M265 & Ron Fleming

I was told a few months back that Ron Fleming from FAT Performance was heading to Adelaide. Fantastic. I had met Ron a couple of times previously including just last year in Germany so it got me thinking that a few of us should make the effort and welcome him to Adelaide.

While it might not be much of an effort on the face of it, my black VW has not been on the road since 2005 and even that was in a limited capacity so I have been working on this VW for some time now to rectify annoying things on it such as the pedal assembly and air filters. Small nonsense that was never 'right' from back in 2001 when it was completed.

Here is the black VW wheeled outside. I rolled both the black and green VW's outside to swap their positions in the 'car house' and to enable the black car to be driven if I so desired (or intend).

Now sitting on the CNC BRM's. Looks a billion times better than the Flat-4 replicas but unfortunately the cost of this exercise was borderline insane. Never-the-less I am a results driven person so I am very pleased with the results.

The 1965 366, the 1964 312 and the 1990 MK2 GTI enjoying the Adelaide sunshine.

Back in the car house. The pedal assembly is now almost how I want it with replaced throttle shaft in the pedal assembly and a carburetor style linkage (rose joints) now connect the throttle pedal to the throttle shaft (formerly the standard 1965 VW-1500 set up of the roller with the pedal not exactly rolling down on it). Air filters are now in situ too. Next step will be a ECU swap out and crank trigger ignition to replace the MSD ignition 100% once and for all with coil on plug. Fly by wire would also be worth considering too but unsure on that right now.

Anyway, all that aside, I am looking forward to seeing Ron again at German Auto later this November. If you are in Adelaide, head there the day before the VW show.

Corgi & Dinky resto's

I have a very small collection of VW models these days because I came to the realisation I could restore proper full size cars for the money 'invested' in small models. So while I don't specifically collect any models on purpose, I do have a small bunch of 1/43 Minichamps of interest as well as older (1960's primarily) models such as the Dinky and Corgi models shown below.

As you can see I have 3 of the Dinky #144 notchback's in white with two being excellent and one being a bit play worn. In the background are models left to me by my grandfather - the 1600 fastback and Corgi T34 in red were bought by Len brand new back in the day. The white Corgi T34 is a model I found at a swap-meet a few years ago and have recently fitted repro tyres to it. The Corvair is another Corgi model I found this year at the toy swap meet in Wayville, SA.

The gold Corgi T34 is a model I have just finished the restoration of. It was originally a very bad play worn red model with no paint or tyres. I had it wet blasted back to bare cast and then primed and sprayed it in gold as that was kinda a colour you could get them in back then. Not 100% correct but it looks fine now. The primer white Dinky notchback was in very bad shape and also had no paint or tyres as well as having the front hood missing. I bought a repro hood from the UK, wet blasted the body and chassis, POR-15 painted the chassis, primed the body and had some bronze paint mixed up to replicate the original bronze that these came in back in the day. The bronze didn't work out exactly as expected but anyway.....it looks OK for a model that was worth perhaps $1 previously.

I have since detailed both models with silver on the bumpers and headlights etc.

Not too bad an outcome for these two worn out models.

Here is the bronze Dinky #144 next to an original paint version.

The tyres seem huge in this image but they are the original size.

Details details details

It's been a while and if you know what rubbish my wife and I have had to put up with, you will understand the lack of updates!

First off, long story short, as many of my peers are aware around the world, the South Australian Government have decided that they require our Croydon Park property that we had only just purchased during February 2017. This has put us back about 2 years in our ability to retire so.... anyway, it's now in the hands of the legal professionals and I trust that the outcome isn't just a legal outcome, but an outcome commensurate with the effects of our displacement and 2 years of efforts. You may hear more about this soon and I won't commit a whole lot to here until its resolved unless there is a gag order involved too.

Those of you that know me can discuss directly with me!

So now we are back at Modbury Heights for the time being and I have been busy working on the notchback again in an effort to finish it off before we embark yet again on moving out of the area to somewhere else. Finishing the notchback will also enable the garage of the future to be somewhat smaller perhaps so there is method to the madness (doubtful I will get 146m2 approved again like at Croydon Park).

As can be seen, I have refit the rear insulation panels (original to the car) back in behind the back seat and it looks fantastic already. I need to make up some more insulation to cover the wheel wells as per original next and then the headliner can be fit and of course the rear seats and side paneling re-installed. I will show the seats perhaps in the next update (all redone as per original and looking fantastic).

The rear badge work is now installed too. The VOLKSWAGEN and 1500 badges are the original's to this car and were perfect when removed. I refit them with perfect clips and rubber buffers so it remains as it was. The housing and 'S' chrome emblem are NOS items as well as the lens and rubber. A very impressive bit of jewelry if I don't mind saying.

The front VW emblem and 'S' hood trim is now back on the car. The VW emblem is actually a NOS item because the old one had a weird dent in it. The hood trim is the original to the car and now installed with an NOS velvet green seal and original fasteners. The number plate is the original 1965 issued South Australian item and is fabricated of aluminium over steel which is correct for that period of time here. The paint is original and while the white number paint has lifted off in some area's, I don't see the point in repainting it as it's part of this car's history. The bracket and fixings underneath are the original items and re-plated.

I got around to reinstalling the NOS Abarth muffler recently too. This was a complete headache and didn't want to align as well as it should for what ever reason. After about 4 hours it was completed however and I used all original clamps and fasteners where appropriate. Bumpers need to be installed to appreciate the Abarth twin tips I think. Right now it looks out of proportion.

The ID plate is now back in place with alloy rivets.

These images show something I was quite pleased to find NOS from Josh in the USA - the brown horn earth cable from the top of the beam to the steering box. Correct and looking good. Amazing how dusty things are! I will need to give the car a complete detail before anyone gets to see it obviously.

The brake fluid bottle is installed now with correct screw thanks to Frank. Need to find a good quality cap. The repro items are garbage and the original one on this car was cracked.

Washer bottle and details look almost spot on from here.

And for now, this is the original jack back in place. I decided to keep it as is and not restored.

Next major update should have all 4 x fenders installed with the NOS velvet green beading's and that then leads onto the headlights, tail lights, indicators, side markers, antenna, side trim, reflectors and what ever else I can install (and thus remove the parts from the shelves). I must send the bumpers off for work too. Mario has the NOS over riders for me and the NOS brackets are in black paint ready to accept it all. Not far off now from resembling a complete car once again.