I was asked by a customer to find a Beige 1974 Beetle that was intended to be a surprise birthday gift for his wife. It was supposed to be a replica of the car that she had when she was at university.
Eventually, I found this:
One beige 1974 Beetle in fairly decent condition.
My customer was satisfied with the find and we decided to attend to a few little items that normally require some love and attention.
However, he received this picture from his brother in law.
It was obvious that the car was definitely not beige.
So it was decided that a colour change was in order.
A few hasty phone calls later and some very big favours called in, we started the make over.
I had five weeks to pull it all off.
The car was stripped to a bare shell and sent off to the panel beater.
The stripping process was finished in two days.
The panel beater had two weeks for all the necessary preparation and paint.
We were fortunate that the body was totally rust free with very minor dents to attend to.
The battery tray was rusted, but a patch panel from Volkspares took care of that.
To stick to the deadline, the owner of the business painted the car after hours.
Freshly out of the booth, I was blown away by the colour.
I had chosen 1974 Volkswagen Rallye Yellow.
Paint is a basecoat/clearcoat over a brilliant white base.
The car was scheduled to go to the upholsterers, but due to Ramadaan, they were not available, so she came back to my shop for some assembly.
While the car was in the paint shop, I had the engine tin powder coated.
The engine was gone through with some new oil seals, new flywheel and clutch.
The starter, alternator and carburettor were all sent in for overhaul.
I re-installed the heat exchangers and modified the stainless steel silencer to mount with proper flanges, rather than VW's troublesome slip joints.
The idea was to get all of the standard features working Stuff like the heaters, windscreen washer (with its pressurised bottle). I even got the reverse lights to work.
Everything else was replaced or rebuilt. New gearbox mounts, new brake hydraulics, new brakes.
After Ramadaan, the car went to the upholsterers for a complete new interior.
New headliner, new door cards (I wanted the original VW pattern in the new material), new seat foam before the imported German vinyl was added to the seats (1974 Beetles did not have leather) and some high end carpeting.
The padded dash also received a re-trim.
Back from upholstery, we really had to push to complete the car, seeing as the delivery deadline was moved forward by four days.
The new tinted windscreen went in with new rubbers (I wanted the trim in the rubbers)
All new rubbers and seals. All new lenses. Hella 7" headlights with Ultra Vision globes. Trim rings on the wheels. Matching rostyle Spare wheel with new 185x65x15 tyre (More rubber on the road with the same diameter as original)
Finally the registration for the personalised plates come through on the day before delivery.
It was arranged with Mc Carthy VW in Menlyn, to have the car on their showroom floor for the big reveal.
They really came to the party with the cover and the bow and the special message and the cheering crowd.
Big shout out to all involved.
The first drive by Mom and her girls.
