The 52 has been pulled towards the front of the garage and the rubbing down of the red oxide has begun.

Looks good! What are your plans for it?

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Plans are get it on the road as quick as possible as it been apart too long, a nice useable condition, i will try and get as much of the work done myself and i will try and keep it to around 100 hours or so. it will have a 25 hp engine and stock interior.

A 1952 Standard Model split, very nice:beer:

Sales of the Deluxe had well taken off by 1952, so the 1952 Standard is a rare item indeed.

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If you take a look in the fourth picture you can just make out the front quarter panel on the 52 deluxe next to it. Love the standard as I used to drive it about fifteen years ago. There wasn't too many 25 year olds knocking about in splits then.

If you take a look in the fourth picture you can just make out the front quarter panel on the 52 deluxe next to it. Love the standard as I used to drive it about fifteen years ago. There wasn't too many 25 year olds knocking about in splits then.

Yes Standards; no messy hydraulic brakes and stuck cylinders, no full headliner to rot/rip/repair/replace and no trim strips around the outside that actually serve no purpose at all other than to hold rain water and cause panel rust:smile:

My '49 is a Deluxe (though with cable brakes), but my dark blue '52 Standard looks and feels so much older, so much closer to the original KdF concept to me 😎

Standard splits is where it's at for me, but don't tell Rattletrap:wink:

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The deluxe was only bought sight unseen at the time just to get a few parts for the standards restoration. The deluxe was incomplete but turned out to be a pretty good buy for £850 and was worth all the earache from my morris minor loving dad. He asked me what are you going to do with that? when the deluxe arrived about fourteen years ago and I replied I'm going to put in into a mates shed for about ten years and then decide. I then started to buy bits and pieces as and when they looked cheap and nice and it is now pretty close to getting on the road. Its next in line but for now its full pelt on the standard. Both cars turned up in the volksworld magazines for sale section and both were bought sight unseen as they were in England and I was in Northern Ireland. The standard car in the pictures was at vw action and was on the strip against one of the first new left hand drive beetles as they wanted the oldest and newest against each other as a bit of publicity and I believe that the picture of that made the volksworld magazine at the time. It arrived at the docks in belfast and even though it was winter with terrible rain and sleet and left hand drive skinny 16 wheels on crossplys and cable brakes and crash box and double declutching etc along with not having a clue about the different controls single brake lights, semaphores, chokes, fuel reserve taps etc and a few basic instructions on how to get it started, i jumped in and within a few miles i knew it was a keeper.

More rubbing today another couple of hours done, so far four hours of work on the 52 out of my maximum 100 hours allocated for the resto.

The car appears to be very rot free judging by the inner wings as seen in the pictures. Is there any welding to be done within your allocated 100 hours:?:

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There will be a small flat area of welding that won't be complicated. A couple of hours welding max. Most of the hard work was done years ago. The car was painted twice in my ownership but the first paint job had a tone thing going on as the paint was mixed in two batches. It then went to a second bodyshop and that paint job microblistered. I rubbed it down and put some red oxide on it but that was over 12 years ago. Lost my mojo a bit after the paint complications but have it back again. I can do nearly all the work myself now and I prefer that as I find everyone else shortcuts the job to find the quickest most profitable end result or don't understand the value of the car and think that a bodge will be ok to keep something on the road. There will be a lot of time in cleaning and reconditioning parts and a bit of upholstery but its mainly bodywork. The bonnet is pretty good and had some braized repairs at the hinged areas which I may redo. The decklid was a nos one bought 15 years ago, so it dosen't need much. I have trial fitted everything and I am happy with the fit, it's just fettling, paint and build up mot prep etc.

Yes, agree you about the nightmare of finding someone to do a long-lasting quality paint job.

I had a much treasured RHD Split-window absolutely ruined by a paintshop, and then messed around with by a second one supposidly putting right the mess of the first. Neither were cheap quoted jobs. I was so fed-up I got shot of the car in pieces as I lost heart. If I had it now I'd have painted it myself. Should have done as you did - put it away in a garage for a few years and go back to it with fresh heart.

It really peeves me to hear paint shops moan about the ratty look trend which does them out of work of course. What do they expect:!:

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Progress today, car rubbed back to metal, jenolite applied and now it has etch primer on the shell so feels like a positive move forward. bolt on bits are next in line doors, bonnet, decklid, wings, bumpers and over riders still to receive their initial prep.

The decklid was the first thing I saw when I walked into the shed tonight so .... lots of rubbing by hand lots of orbital sanding, some more jenolite and then a little etch to finish proceedings. Makeshift body jig doubling up as a spray area.

More rubbing tonight. Got about another 90 mins clocked up on the doors. The time spent so far is now around 11 hours. The doors are pretty much 95 percent finished but need a little more before jenolite and etch. Pulled the bonnet out of storage too. I will have to try to do a little rubbing at it tomorrow night. The bumpers and over riders have been pulled out of storage and will be getting a quick blast again soon before primer. Hope to get the primer on the doors and the bonnet by Friday. I will also have to get a little work done on the wings aswell.

A quick update on the 52 standard project. A total of 19 hours work has been completed on the bug so far. The red oxide has been mainly eradicated and replaced by etch primer. The doors and bonnet were primed yesterday and the first of the three wings has also been rubbed and primed. I will try and get a little more work done over the weekend and get some updated pictures up the forum. Cheers for all the views and hope you are enjoying the project as much as I am.

25 hours of rubbing and trial fitments and here is where I'm at.

Keep it up :thumbup:

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Cheers, have been going through my sempahore bits to see what I've got and I need some bulb holders for the swf style semaphores both the long and short. if anyone has any can they pm me please. They will be fine from oval or barndoor semaphores or bug up to 59 as they are the same as the later split ones.

I guess you might be looking for used ones, but these guys do new reproductions:-

https://www.thesamba.com...ds/detail.php?id=1189552 

https://www.thesamba.com...eds/detail.php?id=444527 

https://www.thesamba.com...eds/detail.php?id=178100 

You could also try Matt's Bug Parts in Canada: https://www.thesamba.com...eds/detail.php?id=216614 

Dave

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Thank you. Those are the ones needed to build up the semaphores that I am working on. I had found them online but dismissed them as they are quite expensive because they are coming from America and with customs and postage charges would work up into quite a bit. I have another avenue that I will check and update everyone if they work out but if anyone has any used ones that would be great. Even if there is enough even for 1 set as I am doing a conversion to a pair of sho semaphores with nos original split swf lenses and covers which I believe will make a nice set of reproduction swf style split semaphores. I have a few working smooth semaphores which I can use if I get the car built before I get the bulbholders to get it going.