Been working on so many different peoples' vehicles I've never really had a chance to do our own vehicles so this afternoon I finally started on our 1302 semi-auto;
The "as found" condition:
Rust holes in the boot lid:
Genuine VW 1302 bonnets are getting very rare and I won't use reproduction parts due to several bad experiences so it's repair time - flap wheel on an angle grinder:
I do know a lot of people on here like to see a bare Beetle bonnet
Now this is interesting - there was a lot of filler in this area and the flap wheel revealed a lot of pitting caused by previous rust problems. There's also a lot of stone chips that were hidden by filler:
Looking at the rust holes again:
For these areas I'm going to make some repair panels myself from new sheet steel and TIG weld them in place.
Overall, not too bad. There's a lot of light dents including some from the inside (1302's may have had larger boots but someone over-estimated it in the past!) but nothing a bit of metal work on the sand bags and formers can't sort out. EVERY square cm of this car is going to get the same attention! This is what I meant by a "very intense" restoration.
The deck lid and badge are both incorrect for the car:
The deck lid is fine however so I'm going to "convert" it to the correct year - it'll need two sets of vents like this instead:
The badge should say "VW-Automatic". It's not even an "S" model either as it's only got a 1300cc engine and drum brakes (for the moment!)