Aircooled VW South Africa

Yes! I have managed to acquire the most interesting ACVW that I have encountered in the flesh. In a lot of ways I believe that many of you would be better custodians of this car than than me, yet here we are. I won’t copy and paste information that can be found online, a lot of which seems to be a repeat of John Lemon's excellent article on Project 1021. I will only remind you that Project 1021 was assigned to August Jukel and give you details regarding the latest developments.

I have had the good fortune to "grow up" with Marc Jukel (we met in the admissions queue at UPE in '99). It follows that I have, over the years, enjoyed the wonderful friendship of August, Margret, Ian, Marc, Peter and Robyn. They are all hilariously mad, charming and clever in their various ways and I count it a blessing to have known and still know them. They are like family to me. It's true, they continue to indulge my presence in their lives.

I suspect the first time that I became aware of Project 1021 was during a visit to Auto Pavilion in Uitenhage. There in the back window of a most interesting looking vehicle was a brief history of Project 1021 which included my friend's name. I of course have quizzed August about this fascinating car and I suppose I have never really stopped pestering him about it. It is my understanding that on his retirement from VW he was offered the opportunity to acquire the museum example. It's still there, I hope, no longer on display. I'm sure you share my frustration! I fairly regularly bring the matter up with Marc.

Of course when Marc let me know that Ian had spotted 1021 up for sale on Fb, I acted immediately. First I checked that neither of my brothers from another mother were going to buy the car. I then called the seller Pieter.

I was the first person to respond to the advert and told Pieter that I would love to buy "Gogga", Esme and Pieter's pet name for this special acvw. In the same breath I said to him that I did not want to get involved in a bidding war and asked if that would be a problem. Pieter said that he did not work that way and that if I committed to buy the car he would consider it sold. I immediately transferred half of the asking price with the promise to bring the rest with me early the following week. I believe Pieter and Esme were bombarded with calls over the next few hours and even days. They could have pulled out of our agreement but they did not. It has not taken long to realize what a big deal that is and I am very grateful to Pieter and Esme that they honoured our agreement.

On to the project:

This is what I know on the mechanical side:
The pan was replaced some years back (Ian found this out through his friends). At the same time, the Kent Eskort wc motor was removed. Gearbox is also not original to the car. Pieter said it was too modified after the kent install, so they replaced it.

I aim to check and secure the mechanical side of the car first, I will concurrently pursue cosmetics. I would love to get the interior looking the same as is was. The chocolate front seats pictured below are mia. I want to install the late beetle steering wheel again.



Of course I hope to spend some time with August looking through pics and drawings. I will ask his permission to share.

Congratulations!

https://jalopnik.com/an-incredibly-rare ... 1847124564

Even caught the eye of a guy in the USA.

Congratulations on a fantastic find.

Gave 1021 a good clean yesterday. Lots of work to do on niggly bits, hinge rebuilding, locking mechanism , window regulators etc. Otherwise the fibre glass is impressively solid. Changed the steering wheel for the correct unit. I'll try to post the pics I took of the various bits.

Looks like a fun and interesting project.

Nice bones to start with as most is there

Best of all you have no rusted body to deal with, thats worth a few points

Would be nice if you posted the history and other life history of your project here on your thread for future reference.

Thanks for sharing.

Herman

This is my South African version of the 1021. Built by Fiberglass designs in JHB called the JIRAH.
Was the one in the VW museum possibly built by Fiberglass Designs as a prototype for VW?
Mine has a rebuilt Golf 1500 motor fitted. Has been in the family since the early 70s when we did the conversion.
Has done the Afrika Burn and the Nuts and Bolts rally only problem one bad spark plug.

Hi Tessy,

I don't believe that Fibreglass Designs were directly involved in Project 1021. Thanks for posting a pic of your car. Did it originally have a beetle motor?

In other news I printed myself some wheel caps. Had some fun with the 1021 concept. Printed in black TPU then sprayed with an ivory paint and wiped "clean" with turps. Needs work. I will be starting with the drivers door window regulator and hinges. The two fibre glass door skins need some rebonding in places.

Hi Drusky, Yes it did originally have a Beetle 1300 motor but it got to the stage that a rebuild was not economically viable so the rebuilt golf motor was fitted in 2010. It is a bit short on torque but revs freely. I find that the best and most comfortable cruising speed is 80 to 90 Kmhr.
Regards Tessy.

A few weeks back August very kindly gave me access to his treasure trove of documents and photos relating to this project. It has been very exciting to pore over the photos and reports. There is even a journal presenting the merits of this type of cold pressed glass fibre construction. I found the Ex-Press plastics brochure to be particularly fun. It looks as though it was presented yesterday. All the pages are neat and crisp showing no colour fade at all! A fascinating time capsule indeed. I have of course scanned a portion of the trove to share here. I will try to offer the history in bits and pics over time as I find a way to present what I have along with progress on the car. The engine should be out this weekend!

If the body was Cold Pressed it was done in strong metal moulds, hopefully these moulds are still in a store somewhere

Herman

Some reference to 1021 on News24:




https://www.news24.com/wheels/wildonwhe ... 1-20210831

Update

Things done:
Engine rebuilt, wheels resprayed, bumpers resprayed (tigged a stainless patch in the the rear bumper, various metal bit's zinc coated and yellow passivated. Fuel tank resprayed. sorting out a new fuel fill nozzle sollution. I put a coat of 2K on the bonnet and rear hatch after filling various holes, keeping the colour the same. Removed roof rack and drilled out rivets, filled holes.

Bits bought:
Window regulators, window lift channels, golf mk1 rubber bumper trim, sourced correct new Hella trailer lights from ebay (thank you Latvia), mk1 door handles. Late beetle door hinge pins. Got some rubber trim for windows locally.

I need:
Late beetle front seats.

Currently:
Working on driver's door and some missing fibre glass front and back. I was going to build in that missing fibreglass but have doubts after chatting to Herman. I would hate to deal with delamination after all that sticky work. Today I will be mapping out the engine bay before making a final decision on the way forward.

Troubles and concerns:
The steel frame on the inside of the drivers door seems pretty rotten. I might have to split the door skins and rebuild. Concerned about the frame in the body shell.

Planning Forward:
I would like to sort out the engine bay, and get 1021 back on it's wheels and driving. Thereafter I will have the body off the pan for a pan refurb. I might be in the market for a late beetle pan when that happens.

Nice Progress.

Was your car laminated jointed or did they epoxy glue the different mouldings together?

Looking at the above photos, it seems they have made all the castings for gluing.

Think it would be the best to Epoxy glue the insert parts if you can make glue-able joints.

Looking forward to see it on the road,

keep up the good work.

Herman

How is this project going ?? @Drusky

Very keen to see it's progress.

Please post

Herman