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Spotlight - May 2003 Phil & Jennifer Vernon  |
My interest in VWs goes back to my very first car, a ’65 Beetle that was actually given to me. My brother and I happened to be out at Fred's 66 in the late '60s when they towed in the Beetle. It contained everything the couple that owned it possessed. The car had blown a rod as they were traveling along Interstate 80 and after talking with them for a bit I discovered they planned to leave the car and continue on their way hitchhiking. We helped them unload all their belongings from the bug into my brother's car and we took them back out to the interstate. They repaid me by signing over the title to the bug and it was mine for payment of the $12.00 towing fee owed to Fred's. In those days, engines were pretty common and a trip to the junkyard netted me a decent long block for $85.00. The rest is history; I've been fooling with VWs since. I drove that car for several more years before buying a brand new 72 Super Beetle. It was my pride and joy until some @#$% ran through a red light hitting me in the side and transforming my shiny car into junk. I had quite a number of other '60's vintage bugs always tinkering and trying to get them to keep up with the Chevys, Fords and Mopars everyone else seemed to be driving. Fast forward to a couple of years ago when I found my current VW on Ebay, a 1955 deluxe Beetle sedan. Amazingly the car was located in Ottumwa, Iowa rather than somewhere in California. The seller had acquired the car from California the year before but lost interest in the project before really making any headway. The Ebay description sounded pretty good so I emailed the owner and set up a meeting. He told me what he wanted out of it and after examining the car we settled on a price. So he pulled the car from the auction and it came home with me. Mechanically the car had pretty much been gone through and it was in excellent condition, particularly for its age. The paint was starting to show it's age and repainting was one of my main focuses for getting the car show ready. The interior was also nearly nonexistent. On the plus side it had a Transform "freeway flyer" transaxle with welded 3rd & 4th gears, & super diff. The car was slammed with welded in adjusters and the front beam narrowed. It also came with a vintage roof rack in excellent condition. Before I got around to starting the prep work for painting, my battery started going dead. I had a bad feeling about the wiring because even though it appeared to have a replacement harness, the wiring to the headlight dimmer switch was melted. I decided to replace the complete harness while I had it torn down for painting, which would ease the job for the body guys anyway. Good thing too, because I found more melted wires when I pulled the harness out. In addition to the wires the engine, windows, fuel tank, running boards, bumpers, instruments, interior, etc., were all removed to prepare for painting. Sergeant Peppers in Davenport laid on the two tone Inferno Red / White Gold Crystal paint and straightened a couple of imperfections, primarily on the rear apron. Another major challenge that Peppers handled was putting back the channels that hold the wing vent seals that a previous owner had cut out for one-piece windows. Meanwhile, my steering wheel went to Koch's for a rebuild and I ordered a new custom interior from Sewfine Products. Before starting to reassemble the car I put Dynamat on everything. The entire pan surfaces, interior of the doors, rear quarters & firewall were all covered to help keep things quiet. Next all new pads went in under the burgundy carpet and before I installed the new headliner. The seat frames were sand blasted, weld repairs made and repainted before I applied the new Sewfine upholstery. Wolfburg West also amassed quite a fortune while I acquired the parts necessary to assure our reassembled car would meet the ogle test. New triple chromed bumpers, new headlights, new window seals & felt and all new stainless exterior "chrome" were among many replacement items. They weren't the only ones getting rich either; unfortunately the '55 model was the cut off year for many parts that are unique to earlier cars, which makes a lot of these items rare and expensive. Falling into this category are the horn button, exterior door handle, door strikers, and windshield wiper bases. These items were purchased from various Internet sources and contributed significantly to the drain on our savings account. Most of the glass went back without a hitch except the windshield, which I broke in the same place as the last person who attempted the installation. So another new glass will be added this spring. I think I'm going to let the pros try it this time. The 1641cc engine that came out went back in with a good clean up and some more dress up goodies but a 2110 longblock is now awaiting installation. I'll be adding a pair of Weber IDF 40s to help the new engine breath and push me faster down the road. This spring I installed a new stereo leaving only a few details remain to be finished this season including fixing the windshield, and getting the original door handles and window cranks rechromed and back on. |