No4 T grooved hand guards.

[Peter Laidler]

Henry, don't want to be a pooper but re the grooves in your fake handguards...........A bit anorakish perhaps......?

[henry r]

maybe a little peter... but i have spent a most enjoyable friday night with a wire brush and a bucket of old rusty/greasy bolts, scrubbing the heads and sorting them into size and manufacturer to find the correct ones for one of my looong term car projects... so i have been worse.

when it comes down to it, it will never be a real no4 T so i may as well build my fakie to look the way i like them. for me the grooved hand guard is an important part of the "look", and if i'm going to do it i want to do it "right".

[Peter Laidler]

Point taken...... but only after reading of yoir car project. What car is it?

[bigduke6]

Henry,

I,ve got bucket full's of the hand guards (grooved) with the size and weight it wouldn't be too much to get a set to you let me know (PM me)

[henry r]

warning, long rambling off topic car talk below.

the one in question is a '56 beetle. i'm not sure what i will do with it. it was my first car, i have basically everything needed as the basis for a full correct restoration, but it needs HEAPS of welding/body work and isn't matching numbers.

the others in the fleet are:

a '58 beetle, basically stock and reasonably correct. normally my daily driver, but it needs a new exhaust for rego and i have been struggling for motivation.
it was given to me by a friend and i only took in on the condition he'd take it back when he moved back to Australia, so at some stage it won't be mine anymore.

a 63 standard beetle. only a little rust, stunning heavily sunburnt original paint. i'm the 3rd owner, i picked it up for the original owner and dropped it to the second (and fell in love with it so swapped a historic formula vee project for it a few months later). needs a total mech rebuild, has done about 350 000 miles, mainly on dirt roads, from new. was intending to build it as a period rally car. most of the period tuning bits have since been earmarked for the '58 but not fitted... basically as i got distracted with the lee enfield thing.

a 63 factory sunroof beetle, i built it from a rolling shell to a daily driver in the late 90's. i have been collecting NOS/perfect used bits for it since then... still a huge amount to go. the intention is for a correct stock restoration with vintage performance gear and a few (a tastefull amount of) accessories added. i have serious emotional attachment to this one.

plus my dirty little secret a 64 volvo 122S 4 door. was my daily driver in the early 00's (when i met my wife). so so so nice to drive. needs rust/rubbers/paint and a rebuilt engine/gearbox. it was starting to get tired when i got it, but i couldn't help but drive hard (once warm) every time i drove it, 'cause if was so fun and sounded so good. lots of miss matched bits, stupidly thirsty, but so so nice to drive. this is my first choice to ditch but my wife insists i must keep it... plus, it's so nice to drive.

i need to get rid of at least one (if not most), but which?

[Peter Laidler]

Keep the Beetles and ditch the Volvo is my opinion. They'll always be classic or cult cars if you keep 'em as factory original that is!

[gew8805]

henry r, my first car was a '67 Beetle, the best car ever made. I wish I still had it but our paper mill caused major rust problems in places you couldn't get to. In 1976 I moved on to a used '71 Superbeetle and drove it every day until 1992. I miss them both but my wife objected to my infant daughter smelled like exhaust fumes when I brought her home in the evenings. They do wear out.....

[Peter Laidler]

If I didn't have a garage full of bloody cars and a sodding tank I'd have a Beetle tomorrow.......... My friend has a superb yellow/black 'JEANS' version. A classic among classics. You can tell that by the way other VW drivers always wave or flash their lights

[Vincent]

What kind of tank do you have, Peter?

[Peter Laidler]

1953 Centurion recovery vehicle. Not a gun tank