After owning my '59 RHD Beetle for a good number of years, it was starting to look a little tatty around the edges. It had never been subject to any 'restoration' work before (other than a bottom half respray in the early 1990s), but it was beginning to get to the point where it would need some attention. I could have spent a day patching up the areas that needed some welding, but instead it was decided that the car should have a sympathetic restoration.

My good friend Karl McCarthy will be doing the welding over the coming months as and when time allows.

Here is the car before we started:




The aim is to try and maintain as much originallity as possible and not go over the top with the restoration.

We started a couple of months ago by stripping some panels off and split the body and pan:


54 years of dirt:



The engine is a '54 30bhp engine I rebuilt in 2000, it's only covered about 2000 miles since the rebuild. The original engine was lost in 1992. If anybody comes across a 30bhp engine starting with 265**** please let me know!!!



The pan is in really good condition with only a few tiny areas needing attention:




Pan and beam stripped:


...and off to be media blasted:


Unfotunately, the body has not survived in as good condition as the pan. It only ever seems to have had a couple of patches in its life though:









The plan is to sort out the pan and complete the rolling chassis before dropping the body back on for aligment of heater channels etc etc.

The pan arrived back from the blasters a couple of weeks ago:


I had never noticed this repair before:


A few other bits need localised repairs, but nothing too bad at all:

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I thought you had sold this,my ragtop was far worse but I do think garnet is a special colour and miss mine

Owen warlow had an og paint good bonnet amongst other garnet items

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I love that car, garnet red has to be one of my all time favourite VW colours, I look forward to watching the progress on it. It's not in bad nick considering it's over 50 years old and hasn't been restored.

Good luck with the resto :thumbup:

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One issue with this car is that the choke cable snapped some time ago. The thin choke cable runs in a spiral steel sleeve that is encased within a thin plastic tube. This assembly runs through a 10mm conduit in the tunnel. If water gets into the cable, the spiral steel sleeve rusts and expands and the cable becomes well and truly stuck in the conduit. After literally months of soaking the cable/conduit in penetrating fluid and using every tool known to man to extract the cable, Karl and I reached the conclusion there was going to be no easy way of releasing the cable and we would have to fit a new conduit from front to back. My day was spent yesterday with angle grinder in hand- drastic measures!!


...in the end, we managed to cut the conduit in half and manage to free the cable (in several pieces). The conduit was then cleaned out thoroughly and stitched back together before invisible repairs were carried out to the pan:


All this for a broken choke cable!!

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looking good rich, is it a UK RHD or import. It looks in good condition for its age, :thumbup:

It's a UK car from new and has covered 120,000 miles. I know the history from day one. For a UK car, it's not bad at all!

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Its intresting to compare this with my owne 59 to see how its faird over the years.



Andy W

great stuff!

reminds me of the 'sympathetic' resto on my 67 :rofl:

by the way, is that the same, Karl the welder who did barclays barndoor?

That's what worries me Rob! There's no way I am going to let this one turn into a 100-point restoration (honestly!). I just want it to be very solid, tidy and nice to drive.

No, this is a different Karl.

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Nice car ,I had an early big window car myself and was a joy to own .i am familiar with sympathetic restorations ,the more I take things apart the more sympathy required .Your car looks very good compared to most other uk cars of that era and a nice interior to.

well you have to draw the line. plus keeping it more dealer-fresh was my goal, hence why the pan was stone chipped on the underside to look factory.

really looking forward to seeing this one evolve, the car def deserves it mate :thumbup:

whats the make of tyre on your 59?

i would of loved to buy this car and questioned it to myself over and over but i knew the work it would proberbly need and for me would of ended up a full resto and i would of got carried away with it once the pan was seperated.

RHD,garnet red early big window car ticks all the boxes for me! 58/59 is one of the best year bugs for me.great to see you working on the car rich looking forward to seeing more pics please keep it updated often.

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They are Camac 5.60s X-plies that I fitted on the car in 1999.

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I have to agree. Having owned Beetles from nearly every year from 1947 to 1975, the 58s and 59s are the best built, nicest colour options, great combination of early mechanicals with 'modern' looks etc.

This one won't be finished to your standard Andy, although it will be nice when finished. I want it built as a tidy driveable car, retaining as much originality as possible.

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thanks for that

Garnet Red is such a lovely colour. I look forward to watching this thread.

Rich any up-dates :d




Andy W.

No progress yet. I think this is going to be a slow restoration.

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A 1968 1200 is not such a bad model to go for. Simple base model painted interior, blade bumpers as from 1952, 'modern' looks, some nice colours, and the biggest plus 12volt electrics.:beer:

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