Current restoration work: '54 Oval-Beetle Sliding-Ragtop, '59 Beetle Sedan, '60-'59 KG Cabrio, '60 KG Coupe, '63 Notchback, '64 KG Cabrio '64 Notchback, '65 Beetle Sedan, '65 13-Window Bus, '66 21-Window Bus, '69 KG Cabrio, '70 Bus, '71 Bus, '71 KG Cabrio, '74 412, '74 1303 Cabrio, '74 1303 Sedan,
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~ 1965 Beetle Sedan ~ revolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolks |
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Restoration by
reVOLKS is under way :) 'Bean' came to us in an almost entirely stripped down condition you see here. The Missouri owner is having this beetle sedan restored and a 'custom'! modification done along the way. The project plan for this '65 Beetle is to restore it to an almost perfectly stock condition. It is undergoing a complete body-off restoration, during which time it will receive new "lower 1/3" rust repair and also have an early sliding rag-top clip installed into the roof section.. The owner of this lovely old-school Beetle is an accountant and hence how we came to calling this beetle "Bean" (as in Bean counter) :)) Bean's life has been long and reliable from what we've learned but it has suffered the ravages of time on some northern roads and as a result needs new metal all the way around the chassis-to-body mating surfaces. The chassis itself is actually in pretty good shape and will receive new pan halves and general rebuilding of the usual mechanicals. An updated engine will likely find it's way into Bean near the completion. An updated electrical system is in the works too, bringing Bean into the 12 volt era! |
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This is pretty much what Bean looked like when we received her several months ago. The owner had already begun the restoration process and had stripped most of the major components off the body along with the fenders. In this section you see the body being removed from the chassis to prepare for the "open-heart surgery" it's about to go through. The last picture shows the body sitting on the shop floor and next to it is a new heater channel. |
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What can one say about these pictures? They tell the story of many years (and miles) of service on the highways and byways in the US. The first pic shows a closer view of the replacement heater channel. The second pic shows the main wiring loom removed from the original heater channel and the final pic shows the condition of the original heater channel... |
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Well this is lovely isn't it?! Sorry, I s'pose I should have warned you in case you were eating or something....not for the faint of heart is it? This is what happens and what it looks like to perform about the hardest part of Beetle RUSToration.. The firs pic shows 3 of the rust repair panels that will be transplanted on this side - inner front fender, heater channel and rear quarter panel. Also needed for this side is the rear lateral support near the heater tube insert. |
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More pics of the heater channels being replaced. These show the channels as they are temporarily tack-welded into place to check for alignment. Alignment is obviously critical. Failure to get this part right will yeild a body that doesn't function, doors that don't work and a chassis-to-body seal that fails.. Don't try this at home kids! :) |
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More gore than you thought you'd see on a "family" web site eh? :)
Truly, this is one of the most difficult tasks you could hope to take on with the venerable Beetle.
In this pics, you see some trial fitting of the other supporting rust repair panels that must be welded into place
after the heater channel. |
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While the body was undergoing some extensive surgery, the chassis was stripped down
and sent off for sandblasting... In the first picture you can see the body being put back
down on the newly "cleaned" chassis, sans floor pans. The second,third & forth pics are of the happy owner applying liberal coats of POR-15 in black to the fresh chassis. Both the owner and his good friend spend a few hours to ensure this chassis never rusts again :) |
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After the main work - heater channel replacement - was completed, we moved on to the last
of the owner's desired work which was to add a sliding rag top clip. The top picture shows
Bean prior to the sliding rag addition. The second picture shows the sliding rag top just after it was tack-welded into position. This is a scary task, as cutting a large hole into a perfectly good roof makes your hands tremble more than you'd think :)) The final picture here shows Nadi removing the dash elements and labelling all the wiring in preparation for having the body media blasted. All wiring is tagged and drawn up tight into the dash recess where it gets protected by a cardboard and duct-tape cover prior to the media blasting. |
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So the body came back as bare as can be.... No more road tar and stones stuck all over the fenders or fender wells. This really is as clean a slate as you can get when it comes to body work base :) The pics 3-5 show some of the side effects of having a body media blasted - you see it's real skin no matter it's condition. In this case, Bean had some rusting which had perforated the metal clean through. The area below the front apron will be cut out and replaced with new steel as it's relatively small. Unfortunately, the fenders were eaten-up pretty badly around the perimeter lips. Not pictured but also an issue with the front fenders was the area above the front headlight buckets. This area perforated through the fender skin and through the headlight bucket too :( Soooo, it looks like some new fenders are going to be in Bean's future as the cost to replace them is less than to repair the extent of this damage. |
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Wow! How time flies :) Bean's body got smoothed-out nicely after it returned from media blasting. The worst side shown in the first picture suffered from both heavy rusting and some pretty severe accident damage. Since much of the panel was cut-out to replace with new steel, there wasn't as much accident recovery as before but still needed some soothing as shown with a pneumatic block sander.
The second pic shows Bean's deck lid - nice and nearly perfect. Our bet is it was replaced at some
point since the extent of the accident damage to the right/rear quarter could not have happened without
this decklid having been crunched pretty hard too. |
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Well after the whole body was smoothed and soothed; Bean was rolled into the paint booth. This block of pictures show's the body being coated in a special rust inhibiting, high-build primer that is great for finish block sanding. This special primer works to prevent rusting of the bare steel, but it is also like coating the whole body in a layer of body filler too. The body was then carefully block sanded to create a beautiful, straight appearance. |
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After the body was blocked out until straight it was prepped for final painting. The first step
to a nice paint job is spraying on a coat of sealer as seen in the first picture. The next three pics show Bean after 3 coats of Sea Blue first stage and 3 more coats of clear were sprayed on. Beautiful isn't it?! |
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This is the most fun part of any restoration - final assembly! :) Here you see Bean's body being lowered onto it's chassis for the final time. The chassis was readied with new seals and hardware and then the body lowered onto it from the lift. The second pic shows the rewiring beginning. Most of the original loom was reused since it hadn't suffered any damage through the years. Of course all the terminators needed to be replaced but that's normal for any vehicle over 30 years old. The interior shown in the third picture demonstrates some floor sound-deadening and insulation being installed along with the dash beginning it's assembly. The final picture shows the carpet kit being installed. |
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Not much more to say here. Just look at the pictures! :) The customer decided upon a nice vintage style interior to keep with Bean's original looks. The final pictures show Bean nearly completed and ready for it's first road trip! |
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Here we have it. Bean is completed and on the road motorin'. The pics all speak for themselves so have a boo. The last pic gives you an idea of how BIG Bean feels inside the cabin :) |