International Vintage Volkswagen Forums

Hi all, my name is Joao and I´m from Portugal.

I would like to show you the small repairs i've been doing on my '53. It´s been parked in a garage since 1977, and I am the proud 3rd owner :)
I didn´t restore it completly, because I have a another project going on, a '73 1303LS Karmann Cabriolet and it is going to be my future daily driver

hope you enjoy it

Joao

---

Sorry for the double topic, my bad :oops:

here are some more pictures, from last summer when I bought it from a friend of mine from https://www.vintagevans.com.pt/ 

---

In June '08 the small rebuild of the engine started, just enough to get on the road again 😎

---

It had a "stylish" carpet put in by the previous owner :lol: and a lot of wrong details...







but a few bits of the original carpet was still there

---

Back in July '08 I relly wanted to go to a Vw Meeting in my hometown Cascais Village and had to get the breaks and the rest of the mechanical parts ok, for it to be drivable.







and the engine was back in 😎



and working :lol:

---

here I got all the electrics working proporlly

---

right rear light was a bit out of place...





had some wheels and got them sandblasted to fit some new tires



more stuff done transmission covers and brake system

---

yes I'm currantly rebuilding the old reservoir to fit it back in :)

---

This was the day the '53 came home, then I started to fix some body parts.



quick bath...

---

we started to sand the paint, and get rid of the parts with a lot of rust



a few friends helping out



my friend Gui, always ready to work, is also rebuiding a '61 with sliding sunroof

---

My wife helping out :d



this section needs a bit more attention...

---

Thats a really nice original car Keep up the good work.:d

What a lovely car!!

I love Portugal. Last time I was there on holiday about five years ago, I found four Ovals and one Split Bug. My wife was not impressed.

---

:lol: she's only faking, she must love you for it really!

Great interesting pics and car 51reutter! :d :beer:

---

more cleaning and painting







the hood was in really bad shape so I used one from a '54 that I had

---

Thank you all for nice comments :d

---

Nice car, I also love the old style plates!

A nice sound car, and such an early Oval. Great to see such dedication with the Mrs involved too:d

The trim around the windscreen really does show how small it is compared to your friend's '61 screen.

I think the number plates look great too :wink:

---

Thanks guys,

I'm really lucky my wife likes the vw's as much as I do, that´s wy I curruntly rebuiding the Cabrio it is "her car"... :)

more photos, hope you enjoy

more sanding and painting

---

Then we started to polish everything







painting the wheels...

---