May 1953 VW Beetle Ragtop

[RA40tony]

Much as I enjoyed the Karmann, I still had a Beetle itch, and a ragtop one at that (perfect for Greece)

So I put up the Karmann for sale in late 2012 and started looking for a Ragtop Bug.



Turns out my mechanic had a car sitting in plain view (with a car cover on it) all these years. An oval ragtop with later "bits" fitted to it (which explains why I didn't realize it was an oval from the covered silhouette).

So fast forward to September 2013, the buyer took the Karmann back to France (drove it back) and I was in a position to start hasling my mechanic to buy the Oval. After he accepted, and I started digging around, the car turned out to be a May 1953 3-fold car!!!!

Its missing an interior (found in Portugal), ribbed doors (BBT Belgium) and is fitted with a 70's front and rear hood and rear wings (but my mechanic has the rear hood and wings and other stuff).

After a month and a half, this arrived


Mid April (after the beetle shop had finished a few other cars), it was time to move the car in, ready to start the work. The following parts are waiting to be fitted during the build:

- Ribbed doors
- Rear wings (one ribbed, one oval)
- Correct decklid (with incorrect cabrio vents fitted, will fit SAM's nice ones)
- Correct steering wheel, starter button, and seat frames
- Semaphore replacements (but may be able to get some ribbed semaphores)
- Bumpers
- correct tank
- rear valence (may repair a butchered one or buy one from Wolfparts, incredible quality - check wolfparts.com/)
- pre-55 Oval front clip
- pre-59 hood (until I find a correct 7 bolt one)
- Old script Bosch headlights
- Rev counter
- 3/53 Speedo Restored by Thorsten in Germany

A few nice accessories came with the Oval: grab handle and steering lock.

Still looking for:

- Heart tail lights (may go for SAM ones)
- Correct pre-55 front fenders/wings (looking at some that Bbt have)
- Door handles
- Ribbed window winders
- torsion bar and correct pre-59 spring plate and cover for passenger side.
- correct ignition lock and key (P key I think), unless I don't use it and use the steering lock and early Oval ignition button to start it.

Ok here are the photos, sorry for the light and quality:



The semaphore pockets are there, under a thick coat of bondo and with a metal plate spot-brazed in place, result!!

[RA40tony]

So earlier this week finally started doing some work on it:

Removed one of the long ragtop rails and found the OG paint.



Its the famous Pastel Green!!!

Then more work.
Took the other ragtop rail off.


We then ran into some problems, as the rear plate which snadwiches the ragtop cover is rusted solid and the screws won't come out.


Looks like we need to apply some heat.

So I continued by removing the side and rear windows and later decklid.




Then the headliner (later one again) to reveal the old glue and some more pastel green




Now for the problems:

1. the previous owner fitted some modern seats and hacked the seat rails:


2. There is some rust (but very little)


3. My mirror base is split. Any ideas how to repair it?


Finally here are the garage mates to my Oval

[Deleted]

That is a very very cool project!
Keep us updated please.

[RA40tony]

Thanks!!
Of course.

[stonio]

Boooooooookmarked.!!!!!

[RA40tony]

A bit more work today.

Got the ragtop off, but still need to figure out a way of removing those stuborn screws


Took off the passenger side wings/fenders and found some rust. But still not too bad.
Front fender







Some cracked bondo there

Rear fender






All in all, not too bad.

[Deleted]

You going to sprip the paint/filler etc yourself??
Get some of these. Awesome tool.
rust removal disc by quickrack, on Flickr

[RA40tony]

May 5, 2014 17:32:06 GMT @quickrack1 said:

You going to sprip the paint/filler etc yourself??
Get some of these. Awesome tool.
rust removal disc by quickrack, on Flickr

Yeah, I've heard that they are great, but I'm letting the Beetle specialist who is doing the work get on with it. I've just helped a bit with some things (sourcing parts and rebuilding the ragtop).

He's gonna sandblast the pan and wheel wells and removed the other paint by hand.

[grifterkid]

Beautiful, just beautiful...

[RA40tony]

Well, time for an update. The shell was blasted, the 70's nose was cut off, green heater channels welded in, new WW floor pans, virtanen rear cross members welded in, front inner fenders rot cut out and beaten back into shape.
Got some pre 55 fenders and bonnet (I know it's not the correct super early 7 bolt correct one, but I need all my organs :lol: ),a 54 (earliest I could find) front clip, a job lot of parts to rebuild the rag from vwsunroofs and going to order my interior from Marcus in the next few weeks.
Volksprojects 4 inch narrowed beam (fitting drop spindles and discs) and a few other goodies (Kochs pop outs, venetian blinds...)

And now some pics 8) (please excuse the crappy quality)












ps: fenders were losely bolted on In the pics.

[sparkyt]

Good luck with the project mate
I've got a 66 and a 70 bug the 70 looks just like yours does in the pictures . .

Keep posting

[RA40tony]

Thanks!! It took a bit of a back seat while my fastback was being readied, but now its full speed ahead

[sparkyt]

I've just sold my mk3 golf which is going to pay for the paint on my 70 hofully 2 months and she will be finish

[RA40tony]

Apr 27, 2015 11:15:53 GMT sparkyt said:

I've just sold my mk3 golf which is going to pay for the paint on my 70 hofully 2 months and she will be finish

Nice one!!!

Mine is going to take waaay longer. She is being worked on around the "daily" work that the shop does, but cant rush perfection

[sparkyt]

The 70 is for my daughter
but the 66 will be for me to rag the curse word out of . .

No need for perfection as I'll be driving it daily . .

[RA40tony]

Haven't posted in ages, progress is slow but steady. Been getting the missing bits and pieces, and hell, its expensive for a 53!!

Send the seats to Marcus (Beetlekey) to work his magic on them and got the rest of his stuff waiting.

So time for some pics!!! (bit dusty, sorry)

[79cord]

Great to see it again & encouraging to see the progress.

[RA40tony]

Jan 19, 2017 13:04:21 GMT 79cord said:

Great to see it again & encouraging to see the progress.

Thanks!!!! Can't wait!!

I'll try to keep updates up this time

[darrenh]

you won me over with the original paint colour

[RA40tony]

Jan 19, 2017 18:57:04 GMT darrenh said:

you won me over with the original paint colour

Thanks! Its Pastel Green, one of my favorite vw colours, absolutely love it!