In for a complete restoration, this rare GT Beetle appears at first glance to be quite a solid car, upon closer inspection we found it was in urgent need of a ground up restoration. The next few weeks will see this car go from a MOT failure to a potential show winner.

Bookmark this site now to watch as we transform this car ready for summer.

In the above photos the car looks OK, it soon became apparent however, that this car was in urgent need of restoring. Wires had been trapped between the body and chassis when the floor pans had been replaced previously, the rear quarter panels around the bumper mounts looked like a patchwork quilt with repairs welded on top of repairs.

After removing the few bolts that were actually holding the car together and chiselling off some welds (silicon sealer seemed to be holding the rest together)  the body and chassis were split for the first time in 34 years, the body was then lifted clear and the chassis rolled out, and after sweeping up we got 2 shovels full of rust.

The bodyshell was then put to one side while the work on the chassis got under way. The first job was to steam clean everything, then drain the gearbox oil. The chassis was lifted onto axle stands then the gearbox, front suspension and pedal assembly removed. Next the floor halves were cut off, finally after the old underseal was chipped off the chassis was sent to the sandblasters.

The photo's above show the extent of the corrosion, particularly to the framehead which will be cut off and replaced with a new one. The area on the floorpan around the pedals should have a stiffener welded to it, the last person to replace the floor halves left this off for some reason!!!

After the chassis and front beam came back from the blasters it was obvious where the corrosion was, but first a good coat of etch primer was sprayed on to resist any surface rust forming on the clean metal.

Because the framehead was so badly corroded it would need to be cut off and a new one welded in place. First a frame needed to be assembled to enable the removal and ensure the refit in the correct position.

After welding the framehead in place the next task was to clean up the metal and spray weld through zinc primer to both surfaces to be spot welded on the chassis and floor halves.

Then the black paint was removed from both sides of the floor halves prior to spraying the etch primer and 2K primer coats on.

At this stage the pedals were trial fitted to set up the position of the pedal stops, accelerator and floor strengthener, the latter which had been left off a previous "restoration".

Work has started on the engine, after