As I mentioned very early on that i bought the car without giving it much thought. I just felt sorry for the little car which was left to rot and die. I did walk around the car and noticed the cracking filler, uneven body lines and missing parts but did not give it much thought. After all, how often does one come across a rare Oval window rag-top in Pakistan? Probably twice. (and that too if you live or travel to Karachi and Islamabad) The other Oval rag-top happens to be a one owner car in Karachi.
The horror story started to unfold as the thick layers of filler were removed. In most cases the layers of filler were removed just by inserting a finger nail under the raised edges. After the liberal application of paint stripper we got to the sheet metal and it wasn't a pretty sight. I have to say that there are areas that are in mint condition. The front and back aprons are in mint condition. The car never got into a front or rear end collision so the two aprons and the sides under the fenders just needed light sanding and they are good to go. The same however cannot be said about the left side of the car. I set about looking for a donor car but none were available. (none that had clean panels that I require and yet mucked up enuff to warrant its parting out.
I guess I was looking in all the wrong places! I had one that fit the bill perfectly.
I don't know if I shared any pictures of the beige Rag-top that I bought a few months back with an intent to restore. This car was a 1958 LHD rag-top but had been buggered to hell and back. All four fenders were replaced with those belonging to a 1970 bug. The hood and decklid were replaced with parts of the same (1970) vintage. The engine and tranny were replaced and the VIN number on the paperwork that i received did not match those on the car itself.
Failing to find a suitable donor car I decided to sacrifice the 58 to harvest the repair panels. The rag-top clip on the Oval is in pristine condition so we parted out the car in a way that the clip is available for grafting on another car.
Arshad took his time doing all the calculations and marking the surface with a felt tip marker. The grafting of panels from a 58 on to a 57 is difficult as there are significant differences between the two. e.g the wind screen of a 57 is smaller than a 58, the windscreen pillars wider, the inner sides of the roof wider and so on. However I have full faith in Arshad's capabilities...if anyone can do it right, its him!