kuhner

Friend of mine sent this to me. Its not a VW. Supposed to be some sort of Ford camper from late 50s' early 60s'. Can anyone verify? anyone know the official name?

When we bought our '56 we drove the wheels off of it. Took it to Canada twice, St. Louis, Washington DC, on route 50 through the mountains, Niagra Falls,all over. We even used to take our camping gear with us. Five or six hundred miles one way in a 36Hp Beetle two adults, loaded to the gills. I was alot younger then and alot less dependant on the creature comforts of air-conditioning, and adequate lighting. Now after what started as a project to freshen the old car up, and turned into a full blown restoration, we drive it no more than 100 miles one way. Its just a matter of comfort and speed with me now.

Mine hasnt made it to South-Eastern Ohio yet, but my buddy one county to the East has his. Had it for about a week. Saw it today, cant wait to get mine. greg

I have used 303 Protectant for about 5 years now. Been my experience it leaves a more original finish on the rubber and vinyl. Armor-All is too shiny for my tastes. Also I found on old, neglected rubber it will take a couple applications before you see much of a difference, but keep up with it and it really works.

How about rebuilding a wrecked one? Check the cars for sale on this web site. I could'nt even imagine. http://www.readytofix.com/

Right now the only old car I have is my Beetle. My first car I owned was a hundred dollar '61 Falcon I bought from my great uncle. I saved up for that car and was pretty much used up by the time I got it. But my Dad was a firm believer in if you want a car buy it yourself. My sister had a Beetle around that time and I always liked to drive it, so I always had an interest in VW. I inherited that beetle from her and since I was about 17 Ive had a VW in one form or another. My current beetle came into my life when a co-worker told me about it. I had no intentions of buying it, but when my wife and I saw it we had to have it. At the time it just made sense. Would like to find another, maybe a split window or a early convertible, but also have the itch for a Model T. Who knows!

Just to muddy the waters a little more. I understood the rules to mean "as the car was delivered from the factory to the dealer". That would mean even though it was a factory authorized procedure/accesory it was not as delivered even if the dealer applied it.

That answers a question I have been thinking about posting. I have four preservation tabs now and after mounting my fourth I thought what was the "special" award. Now I know. If its worth anything I would like the mug. I'm a practical kind of guy! greg

The guy in the red shirt is me. Kuhner, Greg Kuhnash. Fun meeting you all. Glad to put a face with a name.

How about all of the above, plus hand sand and sand blast. Use the paint stripper on the large areas and as mentioned above stay away from seams and crevices. Pile the stripper on in a warm location out of direct sun, let it work and using a soft scraper peel it off. Then using a cheap laquer thinner and coarse steel wool go over the area rinsing your steel wool in the laquer thinner. I use an old steel loaf pan to dip my steel wool in. Plan on making a huge mess. Dont do it any place where fumes are an issue, and I usually put several layers of newspaper down to keep it off the floor. Door jams,edges of hoods, fuel doors, and those seams you avoided with stripper, stuff like that I use 80 grit by hand. Makes the tips of your fingers sore as heck but worth the time and effort. Dont be surprised if it takes you 8 hours to do just one door jam! Then all of those little tiny crevices where you just cant get anything, I usually sand blast. Very lightly and I stay away from large areas. Sounds like alot of work but it really goes pretty fast once you start. greg

Anyone else going? Stop by and introduce yourself, my Coral red beetle is easy to recognize. I would like to put a face with a name. greg

We had a great time. It was my first visit to Windsor, very nice city. Lots going on around the casino. Too bad it rained. A great selection of cars. greg

I planned on the radiant floor heat, but didnt think about what happens when you need to bolt something down. Good advice. Tons of good advice on this thread, thanks to all. greg

How about keeping your original and having the inside re-worked. Check this site. http://www.antiqueautomobileradio.com/ greg

klb you do not say what type of business you are in. Over the years I've recieved some really good goodies, some not. One I remember last year was a bottle of car wash detergent, very nice quality, small bottle had the distributors name and phone number on it. Every year we go to a rod run in Wooster Ohio, home of Wooster brush, you guessed it every year there is a paint brush in the bag. My point is if you sell car care related items, give something related. I would never had tried the car wash if they put a calendar in my goodie bad.

Excellent ideas! keep 'em coming. Looks like size does matter. I am some what limited in area, so I may be able to increase the length (at the expense of my wife's beloved blueberry bushes and apple trees), the depth is the real problem. Different ideas on the type of pipping for my compressed air. Plastic, galv. metal, I thought of copper. Never gave the idea of a bake oven or a blast cabinet a thought. Typically how much height do I need for a lift? what would be the least I could get by with? greg

Next spring I plan on getting started on building a new garage. So far plans are for a conventional one story 28x40. Room for two vehicle storage and one space for work shop use. Whenever I visit someones garage I am always on the lookout for some little detail that is really clever to incorporate into mine. A couple that come to mind are hot water radiant floor heat, or shiny galvanized sheets to cover the interior walls (sounds weird but worked well for this guy). So since many of us on this forum have been around garages for along time, do any of you have any good ideas to incorporate or bad ideas to avoid? greg

Thank you George! You and all of the soldiers will be remembered in our prayers.

Check out these folks. They specialize in old appliances. www.antiqueappliances.com greg

I have a F150 with 190,000 miles, Twin I beam. The only real problem area is the radius arm bushings. The arms that run front to back from the axle to the mounting point on the frame. Not really expensive but not a really easy thing to fix. If these are worn you'll hear some clunking when going from reverse to forward. Another thing I've noticed is a stiffer truck tire seems to track better for me than a passenger car rated tire. I think thats because of the large radius the tire moves through as the suspension travells looks like it bulges the tire at the center. greg

Wow, what a great event. Had a blast. Great weather, great location, great people. Very nice. greg

Of course not of the caliber of an Auburn, I would naturally recommend a late '60s model Karman Ghia Convertible. Not terribly expensive, easy and fun to drive, very easy for the average guy to maintain, good brakes, some had three point safety belts. My wife has wanted one since she was sixteen, one day I'll surprise her. greg

Have to point out something in and earlier post. Technically a "Street Rod" is a modified vehicle 1948 or before. At street rod shows only pre 48 vehicles are allowed to participate. I think the rest of them would fall under the street machine or hot rod category. From what I've been told thats really how-why the GoodGuys events came about.

To get back to the original question the trend is alive and well here in SouthEastern Ohio. I am also torn. I attend alot of local car shows and have alot of friends who are street rodders, I like many of the cars. My brother has been a street rodder for about 30 years and I can say even that group of people have changed. Early on it seemed to be there was more "garage-engineered" cars, that is cars that had parts from other makes models modified to fit. Many times parts from a trip to the junk yard. Now it seams people just open up a catalog and buy parts. Its almost gotten to be a kit car. Thats what bothers me, no imagination on building these cars anymore, its gotten too easy. I was at a car show two years ago and a fellow from West Virginia had a beutiful, restored '32 Ford Roadster. In all my years of going to car shows I dont think I had ever seen a '32 Roadster that was stock.

I'll be there. Never been to a Grand National Meet looking forward to it. greg