Hello from Florida

fla2smoker · Post by **fla2smoker** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 6:13 am

I recently purchased a '66 in need of a complete restoration. It is a numbers matching body, pan and engine. PO started 6 to 12 volt conversion and stopped at grinding out the transaxle. I have been out the air cooled scene for about 25 years, but my oldest son (almost 13) wants a bug for his first car, and I thought it would be a good way to teach him mechanics and how to use tools and hard work to turn an old rust bucket into a rust free weekend cruiser. We have no timeline to complete the car, but it will be a full body off restoration. Our plans are to get the car back to its original colors (Black with red interior), I plan to refurbish the engine as much as available parts will allow. I am expecting it to take a year for the drivetrain and pan, and another year for the body. But we all know how that goes....

Regards,
Terry

66balut · Post by **66balut** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 2:27 pm

Welcome back to the aircooled scene!I too had a bug as my very 1st car when I was 16,actually we had the bug brand new when I was 5 & was passed on to me.your bugs body looks straight just surface rust?have fun w/ the project & your sons very lucky!

fla2smoker · Post by **fla2smoker** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:21 pm

66balut wrote:Welcome back to the aircooled scene!I too had a bug as my very 1st car when I was 16,actually we had the bug brand new when I was 5 & was passed on to me.your bugs body looks straight just surface rust?have fun w/ the project & your sons very lucky!

Thanks 66balut,
It actually is alot worse than it looks. It needs a lot of rust repair; pans, heater channels, front passenger wheel well, napoleons hat, etc. it's going to be a long journey. The time with my sons working on this and teaching them the necessary skills will make it all worth it. We are in the bag and tag stage right now making a spreadsheet with whether the items will need to be replaced, refurbished or put back on as is. We are then using web resources to determine where to buy the best replacement parts. OEM would be nice, but not much left out there. We have already placed some large orders with WW and will have a few for CIP1 coming up soon. Unfortunately there are not many parts resources down here in Florida so shipping costs and time really slow the project down. Our goal is to have the pan cleaned up and 100% rust free before the heat of summer.

Post by **jmartini** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:59 am

Welcome to the Forum - Great to have you as a member! It's always great to see someone bring a car back to it's former glory. Best of luck on your restoration!

Blue Baron · Post by **Blue Baron** » Sat May 12, 2012 10:46 pm

There are parts resources in Florida, and numerous Volkswagen shows with large swap meets. What part of the state do you live in?

fla2smoker · Post by **fla2smoker** » Sun May 13, 2012 6:04 am

Blue Baron wrote:There are parts resources in Florida, and numerous Volkswagen shows with large swap meets. What part of the state do you live in?

I live north of Bradenton, in Parrish. Do you know of any up coming shows/ swap meets?