DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Those gaps are painted on, everyone can see that! ( )

Stunning precision and surely better than when first built?

Painting today?

Looking good Rich .

Wish mine was that good!

Me too. Very nice indeed. Just a wee bit jealous of that shell.

Thanks everyone for the feedback - It's really appreciated, especially by those actually working on the car - when I started this I had no idea what was involved or how much of a trip this would be. I've been really fortunate and had some really great people working on the car and guiding me on the way.

Have to say, even without paint, I'm feeling lucky too. I'm lucky that I've got the car, the people around me and the resources to get it done. I learned a big lesson when I re-built my beetle 20 odd years ago. I cut corners then through both ignorance and budgeting. Decided this time to try and get it as right as poss. Without over-restoring...

But those gaps are really lovely. Really, really lovely. They do look painted on, but they're not!

Anyway - Great trip today and thanks to Darren for entertaining me through the Christmas break and on a Sunday too... You've already got the picture from yesterday's posting, but it's Christmas, so indulge me? Here's a couple more.

R

Hope you don't mind a little more indulgence …

…but really enjoying this project…







Great to see you Richard and enjoyed our little impromptu photo shoot….

…..in search of the perfect shot.…





Cheers,

Well, its been a crazy busy January - and I've been out of the country 3 weeks out of four, so I have a long-suffering wife to thank for keeping things in good shape at home....

And to Darren and Rich for cracking on with the project.

Time for an update.....

Doors, bonnet, deck-lid and boot all primered and rubbed down to final finish....










Safety sticker firmly in place and being looked after....this has been a complete PITA for Rich...I'm going to have to buy him a couple of pints at the end of this....



And then onto the seam-sealing. Now this is not factory and I make no apologies for it. Now the product is on the market it makes sense to give this car the best of protection for the future. As Rich put it "Spending time here could probably add another 10 years of life to the shell" Which sounds like a well invested few hours then.....







I love this shot, it looks like it's a bespoke suit with the chalk-marks on it ready for final stitching. And as this is a bespoke shell now, I kind of like the analogy. Forgive me, I've not had much sleep over the last week or so....



Inside the wings too...





And finally underneath



Should keep the tin worm at bay for a little while....

So now onto the undersealing. This is where it starts to get a little bit ambiguous in terms of what's 'right'. We've got the product, but we're keen to make sure that we don't 'over-restore' so we're deliberately leaving some rough and ready bits, as they would have done in the factory. We've been asking Rich to imagine that he's got another 10 cars to do in the next hour and that seems to allow us to keep the edges a bit rough...





A good example here of a non-perfect edge in the under-bonnet area







And then onto the inner arches, engine bay and underside











And having spent so many, many hours myself getting this stuff off, it feels a bit wierd looking at it 'all back on again' although this time I know it's perfect underneath









Another good example of rough and ready around the rear arches



But precision-painting under the bonnet - where it would have been good in the factory...



So - a lot of effort put in to look 'nonchalant'....I think Rich has done a great job on this.

So, one last job before we go for colour.....sound pads. This is a tricky one because the originals are no longer on the market, but Darren has found something that will replicate almost identically. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that the pattern on this mat isn't straight out of the factory....it's diamond instead of hexagon. But for the sake of two sides, I don't think I'm going to quibble too much.

Especially when it looks this good....





Now the padding has a poly liner that stops it from leaching through paint. But that's exactly what we want as the paint on the floor is nothing but overspray from the interior 'blow-over' so over time, this will return back to the black colour of the floor since we've removed this poly liner.



Pads on your gussets missus?



There's one more pad to go on, just left of the passenger gusset, in the footwell. Looking good though. This makes it look really smart. And no-one will see it

It's already looking fabulous Rich - almost seems a shame to cover it up with a topcoat !

Close friends get to call him TC....

Rich, your car is going to look so good , especially when you fit a nice pair of Euro headlights

SCOOP'S... all day long.

murph2309 wrote:Close friends get to call him TC....

- now edited ...

MMMmmm, scoops (note - inspiration shot only...I'm not this far down the line!)

Whatever you choose for illumination it will be stunning.

Please bear in mind the American authorities spoilt the look of a few European sports cars over the years. More worryingly it has been pointed out to me lately that there is a slight resemblance to the pre circumcision look.

Looking forward to more updates.