I think due to my lack of updates that my original thread has dissapeared. So apologise for any reposts !

I bought this '51 from a guy in Holland about 4 years ago after looking for sometime for an unmessed with pre 53 beetle this one was 'the one'. A quick race to Holland resulted in us dragging it out of hibernation and driving 600miles back home to Devon in one day !

Unbeknown to me this car had previously belonged to 2 members of this forum before it left for Holland, fortunately I was able to regain the original number plate.:wink:

I drove it for a couple of years and came to the conclusion that it was in need of some TLC, the car had been plastered on the underside with grease and underseal which had done a remarkable job of preserving the car. I thought the best option would be to lift the body and totally overhaul the floorpan and mechanical items.

Whilst I have restored a number of VW's myself over the years as I now have a more demanding job and children I knew that if I started it would be 5 years later before I finished, I had seen some work by Ben Lewis AKA Evil Ben and living reasonably close by it was an obvious choice to entrust him with the task.

First up body removed:

Next up a good clean of the pan to remove the underseal:

Everything including the pan sent for sandblasting:

Then all of the smaller parts were stripped back to metal by hand:

Before I post the following bit, I want to say that Ben, Mike and the guys have been fantastic and Ben's passion for getting things right is second to none, but disaster struck when Ben sent the pan for sandblasting. The guy doing the sandblasting used one half of the pan to rest the smaller items on whilst blasting them, this resulted in warping a small section of the pan. I think Ben was far more mortified than I was, this put us a a situation where we were stuck, at the time no-one produced the 'correct' pan halfs, the option was to repair the warped section but I pestered Gerson at Klassicfab who told me that the opposite side was nearly ready but didn't yet have the dies made for the R/H side I needed ! bloody typical. I absolutely pestered Gerson to make me a 'one off' I think the guy only made me one in the end to get rid or me !! This truly is the first R/H pan he made. Ben's attention to detail has ensured that you truly would not know it had been replaced,

Someone had cut the gear linkage hole in the past, a small repair was needed:



Then the pan was reblasted (with great care !) and powdercoated satin black:

Then comes the nice part; the reassembly !








The car used to leak gearbox oil through the nose cone when parked facing downhill, Ben had a local machine shop machine the nose cone to fit a later model seal, I know this isn't correct but I think it was worth doing, and it isn't visible !

I needed a new set of tyres, I know they are expensive but I think Avon Tourists are the way to go:



Pan rolling, probably cleaner than it was when it left the factory:

I think Mike pulled the short straw as he was 'nominated' to clean the 60 years of grime from the underside, you can see that he loves his work !





A repeat of what happened 60 years ago, this time in a small workshop in Cornwall





Going down:



Touchdown !

Looking good Ian.
Did you manage to route the fuel pipe back down the tunnel?

Ben has been a friend of mine for a long time, and his work is absolutely second to none. Although hes known for his slammed cars, his detail work is awesome, and he knows exactly whats factory and whats not. The early notch he restored was also perfect.....i think perfection is bens middle name :lol:

been keeping an eye on this car for a long time......i plan to do the same to my 62 rag soon.

great car! :thumbup:

Yes has a nice new tube running through tunnel, which is nice to get it back to 'factory'

Lovely!

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Thanks Rob, your '67 was one car that inspired this, I keep toying with a repaint of the body but that might have to wait until winter 2013 as I really want to drive to HO this time, after seeing your '67 and a few other cars he has painted I will probably entrust that task to Gavin at TQR, again I am fortunate that he is based not a million miles from me.

very nice indeed!

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cant go wrong with Gav at TQR, he also knows how its done, a real mate :thumbup:

Car back home, with a nice rear rack picked up along the way !



still a few jobs to do before the MOT. Checked the fuel system and found the tank outlet and reserve tap filter clogged, gave it all a good clean out. Wheel arches all looking nice and clean.



Floorpan looks great !



Picked up a pretty complete barn find 25hp motor which will eventually act as donor to rebuild my matching numbers motor

Quite shamefully haven't used the car much, decided to get it started the other day only to find it was struggling to fire up. A bit of diagnosis determined that the voltage to the coil was around 4 volts ! It was losing 2 volts between the battery and the route to the coil. I bit the bullet and ordered a new wiring loom from John Henry in the USA, I have started to fit it but found the speedo pod switches are in need of some attention, photos to follow soon :d