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"W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 4:40 pm
by fig
All those who've been looking for one of these, jump on this!
http://www.gumtree.co.za/a-replacement- ... 0036974609
R5,000 not neg. Brits. Call Eurika 0833715716
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 5:02 pm
by Donovan D
Managed to get this one, mine is really battered, half of the bottom is missing.
Might be selling mine on then, depending on the actual condition of this one.
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 12:02 pm
by Barry
Nice score Donovan!
Would that price be considered reasonable? If so it is starting to get into the realm of being viable for me to reproduce them. Exact cost would need to be determined, but as with anything like this the cost would be slightly lower if produced in a batch rather than a one off....
Any takers?
And maybe if someone has some pics from the other side showing inner structure?
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 2:54 pm
by Donovan D
Barry wrote:Nice score Donovan!
Would that price be considered reasonable? If so it is starting to get into the realm of being viable for me to reproduce them. Exact cost would need to be determined, but as with anything like this the cost would be slightly lower if produced in a batch rather than a one off....
Any takers?
And maybe if someone has some pics from the other side showing inner structure?
I can bring my one that needs fixing with seperate underside bits and this one to you once I get it so you can have a look at reproducing them ?
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 5:27 am
by Barry
Thanks for the offer Donovan, but only if there is more interest.
I'm looking for some more straight metal shaping projects (not restoration/rust repair) for my new employee to sink his teeth into - I have way too much of my own work going on.
I saw the one Pine posted the other day which has vents and drains in it, but yours is solid?
Besides the drains, the rest of the inner structure looks fairly easy...
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 4:23 pm
by IMPI
Hi Barry I see a need for the following parts
Good quality sills (lots of bodies get scrapped due to rust in the sills and they are relatively simple in construction)
Door post repair sections (even beetles with no sill rust have problems here)
Floor pans
Small nicely formed bits used to close the std exhaust cut outs in the rear valance
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Sat May 09, 2015 4:24 pm
by IMPI
Hi Barry I see a need for the following parts
Good quality sills (lots of bodies get scrapped due to rust in the sills and they are relatively simple in construction)
Door post repair sections (even beetles with no sill rust have problems here)
Floor pans
Small nicely formed bits used to close the std exhaust cut outs in the rear valance
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Sun May 10, 2015 5:35 am
by Barry
Thanks Armand - I would have thought those would be available already.
Probably all quite simple to make - the challenge with sills and door post sections would be installing them correctly
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 6:15 am
by IMPI
Hi Barry
it is not a question of availability (wolf parts in Sweden makes a W decklid)
the quality of available sills and door post parts is questionable and ditto for floorpans.
Due to the bulk of these things it is also extremely expensive to ship to us
There are however exceptions and a few companies produce quality parts Gerson in Columbia, Wolf parts, a few in England etc some in Italy, spain and Poland for vintage parts.
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 2:59 pm
by Jdt1976
Here are pictures of some Klassic Fab A-pillars and Heater channels:
Some panels from Wolf:
It would be good to get these local if possible.
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Mon May 11, 2015 3:29 pm
by Loef
I don't think that Woffe/Wolfparts are making any decklid's, he only converts standard decklid's to convertible decklids.
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 8:26 am
by Presh
Hi Barry,
I would be interested. I'm looking for a W decklid for a while now. I don't want the fibre glass option so if you're doing them in metal , count me in.
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 9:37 am
by Puni
Hi. Where can I buy A-pillars and Heater channels?
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 10:04 pm
by JonnoDub
Puni wrote:Hi. Where can I buy A-pillars and Heater channels?
Have you tried volkspares?
Re: "W" decklid for oval beetle
Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 5:16 am
by Barry
I've heard a number of people having problems with Volkspares not shipping parts (or taking forever to send them).
All the parts shown above are things that I could make. Some are easier than others, and things like the rear valance would require some time building tooling in order to produce them cheaply enough (making one of something is always more expensive).
Any pricing on the Klassic Fab and Wolf parts?
Volkspares pricing on the a-pillar patches and heater channels, and how is the fit/quality?
As stated before, if there is enough interest I will look at making any part. Generally I would need orders for at least 5 of an item, 10 or more would be better. (The decklid is a little different in how it would be made and I could look at doing fewer, though at least 3 or more)
This may sound odd, but I have more than enough work of my own in the shop already, so I am not likely to pick this up unless there is real demand.
I would have some capacity for production runs of stuff like channels, lower pillars etc though, with my assistant doing the actual production. He is not yet skilled enough to make one off parts quickly enough to make the cost viable, but for things like this we would make the tooling for him to make them at what is hopefully a reasonable price.
(As an indication I made Splitty doglegs previously for roughly the same cost as the ones Jacques imports, back when we still had a R7-8 dollar...)