VW Beetle Classic Car Restoration - At A Cost

Classic VW cars are classic vehicles for good reason.

I don't know about you, but I love wildlife and nature programmes. The other night I marvelled as a lost ship from the 2nd World War was uncovered just off the coast of  Southern England.

But it got me thinking; how come a ship that's been sitting in salty sea water for over 70 years is still recognisable as a ship, when my Beetle heater channels have rotted through in the relatively dry South East of England in just under ten years?

Classic Car Spare Parts

It's a small question with a big answer – pattern parts. The Beetle is one of those vehicles that people see as relatively cheap to restore, and I guess it's fitting that the car that was originally “the people's car” and with over 21 million manufactured, should be fairly easy to rebuild.

But there's a sting in the tail. Pattern parts are just that, copies of original equipment (OE) parts. In most cases you pay for what you get – and you pay for a quick fix that will not stand the test of time in the inclement British weather. If you carry out your own classic car transformations you will find that often the parts need a fair bit of shoehorning to fit the vehicle compared to OE parts. But it's worth it because of the price, right?

Well, let's look at the advantages; the parts are readily available, and they cost much less, making the automobile repair/upgrade a pretty painless process. And in an age when we all want everything now as opposed to tomorrow, that's an intoxicating mix. Add to that the good old power to weight ratio improvement due to making your car lighter & how could you go wrong..

Cheap Spares for Classic Car Restorations?

But there's a down side. Adding cheap parts to your classic is like strapping a time bomb to it's chassis. There's a reason you've now got a lighter bug, and that's down to the thinness of the metal. Pattern parts generally use as little metal as they can get away with, so once the rust starts to attack, there's very little distance to go before it breaks on through to the other side of your doors - or wings.. An OE part can have the rust treated before it becomes a hole – it's thicker, and so you have more time. Time is essential, because you have to notice the rust in the first place before it's too late, and most of the places that get a watery battering are pretty much hidden.

My veedub heater channels rotted from the inside out because they weren't sealed on the inside. If they were thicker, they would have needed less repair or I may've noticed in time, but being so thin, it didn't take long to turn them to bronze coloured flaky pastry, all nicely hidden away under carpet – not only an MoT failure, but a structural nightmare.

If you try and run a vintage rat look Camper Van or Beetle with unprotected pattern parts you will probably get no more than a season out of it before it starts to fail. Most of the known rat look classic VW auto's use thicker, original equipment parts which makes any rust manageable, surface rust.

In short, getting your modified or classic car insurance might well be a breeze when you've repaired everything for just a couple of hundred quid, but it will only take a breeze and some rain to dismantle it again over winter.