bosco 13,033 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Been a bit absent lately..... but for a good reason!! Ever since I can remember, my dad has been bringing home cars to tinker with in the hopes that I would take a project on with him. When I was younger, I always seemed to have a million other things to do other than hanging out with my dad. Of course as you get older in life you realize that each day that you have with your parents is a gift. My dad has always loved muscle cars, however, we both seem to love Classic VWs. My dad has brought home at least a dozen. When I was 15 we had 2 1974 super beetles and I really thought that I would get involved. Money and time never permitted and my dad let them go. 10 years ago my dad found a hidden gem. An original owner 1968 convertible from California. Some guy that my dad new drove it back to Canada and began restoring it. Before he passed away, he completed a full restoration of the frame. He did a body off restoration on the chassis. My dad ended up being able to buy it from another person that took over the garage. This car had a special place in my dads heart. He buys and sells everything and never seems to keep anything for himself. Well this lasted a decade. He recently sold his 74 Dodge Dart swinger slant six and figured that it was time to jump in on the VW with both feet. in my early 40s now I figured it was time that I too fulfilled his 30 year request to help tackle a restoration project. sorry long winded I know.... for the past 10 years this beetle has gone up and down the driveway. It runs great but a total eyesore. The original colour was Yukon yellow and someone sprayed it black after what we now know to be a result of some bad body work from a collision prior to the 90s. We are not body work people and we found an excellent body shop to bring my dads dream back to life!! And after 10 years of this sitting it was officially off for a new start.... Turns out that we had more rot than we had expected and we found out that the front end was caved in from a collision and never repaired. our fenders were rotted as well as the hood and front apron. So we had to replace a bunch of parts. We sourced New old stock items and were able to find 35-40 year old brand new parts. after a month getting body just right and lots of metal added to some shady spots we are just at the painting stage. The body shop messaged me yesterday to show me a teaser..... we went with royal red over the original Yukon yellow. My dads favourite colour and quite frankly maybe mine too now lol. We are going sometime next week to see the progress. Can’t wait to see how this looks all corrected and brought back to life. Still have a long road ahead of us to get this back to life, however, spending this time with my dad has been an amazing experience for me. freddyjbbq, daninpd, Scott Roberts and 7 others 10 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vanole 131 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Great story...BUT...an even better way to spend your time. bosco 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ckreef 19,929 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Good project. Looks like it's coming along nicely. bosco 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philpom 7,494 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Looking great and even better that it comes with all of those memories. I have been wanting a beetle for along time. At one point I had a couple of Opel GT's, I want another of those to tinker with also. bosco 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TKOBBQ 5,792 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Nice, hope you continue to take us along on this journey, enjoy the memories you are making. bosco 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
retfr8flyr 1,595 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Great project, nice to be able to do it with your dad. Dave Kendig started his business doing VW bugs and still has a soft spot in his heart for them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bosco 13,033 Posted February 8, 2020 Author Share Posted February 8, 2020 Thanks all... this is more an opportunity of creating memories with my dad now. I feel blessed!! A few updates ... retfr8flyr, TKOBBQ, Scott Roberts and 2 others 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lnarngr 254 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 That is great. Time with Dad is priceless! You are lucky he was patient; I bet he's a great father! Kule car as well! bosco 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bel4_20 313 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 That is amazing @bosco I love seeing this from one standpoint being a former Mechanic and also being in my mid forties i've unfortunately lost both my parents within the last 4 years so this hits home spend as much time as you can because a blink of the eyes and there gone. I wish I had more time with them. Love the VW love the colour! looking forward to seeing it finished! bosco 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bosco 13,033 Posted February 12, 2020 Author Share Posted February 12, 2020 Paint was finished today. Now they will start sanding and buffing. Should get it back in two weeks I am guessing. Then our work begins again bel4_20, ckreef and TKOBBQ 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
keeperovdeflame 10,079 Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Very touching story, Bosco, and those are truly classic California Cars. Had a friend in college that had one painted bright yellow. We drove the wheels off the thing. Now in the neighborhood there is a retired lady that has one painted red with white pin striping that says "Gramma's Buggy" (her son in law bought and restored it for her. She loads it up with grand kids and is always driving it all over the neighborhood, kids love it. Just saw them yesterday out looking for Deer in the neighborhood. Great way to spend some quality time with your dad. Nothing like doing a project together to bring people closer together. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
daninpd 2,086 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Man, @bosco, you are bringing that thing back from nearly being dead. You and your Dad are going to be proud driving that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brick Pig 501 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 This is awesome! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bosco 13,033 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 I haven’t updated this post in a while. We completed the body and paint work a few months ago. put on a new windshield and reinstalled all of our glass. fenders and running boards installed. we will have our hands filled with re-wiring the car. My dad has his electrical ticket so we plan on doing this ourselves. As you can see the wiring looks like a birds nest right now. Rob_grill_apprentice, Scott Roberts and ckreef 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bosco 13,033 Posted May 28, 2020 Author Share Posted May 28, 2020 So we have been busy over the past few months since we got her home. first thing we added all of our exterior trim, emblems, bumpers, mirrors, a second antenna as the first one was installed incorrect and we broke it. this car did not come with a stereo when it was built in 68 so we added an original 68 stereo and speaker. the wiring was a total mess. We ended up with a new panel, switches and relays and we were chasing wires for weeks until everything was finally sorted out. We had alignment issues with the front hood as it was after market and we spent a great deal of time getting it set. Still a work in progress, however; it locks now and latches. installed the dashboard and all components and we have a working radio finally. we added tar sound proofing kit to the floor and trunk. And this week we started putting the interior trunk together. we should have all of the carpet installed shortly and we will be installing the seats. They could be resorted, however; dad wants to keep them as is for now. We have an appointment with an interior upholstery guy in a few weeks to patch a few parts. we spent the past two weeks looking for a passenger foot rest that needed to be installed prior to the carpet installation. We found one finally so we can proceed with the rest of the carpet kit. KismetKamado, Golf Griller, TKOBBQ and 4 others 6 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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