Aircooled VW South Africa

Thanks for all the well wishes guys. Firstly I would like to say that I am very privileged to have a work space and lifestyle like i do, but that magic have happened in smaller and less ideal places than mine. If you have passion and a love for what you do, anything is possible. You don't need the flashiest workshop to enjoy your passion.
It all started when I inherited my Grandfather's 1959 Beetle. You can read more about it here http://www.aircooledwonders.com/feature ... ed-wonder/ .One of my biggest influences, apart from my dad, is my friend and mentor, Werner Alker. In 1999 I did the first ever African Beetle Marathon, which Werner happen to win in record time. In 2000 I did a little road trip in a 1959 kombi with a Norwegian friend of mine, Espen Svensen. You can read more about it here http://www.aircooledwonders.com/feature ... he-59-way/ . I spend the next 10 years in America, teaching tennis and finally moved back to South Africa in June 2009. I decided to experience this beautiful Country of ours after a decade absence, in my 50 year old Beetle of course.
In 2011 I bought a 1967 911 Porsche and started restoring it in our garage. We live in a neighborhood, where it is frowned upon making a noise, but lucky for me the house next to us was being upgraded. Every time the builders made a noise, I made some noise.This was not the best situation and one day a guy named Werner Roux knocked on my door, looking for a old Porsche. He invited me to finish the Silverado restoration at his panel beating shop. During this time he decided to make his panel shop a bit smaller and this is how I ended up with the spray booth and the two post lift. You can read the Silverado story here http://www.aircooledwonders.com/restora ... o-project/
I started building the Aircooledwonders workshop in 2012, with the help of 3 of our workers. I plan to restore the projects we have collected over the last two years. I will do as much as I can of the work myself. In my mind it's the only way you know that it is done right. I will also host events and workshops(by Werner Alker) soon.
You are all welcome to visit me anytime and share this passion of ours.
@ Armand. Thanks for the suggestion with the paint for the floor. The little room that you see in the workshop is my tool room.It is also a great spot to make some noise (metal shaping) The workshop building is 7m by 14m I think, with a little room added next to the workshop.
@ Rekert. I'm not sure on the height of the lift. I will measure it on Monday and let you know.

Wernher

Epic story! I can't wait for my spot to be finished.

Great progress there Wernher, hope all the rest of the project goes smootly and according to plan - a few more "afdaks" perhaps

@ Rekert. I just measured the lift. It is 3,6 m high and the car is 1,8 m off the ground at it's highest. Hope this answers your question.
Wernher

vw59beetle wrote:@ Rekert. I just measured the lift. It is 3,6 m high and the car is 1,8 m off the ground at it's highest. Hope this answers your question.
Wernher

Any updates? Also shot for the info. Might be able to fit it in my garage now

...very nice

A lot has happened since I last updated this thread. Aircooledwonders hosted Herbiesworldtour as a first event. It was an amazing day spent with great people.
I have also planted grass in front of the workshop and built a media blasting cabinet.
Here is a picture of the cabinet.



Sunset at Aircooledwonders. Heaven might be on earth.

Looks good Wernher - I need a cabinet like that. Care to build a second?

Great work, how I would love to build something simillar.
Looking thru the pics, I have 1 huge concern, the 2 post lift is sitting on a un-reinforced slab that is only 85-100mm thick (correct me if I'm wrong) but that is way short of min. requirement, you run the risk of the whole thing topling over. A quick thumb suck calculation, considiring that the base is on fill, it should have base min. 1000x1500x350 thick with 1 layer of reinforcement at the top to avoid things failing, that is taking into account 350kg of the lift & 2000kg for a car and rather than mechanical anchors, have holding down bolts cast into the base.

Thanks Barry.I used the skills that I learned at The Garage sheet metal course. So building a second should be easy. But you should be able to build it in your lunch break, with your mad skills.
@ Calooker. The whole floor is pretty thick. A bit of an overkill actually. I did make the area where the posts are even deeper than the rest. I also had a certified person install the lift, so everything should be ok. But if it falls over,I will just have to use the skills I learned at Barry to fix it

Let me know if you need blast media, can supply you....

Thank you.We are good for now, but I will let you know when supply runs low.