My son's first car - 1966 Volkswagen Squareback

1966 VW Squareback with sunroof in Sea Sand color. $3,000. Runs great. Rides straight and brakes good on the freeway coming home.
It's a bit rough but we have 10 months to fix it up and get it ready for the high school parking lot. He is beyond stoked. We have been looking for the last 6 months or so. We were lucky to find one with very little rust needing just a little body work. The paint is in rough shape but it will last for a few years until he gets past the learning phase before putting a lot of money into paint and body. The interior is rough as well.
Plan of attack:
Try to clean and restore some shine to the paint.
Fix wiring issues: blinkers don't work, ignition switch is missing, gas gauge doesn't work. probably some other problems with the gauges. Speedo cable screams intermittently.
Clean and restore dash and gauges.
Adjust pedals
Get sunroof working
New interior kit, Red seats, black headliner, black door panels, black carpet
New Rubber for entire car. All windows and doors. Beading between body parts, etc.
Inspect motor and trans. Seal up leaks.
Lower suspension.
New stock steelies painted red with chrome caps and beauty rings
Ordered 5 ft. Pedro Roof Rack.
It should be a fun father/son project. He has already shown so much interest in getting this to done just in the search.
Here she is when we brought her home. He named her "Gracie"






Here he is putting in the work:

Here is some of the inspiration for what he wants it to look like:

 

Well, Finally got title transferred this weekend after waiting 2 months. The previous owner had the car registered in AZ. He was getting a CA title and trying to get the black plates re-activated. No such luck on the black plates. According to the DMV, the year of the plates don't match the year of the car. I don't know what this has to do with anything but leave it to California DMV to make it difficult. Fortunately, California just started offering new black "legacy" plates. So we ordered these:


Also, had ordered a rack for the top from Pedro Racks. He makes a 4 footer and a 6 footer. I talked him into making a 5 footer which he had previously done before but stopped. The 5 footer works perfectly with the sunroof. My son and I drove 2 hours down to about a 1/4 mile from the Mexican border on Sunday to pick it up. It is beautiful and perfect for this ride.



Now that I have the title transferred, we can kick this build into high gear. Found some steel type 3 wheels that I will be picking up this week and starting to work on the ignition switch rebuild. Pedro helped me out with a kev part for the ignition as well. Next few weeks will be spent sourcing a bunch of parts and then the fun begins.

 

I'm in!

 

Was just reading the other thread, so cool. Great Dad, must be a good kid.

 

Sub'd for Vee Dub.

 

pimp this ride!

 

Found some type 3 steel wheels last week. Going to take them for sandblasting and powder coating. Got the Pedro rack installed. Got the gauges out which was a bitch due a poor fitting aftermarket dash pad. Got the dash pad out. Now on to fixing some of the wiring, fuel gauge, etc.

My son doing work.

 

I dig it.

 

Really like the car.
Forward!

 

I like it

 

3K?! Thats a killer deal for a running fastback! Im sooooo jealous lol. Keeping the engine stock? Drop a GTI engine in that thing

 

Ah, metal dashboards. I remember those.

 

That thing looks badass!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Nice. Old VDubs are fun to mess with. I sold my 63 last year had about 10 years. I just bought a 70 squareback bascketcase from a buddy to help him pay some bills (most likely ill just resell dont have time for project like that)

 

A little gauge restoration going on.

 

Lucky kid, looks like an awesome father son project. He will appreciate it that much more now that he knows what's involved.

 

All right. Starting to make some progress.

Got the plates.



Refurbished all the gauges and even widdled a new speedo needle out of a light switch cover plate.


Traced the fuel gauge not working to a bad sending unit. Adjusted the brake and clutch pedals to stop at a better position. Traced the brake lights not working to a bad brake switch on the master cylinder.

Took the type 3 steel wheels to the sandblaster and powdercoater this week. Ordered the new interior and picked up a butt load of parts from ISP West. All new rubber, new dashboard, new parts for the sunroof, All new trim.





Also found a set of rare and expensive sunroof cables.

 

Those gauges came out great, and that plate is pretty perfect!

 

Very nice! Glad the kid's got a hands-on-friendly, first car. And a perfect one for OC.