Turning water into wine?

Well, to be honest, the heart shaped lights have seen better days. But they seem to be the correct ones for the car, without holes in the bottom. That had to be when they were new, because mother nature has supplied some natural holes over the years. The ready painted light was in far worse condition than the untouched one on the left. I put it in citrus acid, and the solid material left was not much. I built the bottom part from epoxy-metal, and it looks to be solid and usable for the purpose. Then a little filler and primer, and that was it. Not nearly NOS, but they will serve their duty on the car for some more years.

The choice of tail lights

Given the fact that my heart shaped lights were in bad condition, I settled with using 60 ies lights, because the car had them when I picked it up. They are parts of the cars history... Or... What a lot of bullshit =) Of course the car is going to have the OG lights. I just had to mount some straight fenders to fit the H-apron. The car has taken so much beating in the ass, that the fitting was a nightmare. The H-apron came fom a fairly straight 58, and should fit OK. But a lot of hammering, cutting and bending was the only way. I'm not sure if only the Wolfpart bumpebrakts will do. I think some large donor pieces from another car is needed for a 100% result. But for now, the "racer" will have a removable H-apron that fits "OK"(hopefully).

Putting in a new bottom

The spare wheel well was gone way beyond saving, and the whole nose on the car was smashed in about 10 cm into the well. The best thing would be to get a new Wolf part, but for now a new bottom will do. Having Brezelfürsten around the workshop, means that no shortcuts are made. After I finnished cutting the new piece, the "profile-police" arrived =) I had no other option than to copy the OG profile. With a hammer and simple tools, and about an hour later, the profile was ready. Not perfect, but much better than expected, given my sheetmetal skills. It's temping to chose the off-the-shelf way, but it's more curing of the soul to make it yourself.

Now it's just the welding left...

Getting the profiles "correct"

The last touches of welding were completed on the drivers side as well, and some new fastening nuts are now in place. The whole front corner is also redone, and some more grinding and filler will make this good as new. The top part of the profiled innerwing was also replaced with a cut-out-part from the wrecked donor car. Amazing that 65 body parts fit the 52 like a glove, and look completely the same as the OG part. A new frontclip and a wheel well from Wolfparts will most likely be fitted before painting the car. But for now it's fun to practise some welding and recreating parts.

Cleaning up the last welding details

Before
After

The zwitter suffered a front incident at some point, and there has been some hammering to get the shape right again. Still I was not quite happy, as the profile around the wiring tube-mount had lost it's shape. Luckily I cut away this piece from the donor car we wrecked last year. The front part of the innerwing is not 100% still, but the profile is right, and maybe some minor hammering and a coat of filler will make it Ok for now.

Zwitter details

It's all in the details I've heard. For the archives and Fürstens satisfaction, I took a picture of the OG fastening clips for the brakehoses. I imagine these are the correct ones for the car, and the set was complete with 6 clips.