1966 TYPE 1 "Beetle"

Project Sold in 2006 in New Jersey

In early 2003 I was driving my 1962 Beetle which I bought the year before and found a early Beetle resting under a Barn's carport.  It was located in Pembroke, GA.  I stopped by and asked the owner if it was for sale.  He said yes, and I took a look at it.  Upon inspection I found it to be a very rust free 1966, and had not been into any accidents.  I negotiated a reasonable price and purchased it.  I later found out it was from California and a US service member had bought it, and must have only had it in the Southern states as it was in super solid condition.  I began to take it apart and found it to be even better than I had hoped.  The car was equipped with an original EMPI Camber compensator and also was outfitted with EMPI Uni-Vents (front wheel wells).  I have the early Pictures below.

Early November 2003, I towed a stripped and gutted rolling chassis to Overton's Restoration Service located on the West side of Georgia, we communicated thru email and he gave me a ball park figure to restore the body and install new floor pans into the chassis.  I only choose Overton's because I had recently saw a Beetle he had painted and it was very detailed and beautiful finish.  We discussed the paint color and I choose to go back with the Original Sea sand (Carmel brown).

In February 2004, I picked up the Chassis with it's newly installed floors and towed it back to Hinesville.  I also picked up a 1966 original hood from Atlanta and dropped that off during the pick up.  Here are the pictures:

In August 2004, The body was close to completion and the paint was about to be applied to the body.  The Uni-Vent holes were welded up, some small rust areas were found after the 2 layers of paint was Blasted off.  There was also some dents found on the shell.  all were smooth out.  The Driver's side door pillar must have been into some kind of garage accident as the pillar had been repaired and had a slight dent in it.  Charles fixed this and replaced the door with a good used one from his yard.  I also choose to go with stock reproduction type rear fenders as the original ones were full of "Bondo" and needed too much work.  The front fenders were retained and straighten up.  Charles also filled in a hole in the dash which the previous owner made to install a toggle switch to turn on a 6 volt to 12 volt converter to run a Saab AM/ FM radio.  Charles fixed all the imperfections on the body prior to the painting.  Here are the Prep pictures:

Moved to New Jersey NOV 2005, car never painted or finished at Overtons Restoration, big disappointment for me.  PIcked car up and car was pulled up to New Jersey.  I eventually decided not to complete the project since the Frame head was found to have some rust issues.  I never had a title on it, since Georgia does do titles for cars 1962 and older.  Some last pictures of the car when I was preping it for the drive north.