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Oh! That Body!

As I mention in the history story, there was not much rust on Bruno. A rare find in New England! There was some under the battery tray, on the bottom of the left body panel, just under the driver’s door and the floorboard under the driver’s feet. All very common, and none terminal. But, there were also some other minor body issues: The gutter above the driver’s door had some damage from a tree branch fall (the fiberglass top get most of the hit, and was repaired). He had been painted, but not glass out. The seals had shrunk and the paint line was showing. The paint was also a bit dull.

 

So, I searched for a body shop. Originally I planned on just a “paint job”. But since there was a reasonable amount of work to do, we found a body restoration shop.  After some search for a shop with a good reputation that was reasonable close by I foundCuttingedge in Candia, NH. The guys didn’t have any air-cooled VW experience but did great bodywork.  Ultimately I was mostly happy with the outcome, but I would advise you to find a shop with VW experience. I say this because I was mostly happy, there were several negatives with the shop I choose. 

NOTE: - Please see the "Restoration Pics" page for all the pics. Only selected pictures are listed here. 

The cost skyrocketed – This was supposed to be a basic restoration, not for “points”. I didn’t want to fix things that were not an issue and didn’t want them spending time making it look better than when it came off the factory floor. Unfortunately, they spent many hours straightening body panels and the roof that has nothing wrong with it, except that it wasn’t a mirror flat finish. They also repainted the fiberglass top – which I had already painted a year earlier. The original estimate of $8k turned into a cost of 12k. 

 

They could not figure out the mechanics -  Even though they have extensive experience with US cars, they could not figure out the simple VW engine. Because the bus was in their shop, I had the new engine shipped directly to them. They were more than willing to put the engine in, so we went over the details, explained as much as I would….But they screwed it up. The first time, they installed the engine without the skirt seals. This is a sure fire way to overheat your engine. Then, since the clutch was missing (see above engine restoration), they went out and got one…without called me. They got the wrong one. They installed a 220mm instead of the 200mm. This put stress on the lifter fork, which busted less than 1000 miles later, which cost me more than $1000 to get fixed.  I was also charged more than $1000 for the mechanical work – which I dispute since part of the original estimate was taking out the engine and painting the engine compartment anyway. 

 

Not quite done – there is still a crack in the paint and some bubbling under the rear bumper at the left corner. This is obliviously just bad work in that spot, and I will be getting them to fix it. 

 

Not quite done – there is still a crack in the paint and some bubbling under the rear bumper at the left corner. This is obliviously just bad work in that spot, and I will be getting them to fix it. 

 

Took WAY TOO LONG – The restorations are fit in around other day-to-day work. So, I was prepared for an elongated timeline. But 3 months turned into 16! The communication was not good, I never knew that status unless drove out there, got them to take a break from other work and demanded an update.  


OK – enough negatives. While I would not recommend this shop to for another VW restore, the bus does look beautiful despite the bumpy process. 

 

http://nhautorestoration.com/services/nh-auto-restoration

 

I did get some new panels and parts, including:

  • Engine lid, found in the classified section on the TheSameba.com – Mine was a bit rusted on the bottom lip. 

  • Rear wing window and frame – This is the wing window just next to the Z-fold bench seat. The seal had been leaking, and the bottom pin rusted out, as well as some of the frame around the window, which was repaired too. I found this on TheSameba.com as well.

  • Front and rear bumpers – These were actually hard to find. The chrome ones for 74+ are easy to find. But 68-73, not so much. I got the rear from BusDepot.com. It was not a perfect fit, but workable. The front I found on thesamba.com. Both were reasonable (painfully??) expensive. They were painted arctic white, matching the wheels. 

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