Aircooled VW South Africa

Ok so I decided to do it justice with a better name - still may be U G L Y in many peoples eyes though. The proportions are not perfect, but I think they will be OK & I will go for some creativity in the paint scheme to accentuate areas that need more volume, and take away from areas that seem too bulky.
Story so far:
A friend was bored at his Rod & Custom shop & so sliced the roof off his old Beetle parts chaser. All work was completed over one weekend, but it was a little rough looking. The initial "brief" was to fit the beam extender (plates were laser cut - Simon from Old Mill has them available) and clean up the lines at the back. Needless to say I got a "little" carried away....

Here's how it looked:

Plates as supplied: Welded up & fitted to pan:

With the extender in, instead of notching around the steering box, I got clever and decided to move the whole bonnet 150mm forwards. (in hindsight 100mm would have give better proportions) Of course I then thought I should reshape the whe
elwells..... Eventually got there - still some flanges & seals to get sorted

Starting to play with rear end treatment I wanted to creat better flow, but also decided I needed more width in the rear - A Beetle without rear fenders tends to look too narrow at the back for me. Having the roof off may make it seem worse. Because of the extra length, I felt we need a little more height in the doors too Still a lot of work but we are getting there Next up is to shape the rear wheelwells. The back is giving more grief than the front, because everything is new, and getting all the loose pieces into position relative to each other is a bitch. Hope to have the sides & roll pan licked this weekend and then get on to shaping the bootlid....

Barry,that is some stunning work that you have done there.

Now THAT is what I was talking about in another thread. These type of things is what I am about Nice work there! I was already going to comment on the first pic about the 'line' that the rear engine lid and body is making...., that sharp bend/edge... But going down further on the post with other pictures, I saw that you got the 'wrong line' pretty much sorted! Gawd, I LOVE 'coachbuilds'!!!

The only thing about the front I found strange looking, is that the front wheel looks too much 'forward' for the wheel arch. But I suppose that once the fenders go on(if any) it will look better.


Keep up the good work

fokk@N genius pappa

Thanks Guys
Zero there will be no fenders - the wheel does look a little odd (but also really only from a full side view), I will be fitting 165/15's though and it does look quite a bit better with the bigger fronts.
Didn't get as much done today as I'd hoped - that's how it goes I guess. Some days it feels like you built half the car, others you wipe out your eyes 12 hours later and don't see squat........
Off the the Stateside open day tommorrow morning, hopefully I will feel like working in 38+ degrees when I get back
More pics soon....

I really like the look.....where's the shop in Stellenbosch? Is someone allowed to pop by as I get there are more great looking cars?

Its looking good Barry.

Look into it, but as far as I know, all cars in SA have to have fenders of some sort for roadworthy. Even if its a cover like whats used on a bike thats attached to the suspension and just fits over the wheel.

Hey Dutch - not a shop as such. Just my own playroom Visitors are welcome - even more so if you want to try out metalshaping, perhaps less so if you just want to talk shit and keep me out of work

Thanks Tony. The car is currently licensed etc, so no roadworthy neccesary now. There are guys who have gotten fenderless cars through without problems. (apparently without the bottle in the cubby hole trick either) Seems to vary from one testing station to another?????? Anyway I will be able to make provision for something removeable if it becomes neccesary.
Whether you'd ever get pulled over driving it without mudguards is another story - none of the guys I know running fenderless hotrods have ever had problems, but I guess there's always a cop a little short of cash somewhere.....

I'll happily play with metal anytime.....

Very nice. I love the rod look on a bug

Nice work dude, inspiration for many who have doubts of what can be done locally.

Barry, if I lived closeby, I would've made your life a living hell! I just love working with metal, and am one day going to put my hand to a beating bag/English wheel! I am going to build my own as well someday. If the rollers werent SO DAMN EXPENSIVE, I would've had an English wheel looooong ago!