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1956 Oval Barn find in NH
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4Doora
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:09 pm    Post subject: 1956 Oval Barn find in NH Reply with quote

I figured I've put this off long enough, a new build thread is in order...
I've been working on VWs with my dad for the past couple years. He grew up working on them in the '70s at a VW shop in Tewksbury, ma called "40 horse motors. Even back then, real old VWs were few and far between. He recalls the oldest VW he worked on back then was a '58 ghia owned by a little old lady. He's always wanted to acquire a real old bug, and his preference always leaned toward a 1956: the year he was born. Such a VW in these parts has always been completely unheard of, they all rotted away long ago, so we've made due having fun with later cars... until may of this year.
I was doing my regular skimming through local craigslist for anything related to VWs, and came across an ad for a '56 for $2500 that had been pulled from a shed. I had to email the guy. He replies to my email and sends a few pictures of the car:
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Unfortunately, at the time my dad and I had our money tied up in a '70 bug we bought for $3000 a couple days before, so going to check out the '56 seemed like an impossibility. I knew my dad's heart wasn't in the '70, so thanks to an ad on the samba, we sold it 3 days after purchasing for what we had into it.
Much to our surprise, about a week and a half after the ad had been posted, it was still up on craigslist. We figured, either this thing is a rot box, or no one has bothered to take the trip up to Hill, NH to check it out. I emailed the seller back again, and scheduled a time to check it out in person.
Tow bar and GPS in hand, we set our sites to Hill. The seller was located way back in the woods, on a dirt road, off a dirt road, off a windy back road. If not for the gps, it would have been impossible to find. The car was sitting out back of this guys garage under a tarp. Pulling the tarp off revealed the oldest, most original VW my father and I ever had the opportunity to purchase. We both dropped to the ground... to check the floorpans of course. Expecting nothing more than a vw with nothing whatsoever left of the floors, what we found was quite surprising... this thing actually still had floors... solid floors! We looked at each other, but kept our cool, nodding with what the seller had to say:
"it was pulled from a shed over in Rye, NH. My uncle had it on his property, but he's in a nursing home now, so were cleaning up house. I was thinking about cutting it up to make a baja bug"
My father and I just winced at that last remark Sick
It didn't have an engine in it when we found it, but still had the original crashbox transaxle in it.
We paid the man, put the car on the trailer, and headed back home... it felt like we had just got away with robbing a bank on the way home. Score of a lifetime.
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4Doora
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Our trip home went smoothly and safely. We got the car home and unloaded her
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Next came the fun part... cleanup. Well, I had to leave for work at that time, so my dad got to have most of the fun Laughing ... he started by cleaning out the interior of all the old paperwork. It's amazing how much history could be put together from the car. All previous registrations were still in the glovebox, including one from the original owner from Nashua, NH (it's been here in the granite state it's whole life!) There were stacks of letters addressed to the most recent owner, many not even open. as it turns out, this guy was really against paying his taxes, and was getting hounded by the IRS... back in the mid sixties. Also indicated by his choice of quarter window sticker
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The inspection sticker on the car dated back to may of 1967, with ~300 miles (100,300) on the odometer. The car had ~900 on the clock when we got it. This car had not moved from storage since 1967... it hadn't even co-existed with any fat chicks.
... getting back on track, my father had cleaned out all the nasties from the inside to reveal a perfectly preserved interior.
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No rips on any of the seats, no tears in the headliner, no dried up coconut fibers falling from the seats, no mouse damage... perfect.
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zozo
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beautiful car. Great story.

Congrats to both of you.

Please keep posting pics so we can share in your joy.
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bmweuro
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great find. Can't wait to see it cleaned up.
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4Doora
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After cleaning the majority of 40 years of grime from the car, my father decided to try and clean up that OG Strato Silver paint
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Worked that buffer into the dusk and was able to pull a little bit of sheen out of the hood
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The next morning I awoke to my dad already hard at work cleaing up the car even more

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^ my dad was able to get that nasty orange spilled paint off with a razor blade, some carb cleaner, and lots of patients

I grabbed some CLR and a couple scotch brite pads and helped cut through some of the rough patina to get back to that delightful strato silver
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and my dad continued polishing...
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mmm... patina
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

To think I've probably driven by it a hundred times when working in Rye.
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4Doora
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Over the course of the next month, my dad spent every ounce of his spare time working on the bug.
after pulling the tank, no big surprise, it was disintegrated from the old gas still left in it.
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one of the things that still manages to amaze me and my father is the fact that all the brake adjusters on all four corners weren't frozen at all.
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My dad jobbed on the car steadily, replacing the whole brake system, and all gas lines.
By may 27th, my dad was ready to throw an engine in it. We had this 40 horse sitting in the garage for a year or two, completely rebuilt for my dad's '61 project... so we borrowed that
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Tried as we may... we couldn't get the damn thing to fire. It just wasn't turning over fast enough. well, as it turns out, leaving even a freshly rebuilt engine sitting around for 2 years without any mystery oil in the cylinders isn't such a great idea. One of the pistons was frozen in it's cylinder Sad .
on the 10th of june, when my dad figured out the problem, he had dropped the engine, taken it apart, honed the cylinders, put it back together, and back in the car in a matter of 4 hours... by himself (i was at work). After going through all that, it fired right up!
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kidvintage
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome story....thanks for sharing.

You need to go buy a lottery ticket..... luck is on your side!!!
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4Doora
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The following weeks consisted of getting all the electrics squared away, clean gas tank installed, and all inspection requirements met.
That included a new set of mirrors, and fresh rubbers all around.
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I made up this sticker for the bumper, using an original and scanning it onto the computer. If anyone local remembers "Benson's Animal Farm", it used to be within an earshot of my house.

By mid june, the car was inspected and on the road. We weren't able to test it out very much before it's maiden voyage... 150 miles to Litchfield Connecticut to attend the Litchfield bug-in on fathers day. Wink
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Jake Martinez
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

looks nice!
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4Doora
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

June 20th, 2010... fathers day. A month and a week after buying the '56, my dad felt it was ready for the 150 mile trip down to Connecticut... not without backup of course. He set out, and I set out behind him in his truck, with the tow dolly equipped should anything happen.
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Stopping for gas, just down the road:
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Fast forward 4 hours later...
The bug made the entire journey down flawlessly. A car that had not been on the road since 1967... before the moon landing, before super beetles, before cal-look.... had made it without a problem.

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we decided it needed a roof rack at the show, a "badge of honor", if you will.
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sure, it wasn't the prettiest oval in the line up, and it didn't win any awards but it definitely had the most character.
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stale air
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great story, and sweet find. She looks like a keeper. I hope your are going to keep her all stock, she deserves it. Wink
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice car. Have you made plans to restore it or are you just going to drive it? Me, I'd drive the wheels off of it Very Happy
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4Doora
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 10:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

We decided to tow her home after the show, only because the intense heat left my dad in desperate need for the A/C in his truck.
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And here's how she sits today:
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We found the STOP light at a local swap meet for $10. We wanted something with a little more visibility than those little snowflakes. I restored it and my dad hooked it up and came up with a bracket solution Smile

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. I keep telling my dad to keep it the way it is, but he kind of wants to restore it... everyone always says to leave it, so I think he'll come around Very Happy
I'll try too keep up with this thread. We're currently putting together a 36hp for her... slowly but surely.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 10:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm diggin the "stop" light Very Happy . Hope you can talk him into leaving it the way it is. fewer and fewer left that show how old they are. It's his car though so only thing that matters is what makes him happy.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 11:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

WOW. What a Great story..
And Some pretty fast work.. Cool
Congrats on the great find.


But I hope you didnt paint the original wheels that were on the car when you got it.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome story man.Love the patina.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 7:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am originally from Hill, NH. Lived there til I was 17. Very small town.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great story and one of the very reason's why spending time on here is so enjoyable.

Keep the updates coming.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

what a purely awesome story... your dad finally getting the car he always wanted... Best of luck with it, that sure is a find!
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