I have the misfortune of being a previous owner of the '57 Oval Ragtop.
The story goes: in summer 2002, I was contacted by a Lahore-based parts dealer, offering me what he described as an early model VW with a hole in the roof. The car was located in Gujranwala, so I went on a day-trip - cash in hand.
It turned out to be the '57 you see here. It was standing on the side of the main GT Road, Gujranwala, at a workshop - all parts stripped, just a rolling shell. It was painted shocking orange, so fresh the paint hadn't even dried yet.
The owner was an eccentric mechanic who obviously had no idea his VW was worth much at all. Including a hefty commission for the greedy Kabari, I managed to tow the Ragtop home to Islamabad for the equivalent price of a mid-range smartphone today.
I had cursory bodywork done at a Toyota garage facility outside of town (they didn't do a great job as you can see) and it was painted as close as possible to the (likely) original Jupiter Grey L225. I even drove this around for 3-4 months, and enjoyed it as much as I could. Never did get round to the sunroof canvas sadly. As I was moving to England for university, I had to sell. One of the saddest days of my life, upon reflection, and one of the few things in life I truly ever regret doing.
FYI: I believe this is a standard model LHD Ragtop (type 115). It originally would have come from the factory with cable brakes as standard, no chrome fittings, painted over bumpers and hubcaps and a crash (non-syncromesh) transmission. This makes it even rarer than a regular Deluxe Ragtop. (Please do correct me if I'm wrong about this, it's been years since I've read the ID tag on the car)
Wish you all the best with the restoration! I'm watching eagerly!
Aleem