Well, I got fed up with Volkswagens and sold my '63 Beetle and I was also pretty close to sell the Cabrio too. I found one serious buyer (of 20 phone calls).
I went to garage to check/prepare that it would start etc when I was supposed to show it. After 5 minutes sitting in the car I decided that no way in hell would I sell it, besides I lost the buyers phone number too. At the time I am writing this, about a week after season opener VW Open, I have been driving the car every day rain or shine and loving every minute of it.
I sold the '63 without engine, Berms and accessories. So, naturally I fitted the fake BRMs to the Cabriolet and sold the Sprint Stars to finance the engine project.
BRMs changed the looks of the car quite dramatically. Also fitting those porno red Sprint Stars made similar impression to Pete's '63 :-)
The troublesome 1600cc was dumped in favour of my old faithful 1200cc from '63 (thanks Alhoracing for your help in the engine swap.) Hopefully my new engine will be finished in this summer and it can be installed.
Only improvement in the interior is the genuine EMPI GT steering wheel which I got from my norwegian friend Joeran Larssen. It's in mint condition, thanks again Joeran! It matches nicely to the EMPI E-Z-R shifter I have.
Other minor fixing alongside the steering wheel are the Porsche 911 lenses, too bad the light assemblies were in pretty shitty condition, I had to duct tape them together. If anyone is willing to offer a NOS set of complete headlight assemblies, mail me.
Also now the car has a proper engine lid, which I found in last summer from Bob van Heyst's company called BBT (while killing time in Belgium between the Bug Run and Bad Camberg). I didn't have time to have it painted before the "Cabrio weather" came to Finland.
They're here
On the left is the first test fitting to 356A brake drum.
Guess was I nervous? There were actually 3 versions of the wheels, one for Porsche 911 and two for the wide five-lug bolt
pattern; regular version for Beetle and a version for Porsche 356 with added clearance to larger drum.
I got repro center cap decals from Matt Joy, which are
exact copy of the original.
New engine
Ah, finally! I bought the engine project in April '99 from a good friend of mine, Jyrki,
who suddenly decided to build killer 1776cc. It took over a year to finish it, since I lost motivation at some point and
also blew my budget when I bought the Cabrio.
The engine consists from AS21 case, Okrasa crank, Porsche rods, VW OEM heads with 40/35.5 valves, 48 Dellorto carbs,
GB carb linkage and full flow oiling system, GB stuff in valve train, GB Hi-Torque starter, GB 1 5/8" header with
Dynomax muffler. Nothing spectacular..
Thanks to Jyrki for consulting in parts selection, Jussi from BUGPAJA
for some of the parts and major thanks to Alhoracing for the help in assembly and engine swap. Jyrki and Alhoracing are
now "international" engine builders, just check Äyris' KG feature in the August 2000 issue of Hot VWs :-)
EMPI Equipped
I fitted the 5-spokes under the car for the last couple of weeks until I put the car into winter storage. I am not sure
which wheels look better genuine 5-spokes or Berms, even though the Berms are fake and EMPIs real thing.
My '60 Vert in 1999 -
2000 -
2001-02 -
2003 -
2004-07 -
2007-08
Updated August 3rd 2000
My EMPI 5-spokes have just arrived from Der Autobahn Scrapers member Patrick "Pat" Deperne. Don't know whether they'll be
fully polished or just polished rims and painted spokes. Ever since I held genuine 5-spoke in my hand first time
(in Karmann Konnection in 1997) I just had to have them.
Updated November 1st 2000
Engine swap at the AlhoRanch..
Updated November 1st 2000
