50's Retro Ruffrod cab project...
 

Hello all!

New forum member.
Tought I'd make a tread about my project that has been lurking in my garage for a while. Slowly but surely developing.... :)

The car, an '81 cabby with a 1.8 GTI engine with a carb mounted, don't ask me why, previous owner business!

Been playing around with the idea of making a 50's Bonneville ruffrod style cab for along time. So when this baby entered my garage it was time to set the plan into life.

Matte black paint, white top with no rear window, 14 inch steelies powdercoated red, with whitewall tires and Moondiscs.
Some other period pieces will also find it's way to this project. Peep-mirror, A-pillar search light, lionpaw exhaust tail, and also some "until further notice" secret parts! :cool:

The car is painted in my own garage by yours truely! Just to get that real homemade ruffrod 50's finish on the paintjob.
I've also started putting the car back together.

I'm posting som in progress shots from this winter, and also some pics of parts and other stuff I'll be mounting on the car.

Waddaya all think? :rolleyes:

Ripped, but with new doors, new brakes and adjustable coilovers mounted. I also cleaned the car totally on the underside and applied new anti-rust goo! shitty job!




Some bodywork, new front and front fenders, plus welding shut the old mirror holes.






All spray spackled and primered ready for the matte black paint.




The paint is on, with just the ruffrod finish I wanted.






Went overboard one day when I was working from home. Not much work that day as you can see. Masked and painted flames in true 50's custom spirit. :cool:






Original rearlamps ready for modification.




Modified and mounted! Here you can see the lionpaw and part of the restored chromebumper as well.






Whitewalls, the lionpaw (before mounting, of course) and a couple of secret trick parts! ;)




And I just had to get this, kinda blends in with the rest of the car...




The front is slowly turning cool.....
I did a small trick on the lower grills by adding a chromestrip to the top and bottom of them, to kinda resemble the frontgrille.






Polished doorlock mechanisms




TMI carpet and rear seatcover arrived!!






Old style chrome handles mounted, just sitting there waiting for their little black inserts.... ;)




Matte black and chrome, kinda cool don't ya think??




Since I was temporarily short of funds this summer I mounted stuff that I've had laying around since spring.
I mounted the rear hatch, the new upholstered rear seat, new TMI carpet, the cabframe and also polished some parts and added some chrome...

Here's some pics....

Polished doorlock bolt....



Rearhatch mounted...the hatch is being modified this winter but it'll do for now!




The rearseat with the TMI upholstery...




The carpet set also included new carpet for the rearshelf and sides too...nice!




Some rock'n roll stuff! :cool:




Some windowframe chrome...




Hmm... I wonder what this is?? ;)




A sneak-peek of how it'll look with the Moondiscs. Smaller rubber and whitewalls will be added shortly.




Things were moving slowly forward this summer...

Got started mounting the top, plus I also got my hands on some more Moon parts. The Grant steeringwheel in red flake will blend right in with the rest of the theme, in my opinion.
I just had to have the Moon hornbutton with the Maltese cross on it.
A Moon Brody knob and 3" Moon peep mirror just complements the look I'm going for.

Here's some pics....

Started the cab mounting...






Da steeringwheel and Brody knob.....




3" Moon Peep....






Da wheel mounted, I just dig this :cool: ....




Here's some more pics, starting to look really bitchin' now, don't you think??






















...more to follow!

looks fucking great!!!
Love the paint!!!
keep on doing the good work!!!
greetz..Vic..

More pics and stuff...
 

Yihaaa... made my own dials! I went with a pinup babe theme and here's the result.... =)

Found an old 50's Caltex logo that I used as a sign above the gasgauge, looks better than the standard one I think... :cool:

So waddaya guys think??

Speedo...



Tacho...



Tank...



Temp...



Well, here's the finished instrument cluster! :D

I think it turned out great, the pic doesn't do it quite justice, but you get the idea.

Painted the needles in a color called Garnet Pearl and the screws and needlebases in Silver fox.

I also applied a small text in the empty black area below the indicator lights, just to indicate that this IS a driver.... :cool:

Anyways, here it is...




Oh yes!!!

Took her for a little spin on some local roads this weekend, and man she worked! Stiff as hell but it's supposed to be like that! ;)

Got the seatupholstery on the front seats mounted yesterday, and mounted the seats this morning. Man, I love my job solution, working from home!
Some minor details left to do inside and outside.
Next in line is mounting of my CD player and some speakers with retro covers. And this winter, back into the garage for removal of the engine, and a paint and finish job in the enginecompartment.

Here's some pics after the little testdrive...




































Later.....

Yeah, man! What a great ride! Very cool details, I like the brody knob and the dials. :cool:

Nice to see all at ones it looks GREAT I ALSO LOVE the PAINT JOB.

Lots of fun with the car!!!

Hawt :rock:

Very nice ride :woowoo: Love tha looks! :)
Are those upholstery sets also available for the ''standard'' seats of a Golf 1 (1975)??

Thanx!
Yup, they are! My front seats are from a 1976 Golf!
Can't use sportseats in a ruffrod... ;)

You can get them here: http://evwparts.com/TMIRabbitCabriolet.htm

one word:

affentittengeil!!

Excellent Job !!!!!!!!!!!

Looks very "old".................keep it up !!!!


Grtz............... LRR

Yeah keep up the good work :D . An awesome rod :D

What can I say that isnt said already ?
"Low" budget rules :D

And I love the lionpaw

whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooottttttt tttttt :rock: :wow:
realy fits in the volksforum style :woowoo:

nice nice!!

what kind of coilovers are you running? is that Catec?

Thanx!

The coilovers are Formel K, bought on eBay.

SICK ride dude, love the flames and steering wheel! keep us posted....

wouw , what a awesome car.
everything is absolutly great.

good luck.
:green:

maybe one thing i also would love. painting the mooncapes Red.

photoshop somebody?

Hell Yeah!!!! :rock: :clap: :clap:

I'm not gonna say much about it....
A fat A!!!! (A is the highest grade for a exam, isnt it?)

;)

It's fun to see that this car got the same kind of praise here as in the Norwegian club forum.

Yeah, kinda cool!
I was anxious too see the response, and man! Nice when people appreciate your work!

Thanx guys.... :)

very very nice

Nice paint job, keep up the good work. If you intend to visit Holland, you must go to a VW meeting, very relaxed and cool and of course with very low cars.

gotta love this car! :rock: really like your style! :cool:
those dials kick ass!! :cool: :rock:

That thing is fucking awesome man! Dude, dig your style a lot! Keep it up!

Damn!!!! :kenny:
need some brilcreme for my hair....

Love the car.

Nice concept, very neat idea.

You should visit us at the Toppless Rabbit

Toppless Rabbit

i just read it........fucking amazing ride :rock:

could go a little lower though...... :rolleyes: i think airride would finish it of pretty nice

where the heck did ya get those whitewalls?

Pall o mine wants a set as well but can't find any anywheres..

what a hell of car!! :shocked:

I love it!!

Love the car! Every mod is chosen carefully. Creating a car with perfect balance.

Bought them from a swedish webshop: http://www.classicbildelar.com/home.asp

I think that Volkswarenhaus also have them in stock this year.

Long time, no update....
 

Due to serious lack of motivation to continue this project I haven't done anything this winter. But suddenly the urge to finish her got to me and I went out shopping some "stuff".
Got the last part of the outer roof finished so now I can finally "close the hatch". :laugh:






Got myself IMHO a pretty cool fire extinguisher too, chrome with flamezzz! :cool:




Next up is to get the engine out for an overhaul and some finishing touches in the engine bay. Here's a pic of the engine in it's current state, and a quick try out of the Firetruck red color that I'm supposed to paint the bay with. Think it'll be a cool contrast to the matte black paint. In addition to the red paint, I think some chrome is in order here! ;)




Went to the local Mooneyes shop today and bought me some cool stuff. Bullets, stickers and a nice touch for the front headlights.
Mounted the bullets in the holes for the original front lip which I wasn't planning on using anyway, think it came out pretty cool.










...and here's some period pieces. :cool:






And the Maltese on the trunk lid




Later...

:rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::rock::r ock::rock:

That's all what i have got to say..................

Engine update...
 

Small update on the engine work...

I've spent part of this week getting the engine out of the car, dismantling it, cleaning it, (yikes!), some parts swapping and painting it.
I chose to paint the entire engine block and transmission black, with just som minor details in a silver color, no sense in going overboard. I haven't decided what to do with the valvecover yet so I just sandblasted it to get it clean, I think maybe red is in order here, I dunno. The timing belt cover will probably be painted black as well.

Some finish work on the starter, alternator and distributor is what's left before I can put it back togheter and start on the engine bay.

Updates will follow....

Some pics...

Enigine side 1, 2 and 3...










Transmission...




Thats it... =)

nice work! like the bullets!

Very nice car!! That moondisks looks incredible thick!

Like it alot :D

When didn't you want a front lip? I mean, a GTi lip would look great I think! The bullets are pretty cool aswell ;)

:rock:
Nice ride dude ;) looks very cool that matte black..
I like your style

Golden carb...
 

Been doing some serious cleaning and painting on my carb the last couple of days. I opted for the golden color from the Olds Rocket engines! I think it blends right in there with the 50's theme. :cool:

Think it came out kinda cool, either you like it or you don't! :rolleyes:













Kinda blurry this last pic...




More to come.... ;)