in the paint. I didn't want to paint the car myself because I have painted cars before and the amount of work required is insane. Looking at the results from this job though I think I could have achieved the same results in a single afternoon... anyway, it will do for now, well, until it gets parked in the sun and the spiders appear...

I am gonna stop typing now cause I can't seem to write anything positive. Sorry guys, here are some pics.

OH that looks OH-SO-NICE!!

Thanks Pine

That looks STUNNING FBird. What are you going to do "roof wise"? Soft top or hard top? I need to get a roof on my Speedster as it is standing too much. Keep me in the loop with this if you dont mind.

I was wondering if one could use a Karmann-Ghia roof as a mould to make a fibreglass removable hard-top. What do guys think, can it work?

Cheers,
Marius.

That does look awesome Rog, and if it's any consolation, don't sweat the small things. I got a fair grilling today for actually saying nothing, thought I'd get some others who have had a similar experience, and then your post about the guys not looking after your baby at their workshop. So, listen, it'll all sort itself out. Think on the bright side and "see" the final picture in your minds eye..
Cheers

Alan

@ Bossie2004 - Thanks very much. I am not so sure about the Ghia hard top idea. It may work. I know there was an original Karman hardtop 356 though. Probably a bespoke item though.
As for my roof, Gary and I are cooking up something 'scissory' I will let you know how it goes.

@ acpatterson. I hope that 'grilling' wasn't on the forum ?! Thanks for the advice... you are totally right!

Hi Steve Pickering had a few 356 original hardtops..........
Armand

Here are the latest images from this weekend.
There were just too many things wrong on the front of the car. So... . I decided to take a deep breath... Take everything off the front and mount it correctly. If a new hole needed to be drilled, so be it. It can be filled in and touched up once I am finished with the exterior.

In the end, all I had time for was lining up the bonnet handle. I measured everything an found a solid center line from which I lined up everything else. See if you can spot the old holes... not even close to center.

I began working on the horn grille positions but that is going to have to wait till next time.

man I can't believe that they were so far off..........

I can't wait till I start on my horn grills..

Roger,
can you show how, or "where" the Horn grills should be?

check your speedster.

The section where the grill and indicator are should be flat. Venom, KKC and replicars are a dead giveaway because the indicator is mounted on a raised bump area on the body.

Gotta ask yourself...................how far are you willing to go to get the look?