The inside dash has an unusual rust hole just above the glove box door. Not sure why it's only concentrated in this one spot, but it is. I found another guy parting out a '58 beetle that cut this patch piece off for me. Slowly but surely, I'm collecting all the 'bones' necessary to repair the rusted areas of the body. Next on the list - rear fenders, rear apron, front apron and spare tire well. I've almost concluded that I'm going to have to buy aftermarket fenders. I can't find any good originals for the driver's side. I'll continue to be patient and will keep searching, but haven't found any in many months of hunting. If I do buy aftermarket, I'll be buying 2 so they'll match.

I've also found all the parts for the sunroof mechanism. Unfortunately, the header piece I recently picked up is a little beat up and will require some work with the hammer and dolly. Luckily, the damage isn't significant, but will require some patience to duplicate the proper curvature of the roof assembly. All of the sunroof parts will need to be bead blasted and painted or powder coated.

A couple of weeks ago, I arranged to have these lower door pillars cut from a 1960 beetle that was being parted out in Arizona. I found that repo parts only had 1 hole cut out for the door hinge screws rather than 2 as was original, so I knew I had to find a donor to maintain originality (four times the cost of repos of course - for used parts!). These pieces are in great condition for what I need, and will repair some of the worst areas of cancer on the car.

Work has been crazy busy for a couple of months now. Late nights have become the norm, and there hasn't been a lot of time to work on the ol' VW. Despite the time constraints, I have continued to hunt down parts on thesamba.com, and have picked up a few great pieces including the rest of the sunroof mechanism, and door pilar cut outs from a 1960 beetle that was being parted out in Arizona. I also picked up a dash patch to repair a rust hole just above the glove box door, and a NOS headliner rod. Related to the project, I had a 220v outlet installed in the garage last week, and the most exciting purchase of all....drum roll please.....I finally purchased the 80 gallon two stage compressor I mentioned in one of my September posts. I bought it online (they don't stock it in stores), and it was delivered to my home yesterday. It's a beautiful, black B E A S T!! Can't wait to get it all hooked up so I can fire up the sand blaster soon. I think a new bead blast cabinet is next on my list....good thing I've been saving my Harbor Freight gift cards for a couple years. Here's a couple pics of the 220v outlet and the big black beast. I'll get some pics of the parts I've recently purchased up soon.