Rags To Riches


Early big window rags are the hot ticket right now, and this one’s just about as sweet as they come





Barn find, one owner, unrestored, rust free... they’re all words we long to see in adverts for old Volkswagens for sale, but rarely do. Even if some of them are there, unfortunately these days they’re all too often untrue, or at best stretching the truth, but when you live in America it’s a little more likely to happen. And when your day job is working at one of the most respected VW restorers in America, it’s a lot more likely to happen, as such shops are often the first port of call for people who do not necessarily know one end of the VW scene from the other. Got an old VW to move on? Speak to the experts. Makes sense, doesn’t it?


The days of such VWs turning up on every street in California may be long gone, but look a little further afield and you may have more luck. So-called ‘dry’ states are the best bet if you’re looking for a rust-free base project, so avoid anything from the East coast, or the Pacific Northwest, for example, and look inland. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the current driest states are Nevada, Arizona, bits of western Wyoming and then a vast swathe of land centred around Arkansas, taking in Oklahoma, southern Missouri, convergent corners of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and from there stretching deep into the heart of Texas. And it was to that latter state that Alex Hernandez, upholsterer in chief at West Coast Classics in California went when the call came in about a ‘58 rag top for sale. Of course, buying a car from any of these areas in the US doesn’t guarantee it will be rust free, but it’s a whole lot more likely than buying one from Manchester, or some equally sodden part of the world. 


“It was just a very nice, clean, original car,” Alex told us, “in fact, the guys here reckon it was probably one of the best cars they have worked on. Everything about it was good. I had to do a little work on the engine, and of course it has been repainted and I have remade some of the interior, but that’s about it.” Makes you feel a bit sick, huh? Especially when you think of all the rust repair work you had to do on your car, right?


The truth is this is exactly the kind of car we all here in Europe dream of finding. However, the nice thing is the work that has been done on this car and the fact that it has been kept stock – stock height, stock Agave Green colour, stock engine, stock everything. In these days of slammed and ratty “OG” paint cars, it’s refreshing to see someone take such a car and return it to its original glory, especially when it’s just about the most en vogue type of Beetle around at the minute – an early big window rag top.


Once back at WCC HQ the car was stripped to a bare ‘shell and handed over to the guys in the body and paint department to do their stuff. Though no rust repair was needed, it still needed a ton of work to turn an original, 52-year-old car into a thing of beauty like you see here, and you only have to look at some of the build photos of the other stockers WCC have restored on their website to see how much work goes into them. This is no quick exterior blow over, these cars get stripped to the bone, then every single part is rubbed down, stripped if necessary and worked on with as much care and attention as the exterior panels. We’re talking under the dash, inside the spare wheel well, above the gearbox, the inner and outer bulkheads front and rear, the lot. 


The car’s original colour was L240 Agave, one of the less common colours for the ‘58 model year and Alex’s decision to retain that colour was undoubtedly the right one, especially when you hear those door panels are the originals! These were actually changed from a combination of vinyl and cloth to all vinyl for the first time for the ’58 model and, along with the new upholstery style, for the ’58 model came the four horizontal pleat style in the upper section.


Now, a ’58 in this colour would have come with one of two interior options – P133 green/grey and K182 grey/green vinyl or K304 green/grey leatherette. Alex’s car came with the former option and, unsurprisingly as he’s the company’s upholsterer, he took it upon himself to retrim the seats in his car himself. While he was about it, he also fitted a new headliner, new carpets, a new sunroof cover and under bonnet card, as well as replacing all the rubber trim and seal parts – almost an inevitability, and perhaps the only downside to buying a ‘dry state’ car.


Mechanically, like the rest of the car, Alex has kept it stock, so it’s still got the 30-horse engine (it was to be another two years before VW bowed to public pressure and introduced the new 34bhp engine with its raised compression ratio and 28PICT carb) and non-synchro first gearbox, but there’s nothing wrong with that – this was one of the most reliable combinations VW ever came up with, as Alex knows.


It may have taken a scant six months to transform this car, and undoubtedly it was made considerably easier by Alex’s occupation and his choice of place to work, but that’s not taking anything away from what he and the WCC crew have achieved – yet another first-class stock restoration of a very desirable Beetle. That’s something we don’t see too much of these days, which is a shame, as when you do see one as good as this, all those thoughts of big engines and slammed suspensions just go out of the window...


 

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24