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Peter's 1968 Beetle

I bought the car in 1995 from a VW Dealer in Toronto, Ontario Canada. It was my first car, a 1968 VW Beetle. It was metallic blue in colour and in pretty good shape, or so I thought. I drove it home washed it, took some photographs and decided that I would strip the car down and rebuild it. Once I lifted the carpet out of the car the real fun began.

The entire floor had to be removed, there wasn't too much left of it. The heater channels were all rusted out in the front and bottom as well. My Dad and I replaced the floors and the heater channel bottoms and welded in patches for the front portions. The body of the car was in pretty good shape except for the rear quarter panels. On each side there was a fist-sized hole where the fenders bolt on. That was all cut out and new sheet metal was welded in. All trim, emblems, door handles and other holes were than welded shut for that smooth look. A set of 3" wider than stock fenders was bolted on and matching running boards as well. That was bonded with layer upon layer of sheet fiberglass until it was all nice and solid. At this time the 911 spoiler (made to fit Beetles) was roughed in as well. When all the roughing in was done the car was then sent off to the body shop that was a friend of my Dads for final bodywork and paint. The colour that I chose for the car is Beach Blue from an early Toyota with a touch of white Pearle.

The Interior is a one of a kind. A friend of mine Lee Rauti designed door panels. The seats are out of an '85 Rabbit GTI. The work was done at a local shop that no longer exists. The custom stereo enclosure consists of 2 tens for bass, two 6.5" for mid, up front a component set with 5.25 mids and 1 inch highs. The tens are each powered by a RockFord Fosgate 100a2 amps and the head unit a Panasonic 200DF runs the rest, for now. The dash consists of AutoMeter Gauges: 5" Sport Comp tach, Speedo, oil temp and voltmeter. I added a Grant white steering wheel, MOMO King shift knob and custom shift boot.

The seat belts have been changed to a Sparco three point harnesses. Power windows and door poppers were added with an alarm system. The front suspension is a new adjustable beam with stock spindles and KYB Gas Adjust shocks. The rear is stock, dropped by one notch. The front brakes are from a '93 BMW 740il. It has Cross-drilled 12-inch rotors, cadmium plated with KVR carbon fibre semi-metallic pads. The wheels are Ronal BULLDOG 17x7.5 with 215/45R17 Continental ContiSport Contact tires. The engine is a Beetle motor bored out to 1776cc with an Engle cam, counterweighed and balanced crank and lightened flywheel. Heads have been ported and bigger valves were installed. The engine is fitted with a one of a kind custom built Dual Throttle Body Fuel Injection. The exhaust is once again a custom unit running a four into one merged header mated to a Flowmaster muffler. Steve Szczepanski at Kars N Trucks completed the awesome brake conversion, engine work and the superior fuel injection system. My Dad and I did all the work other than what has been mentioned above.

It took almost six years to complete. Future mods will include a 1.25:1 rockers and a set of rear disc brakes. I am very pleased with the way the car has turned out, after all this was a first for Dad and I. I drive the car whenever it is nice out and sometimes take it to Performance Improvements where I work. I also participate in VW shows and events in my area as well as just cruising around with friends. Please visit my web site at www.beetlejuice.ca