1965 VW Type 1 Sunroof

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before

Yes, these 2 cars are actually the same car.

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after

Back in 2000, I was working at a trading firm on Wall St as a network tech.  I had a simple webpage up like this one that showed my love for VW’s.  Someone in north Jersey found my page and contacted me with this story:

“I just drove out to NJ from CA with my 65 VW, I need to sell it pretty quick.  I no longer need a car because I’m working and living in NYC, and I can’t keep this at my parents place anymore.  Do you want to check it out? I only want $200 for it.”   Yep.

I took a ride up there and when I saw it in the driveway, I pulled out the $200 and just handed it to him at the door.  There was NO rust. The paint was terrible, and the interior was smoked, but $200 for a rust-free car in NJ was heaven sent!  I didn’t necessarily want a 65 because of the big windows (I prefer the early cars), but this still had the early headlights/ bumpers/ suspension.

I drove it home.  No trailer required.

The quick plan was to give it a cheapie $500 paintjob, a off-the-shelf interior and some new weatherstrip.  After stripping the car to bare metal and delivering the car to my friend who’s father owned a bodyshop, the plan began to change.

The car was way too nice to do half-assed.  I’d be doing this car full-assed.

CLICK FOR PART 2

CLICK FOR PART 3

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This was after I stripped and painted the wheels and added porta-walls. Check out the ‘sunburn’ on the roof. It was kinda awesome.

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