Yes, it is finally time to detail my Beetle! A bit of history on this car, as it is very special to me. I had always wanted a Beetle and when I was 11 my Boy Scout troop had one at their silent auction, so my dad got it for me as something to mess around with and learn auto repair stuff. I learned how to drive in this car and everything, it's my baby haha. Well I finally had it painted last summer...and realized that I SUCK at bodywork. From 10 feet it looks great but up close you can see tons of imperfections. But that's fine, I only went with a very cheap single-stage enamel paintjob to make the car look decent for a while. Because as my username implies...this car is rusty. Not to make it undrivable, but there is still rust that will one day need to be taken care of once and for all. But that's years down the road, right now I love working on and driving this car I started with the interior, as it's been raining again so I couldn't do the outside. Other than the seat pads and covers, everything is original...and after 204,xxx miles and 39 years it's pretty shabby too. Naturally there is a lot of stuff that just won't come clean anymore, so cleaning every little crevice like I would normally do is out of the question. I used Zep Citrus at 10:1 and 3:1 on seats, door panels, and all other interior surfaces as well as the Raceglaze leather brush, Raceglaze brush set, and a toothbrush. I pulled out the floormats and found...mold. Nothing too bad, just a bit that seemed to have just started growing. I vacuumed, used more Zep, extracted it (probably not the best idea in hindsight), then used Lysol 'cos it says that it kills mold and I figured I'd try it, and I finally dried out the carpets by placing a halogen light on them in the car. I checked it every couple minutes or so to make sure nothing was getting too hot. I suspect the mold came from the bad window seals on the car. They don't leak in the rain, but all the snow we had this winter sat on the car and melted and managed to find its way inside...and it's just now warm enough for mold to grow. I've got a show on Sunday but sometime after that I'll pull the carpets and give them a more thorough cleaning. Finally I dressed the interior panels and seats with 303 Aerospace and cleaned the windows with Stoner Invisible Glass. I will update this tomorrow with after pictures and with what I do for the exterior. Before: I've only washed the car once since I had it painted...back in October. It really needs washing again. It's hard to see but there are lots of places where there is a dark residue on the car, I'm trying to show it in these pictures. Rear well area carpet and sound deadening starting to come apart here. The white spots aren't mold, it's where the carpet is falling apart. Unusual sticky residue. No clue what it is. Been there since I got the car. Carved into my headliner. This face needs a name. Anyone got a good one? If I were ever to carry some illegal substance, I'd put it here. Pull back the carpet, and there's this footrest. Pull back the footrest and there's a space. That some stupid chipmunk got into at some point, you can see the chewed up nut. I guess he crawled in through the rust hole. Damn wildlife. I have new door panels but I think I'm gonna roll with the original ones, this is the only bad one and it still looks decent. The big thing in the aircooled VW scene right now is originality anyway. Some rust...not good for sure but not dangerous. Dirty engine. Only so much can be done to keep it clean due to the oil leaks. Itching to polish this vacuum can. Dammit. Mold. I did a bit of cleaning on the white leatherette but didn't spend too much time on it. Oh, and I need some input here. I've got the following bumper stickers. I want to put a couple in the windows, but I dunno which ones. I know I'm putting the "keep louisville weird" one on but anything else look good? Despite the rust and the leaks and everything else that would define it as a bad car it still brings a smile to my face every time I drive it. I shall update tomorrow with after pictures of everything Thanks for reading, Clark
Wow what a great project car to cut your teeth on. In all honesty, start taking care of the rust NOW. As I am sure you know aircooleds rust like the day is long. I have welded 2 floors in type I's and I just did the floor over the engine of a type III squareback for a good friend. What you see on the outside of a rusty panel there probably is a lot more underneath that panel. Besides parts for aircooleds are cheap and plentiful now compared to other cars. I have a 65 mustang that like you brings a smile to my face every time I see it. Keeping up with the rust and other mechanical problems is a constant battle. As they say a restoration of an old car is never over. I wish my girlfriend understood that LOL she is so silly. Keep us up to date with the progression of you super beetle. What are your plans for the car just keep it stock? Erich
Erich, As far as rust goes, it's rusty but unfortunately it is out of my skill level and budget to fix it all now. When I'm at college I want to take some summer classes to learn how to weld and all and I think I'll start taking care of the rust then. The good thing is the floorpans themselves are very solid still. For now, my plans are just to drive it Keep it stock and drive it till it's undrivable, and finally (and this is a long time down the road) do a body-off restoration on it. Not sure what my plans for that are, I may try to make it a daily driver and for that I'd need to upgrade suspension, brakes, engine, transmission. lol. But if it were my daily I wouldn't mind sinking the money into that stuff. But of course that's ages down the road, for now I just love driving it as it is, fixing what needs to be fixed as it goes wrong and so on. The show went great today, the car ran perfectly and there was a great turnout, almost double what we had there last year. As far as detailing it, I was pressed for time so I got the interior done but the exterior I just did a quick wash and wax on. Polished the hubcaps, dressed the tires with some cheap stuff to hide the overspray on them a bit. Some pictures... It was warm yesterday so I pulled the carpets to let them dry in the sun and hopefully kill off the mold. No more mold! Pedals have never been cleaned in 39 years, I think they turned out alright. Didn't get to cleaning the engine... I don't clean the trunk...I keep all my tools up there so it's always a mess. Snapped some more pics after the show, the weather was perfect here and I wanted an excuse to drive the Beetle again. The row of aircooleds at the show. There were more but these were the only ones all parked in the same place. Thanks for reading, not much of a detail I know but I'm loving being able to drive my Beetle again :thumb: Clark
Awesome! I love the Ol'Skool Bugs. Great project car/driver you got there and great job of keepin her happy till the funds arise to restore it. Till then just drive and go to shows and enjoy.
