At long last, Bertie rides again!
(Well almost...he's actually riding on a low-loader on the way to Arshad and Khalid's garage for a little therapy.)
By way of introduction, 'Bertie' is my 1963 Deluxe Beetle (114); a Pakistan-delivery car whose original colour code was most probably # L390 Gulf Blue. First registered in Rawalpindi in July '63 and lived locally in the Rwp/Isb area ever since. That goes some way to explaining why the body, despite appearances, has been so well preserved: all original sheet metal save for the passenger's side floor pan, with almost no welding done over the years.
Under the myriad layers of mouse grey, canary yellow and light blue there even seems to be a healthy smattering of the factory Gulf Blue paint.
As I've never been keen on flashy restorations (a preservationist by nature), the plan is to keep Bertie pretty much the way he is for now, after some minor bodywork and a full mechanical recommissioning. That also means retaining the 'semi-outlaw look' sans bumpers, dings dents and all, which reminds me of how many Porsche 356s from the same era used to be driven around before the market went wild.