Legend has it that the Phoenix, in all it's beauty, never quiet dies but is reborn from the ashes to once again become a full on masterpiece of a creation. What better then, than to assign this very title to the project at hand; The rebirth of a standard 1958 VW beetle sedan as a 1957 Oval window ragtop by adding to the cars age by just 6 months.
The story begins a little over a year ago, when a particular 1958 ragtop beetle came up for grabs in the Volkswagen community of Rwp/Isb. A car that I for one had been eyeballing for over 5 years, long before I got my first VW; "greymatter". The ragtop that almost everyone in the community drooled over was the source of some interesting happenings. The car managed to clone itself into two and was for sale at multiple locations under multiple titles for multiple prices at the same time. Everyone it seems rushed to get their hands on her, though eventually as the dust settled, she landed in a home befitting her worth. The car though was to make the ultimate sacrifice. At the time she was changing hands, a project was underway of the restoration of a long awaited '57 oval. Not mine. Not as yet. That project however required some serious donor parts and those too, period correct. The '58 ragtop, hacked in the front and back with post '68 hood, aprons, fenders, decklids and even the chasis was too far gone. Even the doors were held shut by a sliding bolt lock borrowed from an old toilet it seemed and so it was decided that it would save the '57 oval by grafting complete sides leaving just the dash and the roof behind.
The ragtop clip from the donor '58 was cut intelligently and saved. Thats one part sourced.
I too at this time was looking for a car for my father who had always wanted a 1958 or older VW. I managed to make a deal for a rather decent looking '58 sedan. The car came with an oval window clip and an oval dash from 1957. Thats part 2,3 and 4 sourced.
The deal took its sweet time to complete and the car almost got sold elsewhere but with everything finally in order, the wait now was to get the car transferred and queued for body work.
As the months slowly progressed, the car was stored away from its rust prone location and stripped. A parts list was devised and work began on sourcing as much of the parts needed as possible. The list is long and the parts scarce and work on sourcing these is still underway.
Join me in the project as it progresses slowly and steadily. Be warned!
Graphic images to follow. Not for the faint of heart.
This project will progress slowly and updates be irregular.