I spent most of the day outside and working on the Beetle. 11 AM to 9 PM. I started by removing all the stuff that once again has been placed inside the car for storage. I wanted to get to work on the dash modifications that I had read about on The Samba. I tore the dash pad off carefully and forcefully to reveal a classic 60's metal dash underneath. Unfortunately VW had to place an ugly foam cover on the original dashes in the US because of DOT safety regulations. It looks a whole lot better without. The holes and radio spot will need to be welded and filled.





I got to work trying out some chemical strippers on some of the body panels to try and get it down to bare metal. I found that a combination of paint stripper and a wire brush on a grinder works really well. The rear engine decklid is now close to being bare metal and ready to paint! Now for the rest of the car.



While prepping the car to take the body off, the engine needs to be removed. That was also done today. We used a series of jacks to lift the car up, and a motorcycle jack to hold the engine. Early VW's are interesting in the fact that they drop the engines out the bottom. Its really easy.. a few wires, fuel line, throttle linkage and 4 bolts is all it takes. Now the engine is out, and removing the body from the pan can begin soon.