They almost reprised Click & Clack’s cruise.

Was he able to close the door?

Serioulsy, don’t use VW replacement parts from JC Whitney. You will end up with junk that is made in China.
I suggest you join the forum on http://www.thesamba.com (it’s free) and ask about floor pan replacement there. I believe that Wolfsburg West has the thickest and highest quality VW floor pans available. They cost a little more, but this job is h…[Read more]

I will be updating the registry map and spreadsheet today. I’ll put Moneypenny in the car name column. Good name Allen

Well I just acquired this unbuilt, red CMC Fiberfab kit. MG is a British car and in the James Bond movies, Moneypenny is James’ redheaded love, I guess “Moneypenny” will be her name. newkitman40421.4148726852

Paul,
That makes sense. I am not familiar with the construction of the VW Beetle. I do know they are awesome, fun and durable.

Everything is on its way Jim!

James,I can see your approach working on a unibody car.But we lose a lot of strength when we take the Beetle body off the pan and replace it with fiberglass body panels. Because of that, I strongly recommend welding in replacement steel panels.

I am not familiar with the VW pans or replacement, so I am probably speaking out of my league here, but I had a Pontiac where the floor pans had rusted out. I removed the interior, used duct tape and cardboard to bridge the rotten out sections and holes and then fiberglassed the entire thing as one piece until it was about a 3/16th of an inch…[Read more]

I don’t know anything, but I think you might find wheels by looking for offset or backspacing first, and then worrying about bolt pattern. The Speedster guys are always getting their VW bolt patterns changed to fit Porsche or other (narrow) 5-bolt wheels. They say it’s not too expensive to do.Our wheels are 15 x 5.5, with I think 2 3/4 inches…[Read more]

 Allen, Click on the search button at the top ,type in wire wheels and you will see a  bunch of info on wire wheels. I agree they do look great but they are expensive. MG Magic has the best price to my knowledge, but their wheels are not quite like the Daytons or Truspoke versions and I am not sure they have them for VWs. The ones I’ve seen st…[Read more]

Paul, this is great news!   Especially for a newbie like me…   I’ll PM you my e-mail address.  Thanks for all your work in this – this will help our efforts immeasurably!
Jim

Yep, I remember the rivets but was thinking it was primarily to the other body sections.     Do most folks put rivets back in during re-assembly, or replace with sheet metal screws?

Hi Jim,
A lot of this is Duchess specific. I think I mentioned when we spoke over the weekend that the body was bolted and riveted to the frame.

Since we are guessing that this is one of the early Classic Roadsters kits (manufactured in 1979, serial #0064) maybe there are some differences in this kit than later ones?  
I am taking my first good look at removing the body.  Inside, there are a lot of rivets, not just holding the pieces of the body together, but a number of rivets holding th…[Read more]

Save what’s left of your top so your top maker can use it as a pattern.

I have talked with the fellow ion Florida and the TD is still for sale. I have my kit and I’m a happy camper. The only negative the owner of the FL car is Like Larry said…it’s been sitting outside, uncovered for “a couple of years. You’ll need to restore it.” But hey…the price seems reasonable. Hope someone gets it and brings it back to the…[Read more]

I wondered about that.   The top that came with mine is in bad shape and will have to be redone.   But it has 2 bows, if by bows you mean the ribs that support the top.  So I guess it would come closer to a 52.   That was the year I was born, and would be easier to be remember!

You could go all TD-righteous and put in some 3/4-inch marine plywood. I’m not recommending this.

Some of the subtle differences between the various TDs:1949 and early 1950: solid wheels (not the 15-hole kind)1951 (or thereabouts) flat-faced speedo and tach gauges give way to dished typelate 1952 or early ’53: windshield wiper motor moved to the center of the windshield (on top), from the passenger side. Three-bowed top frame replaces two-bow…[Read more]