'Beryl' The 1957 RHD Ragtop Oval with suicide doors!

I thought Beryl deserved to have a resto thread, so here it is!!
The previous owner bought her when he was 17 and has owned her for the last 25 years.
He changed many things on her including suicicide doors adding a late floor pan and rear lights etc and welding over the semaphores! I must say some of these things are not to my tase and will in time be changed!!!

So whats the plan for her? To be honest im not 100% sure. Money is tight considering we also have Betty and Minty to keep on the road and Hugo to restore. So I think for the time being I may just put steelies with baby moons on, and change rear back lights and try and get her through an MOT so she can come out and have some fun. She already has a 1600 Twin port engine which needs tarting up a bit and fitting.
My long term plans are slightly differnt. I would like to get her as back to original as possible, although the late floor pan will have to stay and so will the suicide doors (although I quite like them now and they have been done well).
As mentioned before steelies with baby moons will be going on and she will be slammed. The semaphores seem to have been welded over So I want to try and get them back. We have the original interior which will need recovering and so will the head lining etc (not an easy job for a ragtop I hear). Original rear lights, bumpers etc etc need to go back on. And also a respray in an original colour (thinking Beryl green at the mo).

I would have loved it if she hadn't been messed with but I am gonna try and make the most of what I have. I know there will be many purists out there that will turn their noses up at her, but at the end of the day I lurve her to bits and dont care!!!! I could stick the the custom style but feel its a waste of a lovely oval!! So will be going for a classic style with a bit of a twist!!

Anyway here she is. My gorgeous Beryl!!!!









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She Looks great Tan .. all the hard work to roll her back will pay off im sure shes amazing

i see rich has lost all space in his garage now! looks like a cool ride. change to an original colour and slam the fooker or some speedmaster rims

that looks cool as.......& i like suicide doors

I saw this and hugo the splitt last night in the metal and well tan and gav got a bargin if you ask me the splitt is worth the dosh they paid alone a solid right hand drive british splitt has got to be rare, these will be great when done

Thanks Guys, Im dying to see her again, havent seen her since last Saturday. I'll try and get some pics to show off her suicide doors!

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Hears some pics of Beryls suicide doors. A big thanks to Rich for Pulling it her out to take the pics!!











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Looks nice and solid from what I can see

3 fold,best part of £1500

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=523578

ANDYLHAM wrote:

3 fold,best part of £1500

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=523578

just don't break it!

Yeah I'll be scared to death to open it!!

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yeah don't let me play with it - I'm good at breaking things

I like that.....lots!!!

This MUST make it even rarer..........




















.....an oval window with a fridge as standard

Sorry !!!!!

Looks good
Reminds me of my old Oval a bit, it was a 1953 on a 73 floorpan.....ended up selling it as an unfinished project to get the Ghia. I was going for a smoothed out Custom look back in the 90's.

Cool pics!!
You cant beat an oval!!

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Right me and Gav have been talking!!!!

Im getting frustrated that I own a car as great as Beryl but shes not here to play with! Rich has his hands full with all of his and Hugo so Beryls the last thing on his long list! Also I want to be more involved with her and want to learn how to do things rather than bugging Rich and Carl to do it all the time! So heres the plan!
Ask The talented Rich to weld the two plates needed (as I dont trust me or Gav with a welder)! Then try and get Beryl and her engine back to ours.
Now the main aim will be to get her engine back in and get her through an MOT. Obviuosly we have no idea what will be needed for the MOT but were gonna give it all a damn good shot ourselves (but with a bit of help from our friends)!
Im not really concerned what she looks like at the mo I just want her on the road where she deserves to be after all this time!
If things go well then I would like to take her to cruise to the prom but I doubt that very much, at least it gives me a date to aim for.
Once she has an mot on her then all I want to do is whack some steelies on her, slam her to the max and sand her back to give her a kind of rat look. And thats the way she will have to stay untill I can afford to buy all the nice bits she needs bit by bit!

At least this way I will get some fun and knowledge out of her and possibly take her to some local shows for some fun days out rather than leaving her tucked away where shes been for the past 15-20 years!

So wish us luck, I think me Gav and Beryl will certainly need it!!!

Oooh excellent plan guys! Doing it yourself will teach you tonnes more about VWs and you'll learn loads of new things.

Don't be scared to have a go at stuff - our Splitty was our first project and we were petrified of him when we got him, but now we know how to do almost everything on him without worrying about it.

Thanx Lucy!
I must say I do find it all a bit scary and when I look at whats to do and learn it blows my mind away!! But im sure we can get there in the end.

Back in the day when we were into our minis we used to do everything on them, I even remember changing a water pump in Gavs Escort in my school uniform whilst he was at work (I must have been about 15 then)!! so I was always willing to get stuck in.

But I think since weve had the kids and got into the V dubs Ive become a bit lazy and found it easier to ask someone else to do it.

But now the kids are older and they can cause havoc out the front whilst we sit in the Garage with our head in a manual trying to figure things out!!


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Or.. get the kids to help - small hands can get into tiny gaps!!!

Trust me, we knew absolutely nothing before - when I first jacked up my first Beetle up and the wheels didn't settle when we put him back down I ran into the house to fetch my Dad cos I was convinced I'd broken him

Lol,
That made me chuckle, sounds just like the sort of thing I would do!!

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hehe it's funny now I look back on it, but really scary at the time!

i think thats a good move for you guys...as lucy said gets you more involved and you learn more things everyone has/had to start somewhere...plus it will mean more to you when shes at a show and you both can stand back and say "we built that"

dont forget pics or ask for help if your stuck ...i can say that as i`ll be miles away soon

ANDYLHAM wrote:

i think thats a good move for you guys...as lucy said gets you more involved and you learn more things everyone has/had to start somewhere...plus it will mean more to you when shes at a show and you both can stand back and say "we built that"

dont forget pics or ask for help if your stuck ...i can say that as i`ll be miles away soon

lol yeah but I can still bug you via the internet!!

muhahahahahaha

Cant wait for you to be starting this i will sit and watch you and when your finished you can fix mine so i can sit and drink some more