1950 11G "driver"

[mr. warehouse]

I was keeping this under wraps until I could roll out to the Cruise Night, so I guess I can post up.
With my '50 hardtop ( http://lowbus.com/BB/index.php?topic=473.0 ) being a bit over the top I wanted something I could actually drive daily, and I *really* wanted a Split ragtop or a Split 'vert.
John Henry had this for sale and I made him a decent offer and we had a deal.

As listed



As purchased. I opted for no mud flaps, or fog lights and saved a little money. I did buy it with the OG pop outs, and a Telefunken radio in the dash though.







The deal went down around 5/24, but the car didn't ship out until a week later 5/31



It arrived at my house late on 6/7.





No sooner was it unloaded that I hauled butt in it over to my shop to "hide" it from the local VW crew. Then I came home changed into some work clothes and headed back to do the deed.

Short term it got a 6" beam with hybrid link pin / ball joint dropped spindles so I can run late drum brakes drilled for Porsche pattern instead of disks.
More on why I'm going that route later.

I had been planing ahead, so most of the powder coated stuff was *really* for this car, not the hardtop.



I pre built the beam / spindles / brakes the Saturday night before the car showed up







Front brakes on.



Wheels tires are chromed detailed 5.5's and King Crabs with 195/60's and 145/65's



The rear got a set of extended notched spring plates.





I had a set of short shocks from the rear of my Porsche. That do the trick in the back with stock length lower mounts even though it's lay'd out.
They measure less than 8.5" when compressed!  







Mike offered to help me with the suspension job on Wednesday, but I was anxious to get at it on Tuesday.

The car was delivered at roughly 8:30. At 10pm I was at the shop with it ready to do some work.

With help from Emilliano, 8 hours later, this is what we had.



Went home took a shower, met with Jeff to grab his Thing (what?), ate breakfast with the usual suspects, took a short nap, then Mike met up with me at the shop and we got to the business of dialing in the height, bleeding the brakes, washing and detailing it.

Here's what we ended up with.

[mr. warehouse]

Thursday I got an alignment then worked out a few of the electrical issues.
Now everything works properly, and there are no dim bulbs.

After that was sorted I got to work on adding some "extras".

Cruiser pedal and high beam switch cover.



Ribbed Split window grab handle



Swapped out the white Bat Wing wheel for a brown one that matches the rest of the interior (shifter, column, e-brake)
Yes, the horn button is supposed to be white.



I have a set of early hooded Albert mirror heads on the way, but for the time bring I put on a set of OG regular Albert's.







I have a set of these Goliath "Arrow" handles being re-chromed and keyed, but I put this extra set on anyway to see how they looked.







Last but not least I tweaked a few things on the already *very* correct 25hp engine.



Then I stashed it away until Friday night.

[STRICTLYVWN]

Love this ride it was fun working on it. Stock to laid out accessorized and detailed.
In less than 24 hours.

[mr. warehouse]

We went on a photo taking adventure after the cruise tonight and ended up in Old Railroad Square at the train station.
Props where props are due. John had the running gear dialed in on this thing. The stock 25hp rolls out nice.

 

[themacnut]

Looks amazing Greg!  One of my dream cars. 

I guess the new standard on a slam job is 24 hours. 

[cage66]

 AMAZING!
 

[mr. warehouse]

Thanks guys. I'm not done with it just yet.

I plan on fitting a lot of other accessories I had set aside for the hardtop as I get time.

Steering lock / ignition


"Toilet bowl" Shift lock


356 steering wheel I had in the '60 vert is being restored.


Split vert hood lock I just picked up.


The rebuilt "Clacker" semaphores, glove box doors, Split vert deck lid, and Foxcraft skirts need to be painted as they are currently dark blue to match the hardtop.

[themacnut]

 

[vwbus56]

Awesome!!!

[mr. warehouse]

Awesome!!!

Definitely.
I couldn't look at it in the garage any longer today. I had to go for a drive.

[STRICTLYVWN]

 

[RICH50]

AMAZING!
 

X2 

[mr. warehouse]

Thanks guys.

I still have a few details up my sleeve that didn't come together in time to make it on the car before Friday.

Hopefully this week sometime I can get that handled and share some more pics.

[orangeDC]

I wouldnt have been able to look at it in the garage neither, i would have been out rollin all day.... the weather was perfect and that bad boy is blingin!!!

[quintin]

Very nice Greg.  Starting to look like a Type-1 kinda guy...

[mr. warehouse]

Very nice Greg.  Starting to look like a Type-1 kinda guy...

Now that's just crazy talk.....

[mr. warehouse]

Got my hooded Albert's today (thanks Kai) and did the switch.
I also added a set of NOS mirror base to body seals left over from the brown car. (thanks Quintin)

[themacnut]

They look great.   

[STRICTLYVWN]

Those are sexy.

[mr. warehouse]

Those are sexy.

Thanks, but the real sexy ones are the all metal versions on the right in this picture.
Currently on the hunt for a set.

[sprintstar]

This build is awesome. The 50 is beautiful. Love the idea behind the motor too Greg.... that Magneto is the 

[lowbus64]

Very cool Greg.

[mr. warehouse]

Thanks guys.
I really enjoy this car!
No major work on it is going to happen until the P-11'd / Okrasa / 25hp engine is done.
Until then I'm just going to drive it around with a big stupid smile on my face.

[mr. warehouse]

These 2 pictures sum up Sunday for me.

People were taking pictures of the car non stop ALL day, and more importantly it rolled out like a champ with no problems.

[themacnut]

Split is badass.   

[mr. warehouse]

Split is badass.   

Thanks.

I know there are nicer ones out there. The price to enjoyment factor on this one can't be beat!

[North101]

Man that thing is sweet.

[mr. warehouse]

Long term the running gear I had originally planned for the hardtop will go in this car instead.

The trans is getting swapped out for a '52 and earlier 519 trans so it retains the stock mouting points and has the same "smooth" finish of a crashbox trans, but has full syncros.



Since the current engine, although *very* detailed, is not the original one to the car I will be putting the Super 25hp in as well.

I'll tackle the trans AND engine in one shot once the engine is 100% done and running. In the meantime I'll roll it with a stock trans and 25hp engine.

All of the current "stock" running gear I'll shelve away in case I ever decide to go back.

For the people who are wondering what a "Super 25hp" is, it's the engine I *was* building for the hardtop. It's going in this car now, along with the 519 Porsche trans (full syncro), along with some better rear brakes.

Here's the run down on the engine and some of the extras that are going on it.

69x83.5 (1511cc), Okrasa heads, Okrasa grind cam, P-11 carbs, Scintilla magneto, etc.

[mr. warehouse]

I scored all of this in one shot off the Samba as well









The filter is no big deal, but the cooler and lines will save me some work, and the OT pulley is the "better" repro from the Czech Republic. Not cheap. But being different than everyne else never is.

[mr. warehouse]

Picked up a nice (cheap) 4 tip 25 / 36 hp muffler at Kelley Park 2010.





Sounds like it's a an old BFY repro. I know a certain Okrasa guru that has a stash of them and wanted $600 for one when I asked, so I guess I did OK.

Also got the ball rollin' on my 12v conversion (if I decide to go that route).

I picked up this 12v D reg





Got a FREE D reg to give him as a core and got hooked up with a cheap gen core as well.