A few weekends later

I've been spending every weekend lately holed up in the garage, and I couldn't be happier about it. I managed to score an amazing rear bumper that's now assembled and installed – it looks absolutely stunning! I've also tackled the door gaps and bolted down the body (at least all the main M10 bolts). The doors are closing smoothly now with okeish gaps all around. Next weekend, I'll get the shimmer installed on the right side.

In other exciting news, an original ragtop cover arrived from the UK, and I've ordered material to make a proper reproduction. A tailor friend of my dad's is currently working on creating the perfect copy.

Up next on the list: door assembly, steering, pop-out windows, and finally the ragtop itself. Things are really starting to come together!

That butt is getting into shape

Still not satisfied with it but it is what it is

After a long lasting fight this side looks pretty ok

Some steps forward or there is light at the end of the tunnel

As I mentioned in my last post, I dedicated an entire week to the project—well, to be honest, I spent about a week on it, but I also had to juggle some home office work, so my daily time was pretty limited. Still, it was incredibly productive and time well spent! We installed the other front fender, mounted the pre-assembled front bumper, and got the headlights in place. I made serious progress on the wiring too—the bug now has fully functional lighting, ignition, and dashboard. I also started tackling the doors, which turned out to be quite the challenge. The decklid got its finishing touches, and I managed to sort out the turnswitch, which needed some fixing and patching but now works perfectly and looks great too.

Up next: continuing with mounting the body to the pan and finishing up those doors!

Bumper work

Did not have much time to spend on the bug, but tried to make some progress. I have read about a method of chrome cleaning with steel wool and coke. I was a bit skeptic, yet could not loose much besides a few hours of diving in coke. So I picked up the front bumper and soaked a piece of wool in coke, rub and rub and rub until the result became surprisingly good and it was the dirtier one, the rear bumper will be even better I suspect.

After the process

As the bumper "shined" before we start