'70 Beetle

[TaylorMutts]

Dustin--thanks for setting up this site for the Michigan VWers. I know many of you are from the west side of the state, so I will do my best to represent the east side!

I bought my '70 Beetle in October 2007, as I was looking for something different to play with. I found my car in Fenton, and the previosu owner did a nice job restoring the mechanicals on the car. The paint left much to be desired (it looks good in pictures), and the interior was tired. Here are some "before pictures:"






I have been inspired by many of the cars on the Volksrod forum, so I am in the process of creating a street rod version of a '70 Beetle (sorry to the purists!), which means I'm going fenderless. The vision right now is to go with an orange and gray two-tone, large tires in the rear, smaller up front and whatever else inspires me as I move along.

I gutted the interior, leaving only the seats in place (they are from a Pontiac Sunfire). I have one coat of gray paint on, and will be painting the rest of the car over the next week or so. Parts are arriving almost daily at the house (my wife is about to cry uncle), so I am feeling good.

Since I am going fenderless, the rear apron of the car has been chopped off (it looked like a big beaver tail without the fenders). I have a new ceramic coated header and "hideaway" muffler ready to go on when the paint is done. Here are some "during pictures:

[TaylorMutts]

By the way, the hood is not complete--the dull finish is due to recent wet sanding. The entire paint job will be glossy. This is a street rod, not a rat rod.

[Dustin]

Looking good,

Glad to see another project car posted up. You have a nice solid car to start with so it should be a nice and smooth going project. Keep us updated

[TaylorMutts]

Mor e progress on the paint:

[Dustin]

Lookin good

[TaylorMutts]

Here we go...the latest as of last night (still plan to stripe it at the two-tone break). Obviously, a little bit of reassembly to do!

[Dustin]

any updates?

[MikeH]

Wow, can't wait to see this one finished. I like it.

[TaylorMutts]

Well, I did not meet my July 4th deadline to complete this project, but I still did it before summer was over!

The final pieces are going on the car, but it is road worthy now that I have lights and seat belts. In addition to the color change, you will see I am going fenderless. I'll call it a Volksrod, but some would say you need to extend the front beam for that distinction (I'm not up for that).

In reality, I am only at 98% complete. I still need to finish the area behind the rear seat and trim the headliner around the sunroof. Here are some pics:







I love the Bugpack hide-away muffler:



Do you think these 235/70R-15 tires make my butt look big? LOL



Not sure about the front end--I think I will lower it at some point:




For the interior, I painted the door panels and dash gray, with blue accents on the dash. New carpet really freshened up the interior and I have an oranger "5 ball" billiard ball that I will make into a shift knob:

[Dustin]

Looks good just needs to be dropped to get the full look.

[jmallen05]

I agree nice looking car, just sits six inches too high. Looks real clean though keep up the good work.


jerry

[TaylorMutts]

Thanks...I have to agree on the drop. Yesterday was the first day it has been out of the garage, since it was painted. Funny how cars look differently in the garage vs outside.

I have no experience with lowering a VW--assume installing drop spindles iin the front is the best way? I know I read something on the Samba about rear--anyone have some good pointers?

[ghiastein]

Yes I have pointers measure twice cut once better yet measure ten times then cut.

The Rear is simple just fallow your Bentley or Haynes manual. My recommendation on the rear is pay attention to the location of the splines and mark the stock location for a reference.

The front determines on how low do you want a inch or two you can get by with weld in adjusters. Dropped spindles will give you 2.5" but watch your offset. Also with the Dropped Spindles you can retain your correct geometry up front. If you really want to go low you will need both dropped spindles and weld in adjusters. Normally you would also need to narrow the beam but running fender less I don't think you should worry.

AJ

[MikeH]

I thought you were adding a front beam extension. When you getting that done?

Also just curious, any Michigan laws that prevent fenderless cars? Must throw some great rooster tails in the rain.

[TaylorMutts]

Just noticed the last post...sorry! I did have a beam extender in my hands, but reconsidered installing it. Just was not comfortable making that modification, plus I still might go back to running with fenders some day (I'll need to weld the rear apron back on, but I cut it with the idea it could easily go back on).

I could find no Michigan state laws requiring fenders, but did discover one that requires bumpers (I'm working on that). No problems with roostertails as I do not drive this car in the rain.