Day One

The goal for the day was to take the body off.  One of the nice things about goals is that they give you a good way to measure achievement.  Or, in this case, the lack thereof.

Now, what I did manage to do, in the two hours and two beers after 5pm when I finally rolled the cover back, was to pull out the seat on the driver's side and strip off the seat cushion.  I couldn't get the seat on the passenger side out (even when I got the bigger hammer), so I had to settle for simply stripping it of all the rotten foam, sisal and rotten vinyl.  The result, while not pretty, is informative.

Hoo boy, these seats are shot.  One almost inveitable consequence of old seats in a convertible is the rust that can't help but form in the springs.  A couple of good rains with the top down is all it takes, and this car saw far than a few of those mishaps, I do believe.  I could repair these seats, but honestly I might as well just get a new, or 'new-to-me' set. After all, it is just the standard VW seat, so I should have plenty to choose from.  As likely or not I'll get some used seats and refurbish them myself.

What will be harder to fix will be the rust hole I found under the driver's side seat.  When I gave the car the initial 'once-over', I thought the floor pans were in pretty food shape, rust-wise.  I could see that the pan on the passenger side was dented (up, from something underneath) but I had the impression that both were relatively rust free.  Not.  As soon as the seat came out all it took was a little touch to open this hole.  Ok, I think this is not necessarily a big deal, but it will have to be fixed.  It may be easier--but not cheaper--to replace one or both of the pans, but hopefully I can patch the one and bang out the other.

There'll be no banging on the wooden deck lid I discovered in the back, however.  Although it's not rotten, it is anything but standard, of course, and will not be any easy fix, no matter what.  While someone definitely took some time to make this repair, it's so far from what I have in mind that it can only be pulled out and replaced. Oh, what fun that will be!

The cross piece that is currently being held together with tin and rivets may be more than a minor problem, as it no doubt has something to do with the structural integrity of the body itself.  Ugh.

1 day.  1.5 seats.