Roof lining finished

I managed to finish the roof lining at the weekend and have also installed the NOS sun visors bought individually from Paul Colbert and BerT3 at a far more reasonable price than currently advertised by Lars Neuffer whose prices simply reflect the ever escalating price of NOS parts.

I have also installed the correct aluminium stemmed early rear view mirror extracted out of my stash of parts as the one that came on the car was from a 6o's beetle.

Further interior trim progress

I have now finished fitting the trim to the rear parcel shelf area and rear shoulders\B pillars in the original style for a 62 model.

I have also retrimmed the front screen pillars and fitted the NOS front screen pillar aluminium trims.

Next for completion is the head lining which I hope to complete during the week.

Rear parcel shelf

I have been working on the rear parcel shelf area and have used the material kindly supplied by Lee Hedges when he sources the materials for the interior from TMI and had the seat covers made up.

A stiff card under liner was made and attached to the underneath of the lining to prevent the corrugations in the rear parcel shelf showing through.

I have also had to spend a lot of time making a shaped material cover for the small rear shoulder area in front of the parcel shelf. On the early models these were covered with material, later ones had a seperate black plastic cover or it was an intergrated part of the cover that goes below the opening rear quarter light.

I have glued the rear parcel shelf in place and fitted the resprayed rear vent but have yet to glue the shoulder covers on or glue down the front edge of the shelf as it is -5C and the material isn't pliable enough even with heat applied to it to get a good fit.

A head lining for the New Year

I have started work on installing the head lining. It is a bit of a jig saw because you need to put the A & B post trims on first, plus the B posts needed new card liners making beforehand.

Additionally covers need to be made for the small shoulder areas on the 62 models in matching vinyl to the rear parcel shelf as they weren't fitted with plastic covers of any description. More on this in the next post.

I made a new insulation felt liner for the roof and stuck it firmly in place and have put the new liner in just by its 3 fixing bars (longest at rear) whilst I do the other trim.

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.