Help! Advice on what to do with a 1966 Coupe.

[stefaulkner]

A big hello to one and all.

This is my first post so please bear with me. I am new to vintage VW ownership and have found myself in possession of a nice original KG coupe from 1966. To cut a long story short, I called into a local classic car dealer, just to have a look around (not even thinking I was in the market for anything) and 2 days later took delivery of the car! It was sold to me as a project. They had pulled out of a garage where it had sat for 30 years since its first and only owner died. 1300cc, matching numbers, 45000 miles on the clock, its very original, and Im undecided what to do with it. The garage overhauled the brakes as they had seized solid over time, its had fresh oil and that's pretty much it. I had a little tinker in order to get the front indicators earthing then put it thru an MOT test to see what the verdict was.

The MOT threw up a couple of silly little fixes (brakelight bulb, brakes need further attention/adjustment and one of the headlights was also deemed too dim) but it also needs some welding, which I had expected, both outer sills and a little elsewhere.

So, as I see it, I have some decisions to make and Im not sure what to do. As the car is so original, it would be criminal not to keep it that way so any major mods would be out of the question. However, do I go full resto or just get the basics done to get it roadworthy again and live with it, warts and all, accepting its 50 year old patina as part of its charm? At the moment, I'm inclined to get it through its MOT test with all of the bodywork repaired followed by a quality respray and all chromework refinished. I have no hesitation in getting the paint and bodywork refinished as its had paintwork before and has modified wheel arches (I'll post some pictures later).

Any opinions would be very gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,

Steve.

[stefaulkner]

And, hopefully, some pics;

[crocteau]

[stefaulkner]

[WooleyNelson]

Amazing! You *ARE* aware that the '66 only chrome dash trim is quite rare especially the right hand drive version.

I will second the opinions above, do as little as possible to get it past the MOT and drive it!

If you want to fix the wheel openings, do so and just match the paint.

Nice find!

[John Moxon]

Good to see you here Steve. Lots of good advice already and lots more to come.
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John.
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[scottyrocks]

I'm a believer in ifitaintbrokedontfixit so I'd just do the necessary fixes and drive it.
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“If you care for a thing long enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn't it? Mending old things, preserving them, looking after them – on some level there's no rational grounds for it.”
– D. Tartt, 'The Goldfinch'

[NOVA Airhead]

First of all. Nice looking car.

Get it past MOT. Drive it and enjoy the car.

Over time it will come to you what you want to do.

A driveable restoration project is the best kind.

Good Luck!
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[sputnick60]

Oooh A factory RHD ‘66! That complete RHD dash trim is amongst the rarest peice you’re ever going to see on a Ghia. Love it

Welcome to the Samba. Enjoy the car.

Nicholas
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'65 Porsche 356C Coupe...
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[c21darrel]

Fender flares WTF!

Other than that, its killer! 66, RHD, Dash trim present, very original.
Awesome purchase, congrats.
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[Angus Dowrie]

That looks like a great find, good one to jump onto.

I understand your predicament on how far to go with it initially. Apart from the arch flares (which will keep me awake for a couple of nights now) it appears to be a relatively unmolested car - unusual at its age. The loose wiring in the engine bay I'm guessing is for the extra brake (or tail) lights. You may find a few other weird and wonderful wiring 'upgrades', but they can be sorted with time, patience and a steady supply of beer......

Having just done a full restoration, I'd be hesitant to leap into too much at first. Once you start, it can be hard to know where to stop and all of a sudden three years have gone by, your bank account is drained and you still haven't driven the thing!

I would personally get the wheel arches fixed, do a paint blend that looks ok at 5m and sort out the other niggles to get your MOT done and the car on the road. Given you say you are new to these old cars, drive it around a bit at first and find what you like and don't like about it. Do that for a year or two, go to some shows and pick up bits along the way to end up with the car you like.

The only issue that may arise is you say the MOT check picked up some repairs on the sill. It will be a lot worse underneath than what you are seeing externally so that is something that could blow out - try to do a minimum patch and fix it up properly if you do a full resto.

The issue with doing say the paint job first and nothing else is that it starts to look mismatched. At the moment both the paint and interior have the knocks and scrapes of use and they match each other. Put the same interior against new shiny paint and it looks old.

As others have said, look after those dash trims - a complete RHD set is unusual to find. Being a 1300cc engine, it could be rebuilt as a 1600cc easily with little difference in appearance. It gives it a little more poke but is still not a performance machine. That's where driving it around for a while will help you decide as you may want to say build a fire-breathing monster after a year or so driving it with a 1300.

The paint lines are not correct front or back on the two-tone, it was possibly all blue originally and someone's added the white. Do a search on "two-tone" or similar in the samba, there is a list that shows the correct position for the paint breaks, that's what I used for mine . Nice colour, but I may be a bit biased, here is my '63 below.

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1963 Australian Delivery RHD Coupe
Build thread;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=610414

[stefaulkner]

Thanks very much for all the advice and input guys.

Angus, your example is lovely

The loose wiring in the engine bay is for the aftermarket lights. As for the paintwork, the white is showing underneath the blue further down the A posts so I believe it was a factory white roof model. I have ordered the birth certificate from the VW archives, so time will tell.

Off it goes this morning to be prepared for its MOT;

I think I'm going to go with what many of you have suggested and just get the basics done to get it roadworthy. I'll use it for a year or two and eventually look at going the whole hog. The car is going to a garage that restore all sorts of cars (not a VW specialist) so it will be interesting to hear their verdict. A local VW specialist shop said they wouldn't be able to even look at it until the middle of next year! Even though I wont use it unless the sun is out, I don't have the patience to wait that long.

Fingers crossed the assessment this week doesn't come back too bad this week.

[c21darrel]

Don't let them do anything without your approval. Ask here if you don't understand something. Keep ALL your old parts. Approve parts they are to install. Keep in touch with them. Not to alarm you, but I'm not sure I would let a non vw specialist to do much work on a vw I owned. For the future, look for local VW clubs or organizations and VW guys local to you. Luck!!
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