Sara's '71 Beetle Restoration - Calamity
   

This is how Calamity looked when I first bought her for my sister, Sara. On the surface she seemed to be in good condition, but once we got her home and started to remove panels, we realised that she had a serious rust problem! We decided that the best option would be to buy a new shell for her, but the replacement shells sold by Herritage had gone up in price to £4,500, which was too expensive. After some searching on e-bay we came across a really good condition shell in the West Midlands, which we picked up at the end of August, so now after a 2 year wait (as I've been busy setting up the business!), the Calamity project is back on!

Sara sanded down the body pannels, whilst Jez welded up some holes in the boot floor.

Finally the sanding was finished and she was ready for a coat of etch primer.

The first coat of etch primer is completed

Now the scary bit! Jez and Paul cut a hole in the roof to accomodate the sunroof taken from Sara's original Beetle. Jez grinds the edges smooth and drills holes for the bolts.

More photos soon!

Roof Chop:

This is one of our own projects. I've still got a lot of work to do on this one, it's going to be well worth it when she's finished. This is how she looked when we first bought her:

She'd already had her roof lowered by 4 inches, but unfortunately the work hadn't been done very well. The roof needed re-welding, the front beam needed changing and the rear vent panel needed modifying to fit the glass. Clearly the bodywork also needed some attention, and perhaps a coat of paint.....

Paul contemplated the problem......then made the arches fit the wheels, by sticking in 4 inches!

The finished result, once the wheel arches had been welded and filled.

  

30lb of filler later!

More photos to follow soon.....