After VolksFest it
always seems a good thing to let the rest of the year go by quietly.
2006 was no exception. We settled back to our normal non-VW activities
and left the Kombi alone for a while.
In the new year it
was back to work. Now it was down to the fiddly, time consuming jobs:
finishing up the wiring, fitting all the little odds and ends, fitting
the additional headlight seals etc. One of the regular crew supplied a
set of interior trim cards to use as templates and new cards were cut
out of sheet, the texture of which matched the original very well.
Credit here must
go to another of our sponsors - Alan Smith Motor Trimmers, who
re-upholstered the front seat for us. Alan managed to find vinyl which
is a perfect match for the original. And what a job he did: the
boltsers are beautifully padded, the seams dead straight. Just
magnificent.
One of the jobs
that we had been deliberately putting off, was that of attacking the
bumper bars. The front and rear bar we had inherited with the car were
barely recognisable. None of us had the tools or expertise to even
start to straighten them. Enter Ian Poynter from Unique Fabrications
once again. For those that may not know, Ian builds the gorgeous
looking "Marlin" buggies, one of the best looking "kit" cars around.
Ian offered to set his staff to work on the bumpers. Funnily enough,
not long after the bumpers were dropped off, Ian set about to clean up
his workshop. A club member who was helping out on the day, picked up
some lumps of scrap metal to throw into junk pile. He was shocked when
he was told to put them back - he was about to throw out our precious
bumpers!! That's how bad they were.
Ever the
professional, Ian decided the bumpers needed a bit of extra help. So he
fabricated a set of dies from 40mm steel which matched the profile of
the bumpers. These were fitted to the jaws of his 20t press; the
bumpers could then be straightened, heated, straightened, heated etc.
After what must have been an obscene amount of hours, the bumpers were
declared fit for use. They were given a quick lick of filler, primed
and then painted in dove blue with a white insert. When we set eyes on
the "new" bumpers, we could not believe they were the same ones we had
delivered to Ian. To show what good craftsmanship is, the guys also
welded on some tabs to the bumpers to allow the new indicators to be
mounted up: tear drop on the front and rectangular on the rear. As the
pictures show, they look unbelievable.
Another part
missing from the Kombi were the aprons for the rear bar. One of our
club members kindly lent us his aprons to use as templates. Ian and his
crew then crafted replicas out of zincalume steel. Before too long a
set of brackets to mount the bumpers to the body emerged form the
sheet-metal workshop to join the aprons.
With fabrication
complete the various pieces were assembled and test fitted to the car.
The result? Absolutely superb. Next step was to remove the bars again
and give them a paint. Fortunately we had kept plenty of the dove blue
used to paint the car. This was applied along with a matching white
insert. The photos on this page were supplied to us by Ian and
the crew at Unique; so happy were they with the results, that they
couldn't wait to share them with us.
Unique
Fabrications became the third temporary home for the kombi, with
regular gatherings to get some more of the outstanding work completed.
The door cards were treated to a coat of 2-pack paint to give them a
bit more strength and keep the moisture out. Then all the cards were
fitted to the doors. Foam sheet was glued to the inside of the
headliner to keep out the heat and noise.
One of the great
joys of visiting Unique to work on the Club Kombi has been the
opportunity to view some of the other projects under way there. Some of
the cars are straight restorations. Others are there for a complete
customisation. The care and passion these guys put in to fabricating
replacement panels is something which has to be seen. If you are after
a modern interpretation of the classic buggy or looking for someone to
help make your dream a reality, then you couldn't find anyone better
able to help.
Sadly our goal of
having the car complete before Ken & Roma's departure for their
2007 Africa Beetle Safari was missed. We were trying to organise an
official handover prior to their departure as they will be away for the
AGM, at which Ken was standing down as President.
