1967 VW Variant.

Yes, they were a great car, and so was the fast back version, and this one will be too when you get it finished.🙂

I doubt you learned that standard of metalwork doing your Group Cert though 😁

An old friend of mine ( since deceased RIP) was a panel beater by trade, but old style. When it came to metal, he was a master craftsman. If a metal part was unavailable he would manufacture it, and the tools he needed to do it. The walls of his workshop had row after row of such tools hanging on it. Special tong's, former's, dolly's etc. In one corner of the workshop he had a fully functioning forge, and I saw him welding a really old ornate gate in it one time, the same way it had originally been welded. Long before you had repair systems like Car Bench, Car-O-Liner etc. he made his own one on a converted lift. He was one of the best, if not the best metal worker I have ever seen. It was amazing to see him in action....old school to the last, he always wore a shirt and tie, even while working, and wearing a long from the neck down heavy leather apron for protection.

Very true. The tunnel housing the clutch cable etc, was not the only strength in the floor. it depended on the side ducting too. When you mention the heating ducting in the Beetles, they actually formed part of the chassis, and were an integral part of the strength of the car as a whole. Th man I mentioned in my previous post would have been a blacksmith originally, but like you he had a great eye for detail, and was highly intelligent. Modern car design did not faze him one little bit,, he well understood steering geometry and would get the suspension turrets on the valances and steering rack mounts on the front bulkhead 100%, and with pretty basic alignment tools at that. Set squares, measuring tapes and spirit levels took him a long way. As he often said motor car design car began on a draughtsman's, board with the Datum Line, with precise measurements, and that's the principle he worked on. An Uncle of my Fathers, was a master coach builder, and his primary tools were the set square, spit level and measuring tape, so I suspect my blacksmith / panel beater friend spent some time in the same trade, but easily adapted to motor vehicles, as many of them did.

Generally, mass production , while making things cheaper to buy, has not made them easier to repair. and it's not in the manufacturers best financial interests to make long lasting products. I completely agree with repairing rather than replacing items, especially when it comes to cars. But this Country is completely geared to replacing rather than renewing. Not trying to derail the thread, but for example, this is enforced by the govt's attitude of collecting vat on new car sales supported by the SIMI, so that we are channeled into needlessly replacing cars that would still have plenty of Life in them. What other Countries are there that will refuse to insure a vehicle once it has passed its NCT? This thread, showing Kadmans restoration is a case in point, and when he has finished, it will have many more ears of life, I know that it's not possible to go to the extent that Kadman is going to, but there are many other cars out there, needing much less work than Kadmans VW, and are eminently doable. Yet you can see the high bodied scrap metal trucks loaded with vehicles destined for scrap yards.

Gadgetman496, currently I live in Country where nothing that can be salvaged is thrown out....when something is eventually dumped, nothing short of a miracle would have saved it anyway. Necessity being the mother of invention, and the whole economy is geared around supplying spare parts for anything, and plenty of small one man businesses actively involved in repairing household goods. Same for cars. They will rebuild brake shoes or clutch lining's.