Retrovans 1952 Split Beetle -Lady Phoenix

[retrovan]

Great stuff Herman.

Where is this farm that breeds the hens with teeth ?

Soooooo what is happening with the oval ?

Keep posting them pics and progress, Im sure this is going to be one beautiful split.

Thanks Donavan,

This hens teeth farm is a very secret place, you need to know the right guy, have the correct handshake, and be able to mumble the password backwards with out moving your lips.

Oh!, and nearly forgot, you need very ...very.. deep pockets....

Will be posting as we go along, and will try to build up a good provenance for the beetle as we go along.

You ask about the Oval, well... that is something that will have to wait and see, 1st the 52 beetle.....

Herman.

[retrovan]

Great thread. I will be following it with interest!!!

Thanks, hope I can I can fill your expectations.........

Hope to get the photo's moving again soon.

Herman

[retrovan]

OK, update so far, just to keep you in the loop, (notice I did not say "Picture", as I do not have any to load right now)

So the story this far.........

The 52 shell and other rust parts where saved by Wernher, (vw59beetle) from the farm it has been hiding on and taken to his house ready for me to collect.

Thanks again Wernher, you an officer and a gentleman. I lift my hat to you.

So then I decided to fly to JHB,.... no silly,....... by aircraft, at my age, the arms can not take it anymore....

As the 52 Beetle was so badly rusted, and would completely fall apart if moved straight to PE, I asked Pierre (Bugger) to assist me to transport it to his place, for shot blasting, prepping and primer prior to its travel to the coast.

Thank you too kind sir, for your help.

We will be welding in quit a few panels and replacing rust with steel where ever it is possible. one thing for sure, this 52 Beetle will not be held together with fiberglass.

OK, so now all I need to do, is to post a few Pic's of this move, so that you may see the extent of this project, and the ambition to have it at next years George Show.

Till then

Thanks for looking.

Herman

[Terry Phillips]

Thats the spirit Herman, good luck hope all goes well.

[retrovan]

So, its been some time....

As most would know, my time is not my own at this time, with Consultant Work, Moving house and office, building new house, renovating new office, and trying to do projects one runs out of these few hours in a day.

This means, that to prevent the 1952 Beetle project from grinding to a halt, I have farmed-out the Body work, or should I say, the metal cut, bend, fit and re-weld to someone with more time and better equipped for the job.

No, the final prep and flatting will still be mine, and the body ready for paint will be done by me.

Then Paint and assembly..... again ME....

So here are some teasers to wet your pallet.......

Here we have an Hole'y 1952 Beetle pan with more hole and less pan.



As this is the correct pan for the car, we will have to fix it, and get it back to life....
and that has been done.....



"A" pillars are gone "west"as well, so they where cut and fitted.......





As some of you may remember, this will be a "Used" car, not a Trailer Queen, so the engine will be "Upped" a bit, and to load it in and out with ease, the back Valance has been made removable.

With all shouting at the same time...".Beetle engine is easy to take in and out.".. let me explain..

The split window had a much higher fitting engine, the box is held tight up to the body, so to get an 1600tp engine with twin carbs in is near impossible. Yes..Yes.. if you take off near all the satellite parts, it just slips in....but fully complete, its a drag.




OK so we will carry on with this reconstruction, and as I have more, I will post it.

Thanks for looking.

Herman
+
team

[Muderick]

Hey Herman... You do of course know how special that 52 split window crotch cooler beetle is right?

This model is one of the rarest around both locally and abroad. I was quite looking forward to this build until I realised it was going to be a custom job and not a sympathetic or even preservation restoration.

Personally, after reading your last post, I have come to realise that it's after all your beetle and you can and will do with it as you see fit. I did not mean to offend in any way and please don't take my purist's disappointment too seriously.

Muds

[retrovan]

Hi Muds,

You Have touched my hart......... , You have stirred in me gilt, as I have never had........



No, offense taken there Muds, Yes I know the value of this 52, and yes it is up to me to preserve it for the young ones after us, but you must remember that the car has very little parts as is, and that as I get the correct parts I will be fitting it, it has no gearbox, so regardless what I put in, it can be taken out again in the future.

All metal work will be age correct and fitted with new steel of the correct shape and pressings, this here car would cost me close to R100 000.oo before the 1sr layer of paint goes on, this excludes the parts that I have got till now, as well as the parts still to come, this is only for the metal that you see.

No Sir, this is no Hot Rod, or Boy Racer, this car will be 1952 Beetle as from the factory on the outside, as well as the interior.

Whats under the hood, is no body's business. so when parked next to the 51 at the Auto Pavilion, no body will see any difference.

Every thing that I will be doing to this here 52, will be age correct, or replaceable when the car is on the road.

One thing I do know with projects, they DIE when kept in the garage till all parts are 1st found, then they go to the scrap yard as the love is lost due to lack of parts.

No, NO, No, Sir, this will not happen here, this here 52 an this here 52 Beetle will be rolling up and down the road, enjoying life long before all the parts are found.

When I die, and some one wants to fit the original motor, and park it in the Auto Pavilion, then it will take NO HARD WORK or cash to do this.

"If you love an classic car, you MUST Drive it."

I love my 52, and we will RIDE.



Herman

[Drusky]

Woop!

[merlinpta]

Hi Herman,

I have also gone for the removable rear valance on my build that I am busy with.

Also have a lot of work to do on my car still, just finished up a "rotisserie" this weekend and will be taking the body of the old pan shortly.

Like what you have done thus far and looking forward to see the build completed.

[JonnoDub]

Go Herman looking good so far

[retrovan]

Hi Herman,
I have also gone for the removable rear valance on my build that I am busy with.
Also have a lot of work to do on my car still, just finished up a "rotisserie" this weekend and will be taking the body of the old pan shortly.
Like what you have done thus far and looking forward to see the build completed.

Thanks , been following your build as well, was wandering how the "rotisserie" was working for you.

Woop!

Thanks Drusky

Go Herman looking good so far

Thanks, doing the best in the little time I have free at this moment.
Hoping to pick up the pace in July.

Herman

[merlinpta]

Just did update on my post, with pics on the Rotisserie.

[retrovan]

Ok , so the work is going on.

The metal is being replaced where possible, and the other areas are being welded up, with new steel.

The Pope Now has a nose again, bit worse for wear, but a nose all the same.



The pan has just got to be cleaned up and smoothed out, to ready it for the epoxy coat coating.



The bumps are being leaded out, to reduce the use of filler, something the old 52 Beetles had little of.





The body is coming together nicely, so soon we will be having it back in PE for the paint prep work.

Thanks for looking.

Herman

[Terry Phillips]

Looking good there Herman.

[retrovan]

Thanks Terry,

Well the body work is coming on nicely now, and she is near ready to come home.

Will just be light bolt on of all the parts, so that It is easily striped here at home, to start flatting and readying the body for paint.

Will be removing the body off the pan, and building the car up from there.

OK, Here is "before and after"








Looks a bit different to when she was found.









Well, this is a start of a new beginning for her, and a joy to have a 1952 in a 1952, and one is as good as new.......

Now all I need is a good body shop for myself.

Thanks for looking.

Herman