End of 2008 review

Well, another year in the restoration of my 1961 built T343 is drawing to a close and this feels like the final hurdles just before completion, which is great.
I have pressed on with the reinstatement of the dashboard instruments and trim and just need to connect the final wiring and then install the push button switch unit. Before doing this I need to install the courtesy lighting wiring loom.
I have also now finished the rear luggage compartment and am part way through the fit up of the first door - see picture above. I have also posted a series of comparison photos so you can see how far the car has come.

Bodywork Comparisson

Here is a photo that shows how far the body has come at surface level without being able to show all the skill that has gone into getting it this far.

Seating Comparisson

I have published these before but still worth a review.

Front Luggage Comparisson

Photos showing before and after in the front luggage area.

Rear Luggage Compartment Comparisson

Photos showing before and after in rear luggage compartment.

Dashboard Comparisson

Photos of dashboard before and after restoration.

Santa has arrived early

Just catching up with things after being away for a while and hope to do more refitting of the car over the Christmas and New Year break.
Meantime santa has delivered a new heater control knob, correct for the Karmann Ghia with its little red dot. The one on the car when it arrived was beyond use, I managed to find a used replacement but it had broken in the past and was glued back together. Now I have a very pricey but excellent NOS replacement in its little bag ready to be fitted.

November update 3

Both air intake troughs have now been reconditioned and refitted. Unfortunately the drivers side one doesn't seem to want to fit flush under the scuttle panel, leaving a nice gap for the water to come in through. I need to investigate further but this will have to wait until December due to being away with work.
The trims for the A & B posts have been made and will be fitted once I start the fit out of the central interior section.
That's it folk for November- back in December when I hope to make a little more progress.

November update 2

With the rear boot area completed I have been gathering up from around the garage all that is needed to finish fitting up the dash board. The main thing to work on is the air intake troughs that fit under the vents in the front scuttle. I restored one early on in the restoration and now need to clean up and repaint the other and renew the rubber hinged flap.

After this is complete the next major areas will be fitting of the roof linning and the trim around the doors on the A & B posts. The existing A&B post pillar trims fell to pieces when I dismantled the car. I had some other ones from another car I broke up and have used a length of black material similar to the original and some flexible rubber fuel hose as the basis for recreating them. The ends of the pipe need to be shaped correctly as in the photo. I will investigate if our sewing machine can do the stitching required, if not i will plead with a friend to do it for me.

I have a replacement roof lining, this needs some work before it can be fitted, including getting out lines in it from where it has been folded in storage - moral is that if material arrives folded then unwrap and roll up instead.

November update 1

Here is a shot of the old rear boot floor linning laid out on a piece of replacement Hardura linning material ready to be cut to shape. The early cars did not have the Auf\Zu signs on them and had textured Hardura rather than smooth surfaced material. This makes it easy to source and replicate as it is the same as early Jaguar boot linning material and that of other British classics.

Also here is a shot of the fully refurbished rear boot area.

Info for Simon

Hi Simon

Draw back of blogs is there is no e-mail for direct response, so here are the answers to the questions in your comment, hope they help.
I got my head linning from Lars Neuffer in Germany. It you are up to making your own, which we did for our 65, then Woolies trim do an excellent material match (called off white perforated, catalogue number 334) you need 2 metres from what I recall at £12 a metre and some plain white material for the pillars (roof linning from an early Golf used to be a good match).
For Chroming I used The London Chroming co in the Old Kents Road, SE15. Results are outstaning and about the mark for good quality work. Cheaper option in Premier Plating in High Wycombe.
If you are a member of the KGOC(GB) then do contact me at the e-mail address for the T34 register secretary, or post a comment again with contact details which I can see and withold from publication