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I have my dad's 1964 beetle that he bought new and drove till 3 years ago. The paint is fading and cracking. The bonnet and 3 of the fenders have been resprayed years ago by a neighbour after my sister scraped it on the garage doors a couple of times. The respray was a poor job with darker paint. The interior upholstery and rooflining is also not good anymore. Mechanically and engine is fine but brakes will need attention.
I do not know what to do. Complete restoration down to bolts and nuts or fix necessary and keep it as is?
Please give me some advice. Is there maybe someone in Jhb westrand whi can look at it and give me some good advice.
Thank you very much.
Hi and welcome, You may be fine with a full restoration, but then you will loose the one thing that you could never get back, and that is originality.
Yes you sister bumped it, but that is good solid provenance, can not buy that in a can.
Maybe try to get the next door neighbors green paint off, it looks to be incompatible with the original, so could come off easy.
Then take it to an upholsterer and get him to "Repair" not replace the upholstery.
When done, look at it, drive it, and if you can not live with it, then do a complete restoration.
The rusty panels can be striped down, and treated, and re coated to match the original , this is normal on a 50 year old car to have some body work done.
enjoy
Herman
1952 Split Beetle 1835cc
1968 Fastback 2Lt.type4
1972 Low Light Bay Panel Van 2Lt type 4
1975 Fleetline Panel Van 1914cc
2020 MeFusco Beetle Truck 2Lt type 4
1972 FT Hahn SP 1776 cc
OK thanks for the advice so far. I have decided not to respray and to only fix the interior. I do still need a panel beater to fix the one door where the car was reversed into the garage door. Also to fix some paintwork. Can anyone suggest a panel beater in Roodepoort area that can di this work.
Then I also will have to attend to the brakes and clutch as both these pedals goes down to the floor without any resistance.
Mantovani wrote:OK thanks for the advice so far. I have decided not to respray and to only fix the interior. I do still need a panel beater to fix the one door where the car was reversed into the garage door. Also to fix some paintwork. Can anyone suggest a panel beater in Roodepoort area that can di this work.
Then I also will have to attend to the brakes and clutch as both these pedals goes down to the floor without any resistance.
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You could send it across town on your trailer to Bugger, I believe he will do you good - will see to upholstery, body and mechanics. His details are on the forum.
If you decide to get rid of the bug, I'm on the market for a project similar to yours - something running that requires some TLC and elbow grease.
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"Volkswagen customers want a relationship with their cars. Names like The Thing, Beetle, Fox, and Rabbit support this" - Kerri Martin
1952 Split Beetle 1835cc
1968 Fastback 2Lt.type4
1972 Low Light Bay Panel Van 2Lt type 4
1975 Fleetline Panel Van 1914cc
2020 MeFusco Beetle Truck 2Lt type 4
1972 FT Hahn SP 1776 cc
Thanks everyone. I realy enjoyed it. More so because it was my dad's first car and because he loved caring for it. Did a short drive thus afternoon and it felt great.
I will have to get the brakes better end engine seems to be running a bit too hot.