Sept. 15th

It's been awhile since the last update. I went to Colorado for a while and my girlfriend came to visit for a few weeks so progress was slow. That's all over and I've gotten back to work.

The design changed a bit, it will now have an open air back and a closed cabin like a truck. Here is a little drawing of what I was thinking.

Also, all the door pieces are cut and fitted, ready to be welded. This past weekend I trimmed the back to make a smooth transition from what was the 3/4 window sill to the back window sill. Those cuts need to be capped and the rest of the sills cut off. In the one picture you can see the natural seat the back makes... and the awful foam the body is filled with (itches like fiberglass).

The 2nd Weekend

The weekend was really only Saturday, it rained on Sunday, and then we had a bike thing and Phil's band had a show. We got the roof supported on the front and center posts. Once they were welded up a bit we cut the top part of the door frames off and started discussing how to lengthen them to fit. I am going to try to find an old door to cut a section out of so we don't have to make our own. This week I should have the roof channel cleaned up so Phil can weld it, then we just need to figure out the back.

Week 1

Week one is ending and we are coming up on the 2nd weekend where we really get to put some time in. During the week we only get about 2 hours to work on it, and the mosquitoes don't make it a fun two hours. So, Monday Tuesday & Wednesday all that happened was the center posts were chopped off and moved back 3 1/2", a piece of sheet metal was cut to size for the roof channel, and more removal of the floor sound dampening. This weekend the plan is to try and get the roof back together, weld the posts back on, and maybe cut the doors down to match. We'll see how it goes.
I've been trying to decide on the paint and what to do with the fenders. I think I narrowed the paint down to these:

Day 2

I got there at about noon, when the sun will just about melt your face off. Plus it was extra hot that day. I spent an hour or two getting the driver seat unstuck and then removing it, and ripping out the carpet and sound dampening. I left cause I'm a not made for manual labor in this heat. I picked up some supplies like paint stripper, a phosphoric rust treatment, some wire wheels and sand paper, and other random things. I went back around 6 and Pat and Christina were there admiring the mess. We decided to cut the roof down the center and stretch it wide for the front posts to match, then Phil tacked them on.

That center channel might make for a killer sunroof.

I don't get much tougher than that!

Day 1

I bought the car on a Thursday, Saturday morning it was in Phil's backyard.
I started out by accidentally cracking the front window trying to remove it, we then took a sledge hammer to it. Next Phil pryed the rest of the windows out while i applyed even pressure from the inside. The headliner was removed and measurements made for the roof chop. I took out the back seat and the passenger seat before we started cutting the roof just incase sparks and liquified bits of metal caught them on fire. We started cutting with a cut off wheel switched to a plasma cutter to speed things up. Phil did most of the cutting, except for the messed up bi,t which were all me. Not bad for Day 1.

1974 VW Beetle

I haven't been keeping up with this blog, so I'm reinventing it a bit. It will now act as a build blog to chronicle the customizing of my '74 VW Bug. It's a mess of a car I bought the other day cause the price wasn't so bad. I have a gas swallowing truck that I want to get rid of, and a motorcycle. I ride the motorcycle as much as possible, but I need something with a roof for the massive amount of rain we get in Florida half of the year.
The car has some not so bad rust, one really bad rust that was filled in with foam(?), and a bondo filled rain channel that follows both sides of the entire roof of the car. Mechanically it runs, isn't that enough!? Second gear is worth skipping and the brakes are spongier than Kirstie Alley.
So,with a ton of help from friends Phil and Pat, it should be a pretty rad little car in the end.

The Car