Rear fenders

The original rear fenders have been missing since the war, so suitable replacements had to be made. Some old replacement parts I bought on the Norwegian vw-forum two years ago, was brought in from the barn an fitted to the car.

The mounting pieces for the rear lights were purchased form wolfparts. These are excellent quality, and were a perfect fit.

Now we are getting somewhere =)

A good day's work at the garage!

The rear valance is original, but rather bent, battered and rusty... Faithful reproductions are available, but too expensive for me.

Earlier this summer, I had purchased one of the standard reproduction valances for pre-67 cars. After having cut and drilled out the original one, I cut out the "best of both worlds" from the two valances

After some trialfitting and measuring, the new piece was spotwelded together.

The holes for the twin-post -55 exhaust had to be handled of course, so they were welded shut as well.

Last night, I did some surgery on the drivers side of the spare wheel well, it was kind of bent and battered and war-weary...

Thanks to Oval57, who went to his storage and once again gave me a most useful replacement part, the plastic surgery was quite straightforward. Countdown to "end of welding" can soon begin.... =)

Last part of the heater channels completed! What to to now, hardly any rust left on the car.....?! =)

Managed to get a good start on the right heater channel this week. Lots of adjustments when one is putting it together with many individual parts....the next time, I might go for a complete channel...!

Not many updates lately - but I haven't been lazy...working with other parts and bits for the '50.

The other week, as the other sechs volt cars were about to emerge from the barn, we had to move the Ghia. We found out the hard way that a Ghia is a bit heavier than a beetle. We had to mount the front suspension and four wheels to move it!. Now it resides a bit more out of the way - and it looks very good with rubber on. Can't wait to start to restore it! =)

Finally done with the left heater channel :-)

The rear quarter panel shows the typical vw-sign of wear and tear....so it had to go as well. I did not manage to finish it all up tonight, but the new part seems to align up quite nice. Some small adjustments next time, and then the lower part of the channel will be up next! =)

The heater channel has been bugging me for quite some time now, and today was the time to start sorting it out. Oval57 had recently brought me an excellent piece from one of his vw-journeys, and this was carefully welded in place. I felt a bit sweaty when cutting out the rotted old metal, but the reinforcements held....and the door gap still has the same measurements as before =)

Tonight there were some parts to pick up, so I only managed to finish up the welds on the channel from last time. Next up is butchering the rusted parts of the channels, so I also reinforced the body with some steel bars.

With very good help from Fürsten, I managed to get a good start on the rear left heater channel/inner fender tonight. It's funny how you always have to cut out more metal than you anticipated in the first place.... The end result looked quite good, I have to say. Still some more to finish it up, but it kept me smiling all the way home :-)

One of the last evenings before new years eve, I spent an fruitful afternoon in the 6v garage toghether with Oval57. After welding the rear bumber mounts, we separated the chassis and body, mounted the body in oval57's "body-roll" and tipped the -50 upside down. The welding will now be much easier....and a good thing that is, because the lower side of the heater channels looks a little "moth-eaten".....

Not much to report lately - have been using the last several evenings in the garage to make some kind of order in all my parts and junk...Ordnung muB sein, right?

The preparation of the -68 1300 "F" engine from 12V to 6V as a spare engine is also nearly finished. After a thorough cleanup, painting, some new gaskets and fittings, a power pulley and a bugpack muffler, it should provide a good daily driver for a 6V car. =)

Before and after pictures tells it all....?

Not much progress to report on the '50 lately....

But time is spent weekly in the garage on other things though.

This week we primed Oval57's 52 split. I had consultant help in the garage also, she brought out freshly baked buns, jam and also a white table-cloth "to make things around here a bit cosy" as she put it... =)

The priming went okay - and we look forward to the final coats next week!

Mid-july....and the rainiest day ever this summer....

Hitting the wet roads with the -56 is quite okay, though.....larger engine, big tires and wet "tarmac" makes driving both funny and challenging....especially in roundabouts =)

I'm lucky that my old man also enjoys driving vw's - he drives '63 1200 - converted to a american roadster cab.

Earlier this summer, he shod the cab with new whitewall biasply tires - drove up to the vintage race "flåklypa grand prix" in Gudbrandsdalen and back again - a hefty 1000 kilometers in olny 36 hours.

With only a original 1200 engine and no cab - I call that hard core. He finished 5. in his class also, by the way.

RESPECT =)

All sun and summer at the 6V garage.... I want to have the wheels and rims ready when I start to work on the '50 chassis this winter. So yesterday I spent some hours in the sun grinding and prepping the wheels for paint. I'm going for original wide-5 wheels, just had the rears widened to 5,5". The new, 5.5" rim parts are of course original Kronprinz stuff.... =)

Started to prime them as well... =)

Thanks to oval57 for giving me two "NOS" spare wheels!

The summer has so far left little time in the garage – this is anyway the time for driving…
Let the kid handle the steering wheel on an empty parking lot the other day – he was thrilled.
We might have a future vw-nerd here =)

A little check with both fenders, decklid and bumpers on....the parts seem to fit together good :-)

Celebrated part of the national holiday in the garage this year :-)

Replaced some sheetmetal behind the left rear bumpemounts - and trialfitted mounts itself and "the dolly". Looks good so far - next time I will trialfit the rear fenders and the correct split bumper. That's gonna be fun! :-)