Current restoration work: '54 Beetle Sliding-Ragtop, '59 Beetle Sedan, '60-'59 KG Cabrio, '62 KG Coupe '63 Notchback, '64 Notchback, '65 Beetle Sedan '66 21-Window Bus, '69 KG Cabrio, '70 Bus, '71 KG Cabrio, '73 412,
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~ 1959 Beetle Sedan ~ revolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolks |
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Restoration by
reVOLKS is complete now.
'Angel' is the name we gave this sweet Beetle, because we think it must have lead a "blessed" life :) Angel is being restored in the classic two tone finish, comprised of Tampa Blue Pearl Metalic and Dover White Pearl Metalic. The owner opted for chromed, Empi 5-spokes on some very hip tires, that give this Beetle the look! Dropped spindles and shaved front fender turn signals round out the cusomization. The balance of the restoration is remaining true to stock condition for this beetle right down to the original engine and 6 volt electrical system and interior. |
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The first two pictures are what Angel looked like when we first received her. While she showed signs of age, she was even then very good looking. Work began by pulling off her fenders after loading the body onto a Ghia chassis for mobility. The irony of placing a 50's era Beetle on a 70's era Ghia chassis was that it gave Angel a lifted stance, remeniscent of a Kommanderwagon from the war time as it sat so high up. |
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These pics show the steering wheel during restoration. The wheel was cracked pretty badly and took
a few hours to massage back into it's former appealing shape. All the interior accents are being finished in a very light creme color and look great with the over-all appearance the owner has chosen. |
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This pic shows the body after some extensive panel massaging was done to the doors, quarters and front hood -
all caused by little inconveniences in the long life this Vdub has had on the road. Below the body, you can see one of our "guard cats". His name ironically is "Highway" ;) |
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This block of pics shows the chassis just after it was sandblasted bare. Yes. those are the original
pans! Perfectly intact. As many of our customers already know, we are great fans of a product called POR-15. This paint-able coating system stands out as one of the best products available to the auto-enthusiast. You must try this to understand, but the net effect of it's use is a super clean finish that is so shiny and so hard, you would swear it was powder coated. It's applied by brush and has incredible auto-leveling properties that leave no sign a brush was ever used to apply it. Once hard, you can literally hit it with a hammer and it won't chip. There isn't a better, more convenient coating for chassis work. No. We don't own stock in this company and get no benefits for saying this - but if anyone at POR is listening we'll gladly take any discounts you can supply considering how much of this product we use! ;) |
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Here the body is seen shortly after being painted. At this point the chassis was parked below the body which is suspended above on one of the car lifts. The chassis is still riding on original front spindles and none of the mechanical work had been done yet. |
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These pics show some of the chassis work. The dropped spindles installed up front. Here you also see
the KYB/GR2 shocks that were used at all four corners. Additional work included all new brake lines, flex lines and master cylinder. Also the brakes were replaced. The tie rods were still awesome, but the rubber grease caps were showing signs of age and were consequently replaced with new ones. The shock tower on some early Beetles utilized a smaller bolt diameter to hold the upper shock mount. We replace this hardware with larger bolts that hold up better and thus, the upper mount must be machined to a larger diameter. It's hard to see here, but that shine inside is from freshly tapped threads in the steel. The last pic shows the lowered stance of the chassis, just barely clearing a can of lube. It is now at 10" above the ground at it's lowest point. |
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These pics show the original 36HP engine out of the Beetle. The original engine had been recently rebuilt prior to this owner purchasing the car. It was obvious it had been rebuilt because the cylinder fins were relatively clean and free of dirt or rust. Unfortunately, the engine "weeps" oil from the case halves when sitting. This is usually caused by either un-trued case half surfaces (they don't mate perfectly) or a lack of sealing compound used when mating the two case halves together. Thus, this engine as beautiful as it is, is being taken apart for inpection, possible machining and then rebuilding. The next picture shows the inside of the venerable 36hp engine. It was certain by this point that the engine had been completely rebuilt recently. The cam, the crank and the rods and bearings were all new or rebuilt. You could still read the ink on the bearings depicting their sizes (STD/STD!). The bearing saddles are excellent with no case pounding present. The next pic shows the other half. Looking closely you may see some differences when compared to the more common (nowadays) 40hp case. The next few pics show differences with the heads compared to 40hp. Also you will see the bottom of the older 36hp case with it's intigrated oil drain plug to the side rather then at the screen plate. The pic showing the case internals shows how beefy the webbing was in the early days. Also shows that there were not any main case rubber seals at the base of the case studs. Look closely at the cam picture...Notice anything odd? Yes. The old cases didn't use bearings on the cam. Also notice the lack of push-rod lifters? The old motors had push rods that incorporated the lifter into them. The last pic shows the engine after some reassembly was completed. The engine proved to be extremely good. All major components had been replaced or machined correctly. It's puzzling to figure why the lack of case sealant? |
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Well folks, this is where the restoration really starts to get fun. The very best part is watching as the Vdub
starts to go back together and become one with all it's many parts again. All the long hours of massaging panels,
restoring components et cetera (what we loving call the "grunt work") are behind us now. :) It's only a matter of
time before this beauty gets to see the street again and make yet another reVOLKS customer
smile from ear-to-ear :) |
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This block of pics shows the mohair headliner getting installed. In the first pic you can also see that some of the body trim and door windows has made it's way onto the Beetle too. Finally you see some of the interior. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, so have a boo, I'll let them do the talking ;) |
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This is what it's all about people! You just gotta love the way this Beetle turned out. Everything came together really well and the colors used for exterior and interior are very complimentary. Noticed the shaved front turn signals in the second pic of this block? Where are the signal lights then? A custom trick - the parking light inside the headlamp assembly has been converted to both parking and turn signal - see the last two pics :) |