UNSTUCK
But stuck more often.
Well I was thinking I would get more of a break after finishing the Sunbeam, but here I am. John approached me a month or two ago about his next project he was working on and asked if I'd take it over. Me being a glutton for punishment jumped on it. I was told the car was ready to go as far as body and paint. The upholstery would be a simple website kit that I would install. Yeah, no. 
To his credit the body work is finished, minus paint. He likes the look of the earlier bugs with the smaller windshield and back window so he found a beat up 1957 turned Baja and cut them out and then grafted them into this '59 body. He had a buddy in Arizona do that work and the first couple of blocks and primer sprays. It actually looks pretty good. So the body just needs a few more blocks and then paint. For that he ran across a beautiful bug in Huntington Beach with a "light mint" paint job. We will copy pretty much the look of that car.
The pan, or frame of this car has not been touched yet, and where I will spend most of my time. I really knew nothing about Beetles before this (still don't really) but am quickly learning. I didn't know the pan was separate from the body. So being able to separate the body will be great. There is 60 years of grease and dirt caked on all the suspension parts (and random dead mice and poop) that need to be cleaned off and the entire pan needs to be blasted and then probably just sealed up and painted, but there are talks of modifying as well.
The main plan: This car will be all electric powered. I don't have a lot of information on that at this point as we are juggling a few ideas, and learning as we go. There are a few kits out there, but they aren't exactly what John wants. Not unique enough. There is a kit coming out in a couple months that will be awesome, if we want to wait, that will be totally unique and mind blowing. There is an awesome VW engineered kit that we can't get our hands on. That one would be awesome, keeping it all VW. Oh well.
We are also talking about adding an IFS kit and also an A-arm rear suspension. At a minimum, upgrading the stock suspension will be a must as we add battery weight.
In theory, everything should be bolt on for this build. So don't expect too much fabrication. The tech should be pretty good though as I learn and pass on information about converting to electric drive. I have learned a ton in the last two weeks and it really is awesome what these electric motors can do.
My main goal: Don't let it take 5 years to build!!! Although 5 years from now it will be fun to look back at this and reread what I thought the plan was and see how it's changed. Realistically I see this going much faster. I can have the body at paint while working on the pan and installing the suspension and motor parts. I could also have the seats getting rebuilt at the same time. I'm just going to throw this out and see what happens: Autorama 2020.
Just need a catchy name for it. Thinking something like the Lightening Bug, but would prefer one word that means the same. Something that hints at electricity. Let me know what you got.
So here it is as I received it October 12th, 2019.
The end goal, just quieter and hopefully 2 to 10 times the original horse power. ?
To his credit the body work is finished, minus paint. He likes the look of the earlier bugs with the smaller windshield and back window so he found a beat up 1957 turned Baja and cut them out and then grafted them into this '59 body. He had a buddy in Arizona do that work and the first couple of blocks and primer sprays. It actually looks pretty good. So the body just needs a few more blocks and then paint. For that he ran across a beautiful bug in Huntington Beach with a "light mint" paint job. We will copy pretty much the look of that car.
The pan, or frame of this car has not been touched yet, and where I will spend most of my time. I really knew nothing about Beetles before this (still don't really) but am quickly learning. I didn't know the pan was separate from the body. So being able to separate the body will be great. There is 60 years of grease and dirt caked on all the suspension parts (and random dead mice and poop) that need to be cleaned off and the entire pan needs to be blasted and then probably just sealed up and painted, but there are talks of modifying as well.
The main plan: This car will be all electric powered. I don't have a lot of information on that at this point as we are juggling a few ideas, and learning as we go. There are a few kits out there, but they aren't exactly what John wants. Not unique enough. There is a kit coming out in a couple months that will be awesome, if we want to wait, that will be totally unique and mind blowing. There is an awesome VW engineered kit that we can't get our hands on. That one would be awesome, keeping it all VW. Oh well.
We are also talking about adding an IFS kit and also an A-arm rear suspension. At a minimum, upgrading the stock suspension will be a must as we add battery weight.
In theory, everything should be bolt on for this build. So don't expect too much fabrication. The tech should be pretty good though as I learn and pass on information about converting to electric drive. I have learned a ton in the last two weeks and it really is awesome what these electric motors can do.
My main goal: Don't let it take 5 years to build!!! Although 5 years from now it will be fun to look back at this and reread what I thought the plan was and see how it's changed. Realistically I see this going much faster. I can have the body at paint while working on the pan and installing the suspension and motor parts. I could also have the seats getting rebuilt at the same time. I'm just going to throw this out and see what happens: Autorama 2020.
Just need a catchy name for it. Thinking something like the Lightening Bug, but would prefer one word that means the same. Something that hints at electricity. Let me know what you got.
So here it is as I received it October 12th, 2019.
The end goal, just quieter and hopefully 2 to 10 times the original horse power. ?
