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Hey folks, I've thought that would be nice to share with you some history of the car we built prior to the seven.
It's a 1980 VW Brasilia. It was produced in Brazil (950.000) and by CKD in Mexico (50.000) from 1973 to 1982.
It's a shortened Type 3 swing axle chassis with a upgright 1600 aircooled engine with a brazilian designed body.
The wheelbase it the same as a beelte (2.4 m) with 17cm less body lenght and big windows. Perfect for the city.
This one was given to me by my dad when I was 14 (2008), but I only drove it when i had my license (18 yo).
That's how she probably looked when new (this was the color under the repaint)



This is some pics the pre-previous owner sent me. They're from late 1998.



How I know the date? It was sprayed inside the passenger door, under the card



That's how she was in 2006-7, when my dad brought it as a DD.




This cars are notorious for rusted floorpans and rockers. That's one of the first repairs the car received, giving it the spotted cow look the car carried for many years




In 2008, my dad brought himself a 2005 Chevrolet Classic (European 90's Vauxhall Corsa, it was sold here untill 2015) and gifted me this car (after all it was me who convinced him to buy it anyway), so I started repairing it. I still miss the strip I had painted on the hood prior to repaint it, maybe I'll redo it as a sticker someday.



One of the things I've done and I'm pround of it taking 3 sets of double carbs from the scrapyard and turn them into a fully functioning set. This carbs are notorious to need adjusting every week but being a blast to drive when correctly adjusted. It was a great learning experience for me. After repainting the car, I got tired of adjusting and brought a new single carb that's on the car now.



Here's one of my favorites. The scooter was my mother's, the place was soon to become a motorcycle parts store we had for a while (dead now), that's my by the post with C O O L sunglasses, and the other guy was a friend who lived with us for a while.



After many years of joy, I knew the engine was on it's way out. One of the heads cracked on a local freeway,losing all compression, and the car went back home by it's own power on 2 cilinders. And went running for the shop that removed the engine. And I drove it engineless because it's a long descent from the shop to my home. It was really funny. Here's the the motor right before going back into the car, new cilinders, pistons, heads, cam, all std. Sounds weak, but it's a blast to drive.



This car had a rust crack on the body that went from the driver's side headlight to the gas cap at the pass. side. It didn't affected the running because it's a VW, so no suspension parts are bolted to the front body. This is on a body shop on the day this was sorted.



Continue on next post.

Last pic before dismanteling. This is my niece.



A friend of mine who owns a body shop made the heavy bodywork (closing holes, straightening the body, etc.) and I puttied, sanded and painted the car. It was driven like this to and from the body shop and auto electric (for a loom swap).



At the same time, I grabbed a full interior set on a junkyard. It's stock but needed new fabric.



Some pics of the paintwork. I lost interest before and during this part, so the car stayed disassembled for 1 1/2 years. The car was painted on the closest color I could get from The RUF CTR Yellowbird.




And after painted






We made a zinc box that stays on an unused spot on the rear. There's a rubber mat that goes over this area so it stays hidden. That's where my tool box goes. It's also great for fixing the clutch cable and starter without going under the car.



I also made a "steel butt" that covers the engine and transaxle. It already paid itself as it was smashed on the very rear. I need to take it out and hammer it back in shape someday.



This is what I have for now. It was, and still is a ever evolving experience for us (me and dad), and it's far from ready. I'll take a pic of the refreshed interior after the paintwork was done soon, and there's some interesting things to see on it, as I got a 3d printer and started making the impossible to get parts from the dash and interior. Also there's now a chevette fan to adapt on it's airbox (the stock one was a optional nobody ordered, so it's inexistent) so it will finally have fresh air inside. Also this is my daily driver when his extra vanilla 2005 Civic is not home (he uses his motorcycle to go to work) so there's aways something to fix. Stay tuned!

The VW looks great. Nice work
Davew

Thanks dave!

Here's a drawing a friend of mine from germany did. It's a sort of Rocket Bunny kit for the car. Would severelly interfer with my overland attitude with this car, but still looks amazing!
I have it framed for inspiration.

On the last few days, I've been adapting the fan removed from the Chevette I've tore apart to build my Seven on this car's airbox.
The fan as removed and this car's box:



The fan's shroud was stripped to the minimum necessary to support the motor, and fixed inside the box with furniture L brackets and self tapping screws, because that's obviously the right way to do it. And it's what I had on hand:



For closing the sides, here's the CAD template and the 2 acrylic plates cut:



All done. The box is already closed and fixed back into the car.



The button for turning it on was salvaged from the Chevette and addapted where the cigarrete lighter would go. By it's side is where the radio would go, I've 3d printed a tray with space for a miniature of the car on the back, separated by a acrylic plate.



No changes can be seen on the finished dash besides the button, and the system works so I consider it a success. I still have to get new conduits for the side outlets and print one of them, as I only have 2 of the 3. I also swapped the steering wheel. The sport one I had on this car was tiny, and combined with the wide mags and no power steering, makes it quite a workout to park. This is the wheel it had, but with a 3d printed button at the middle instead of this ugly adaptation:



I brought a 81/82 wheel at a junkyard, gave it a rub with WD40 and replaced it. The old wheel will go to the seven. I hadn't installed the button yet so here's a pic of one of the same model: