Hot and Heavy? Classic Car Body Mating

Oh, Baby vs. Oh, My Aching Back - You Decide

Kids, there comes a time in every Bug's life when it's time to mate... at least if it's a Bug that's being restored. You see, when a Bug body and a Bug pan love each other very much...

Actually, as @steemitpatina was sad to discover, the announcement, "Body mating in five!" is not nearly as exciting as it sounds.

Here's the footage of Coleman's 1970 Bug's body mating:

So, What's Going On Here?

When we get a restoration project in, the usual process is to disassemble, bag and tag, send it out for sandblasting, do the body work, paint, and reassemble... with a whole lot of steps in-between.

This particular project is a bit different, and it's what you might call a mini-resto. It's not the norm for the shop, but is a project Rodney took on through Metamorphosis - and AKK is just helping with some parts of the project.

Anyhow... once the body is painted and polished, it's got to be reattached to the chassis - and that's the body mating. It's important to get it right the first time - and not to drop it, slip and trip, or clunk it onto other parts in the process. Get it aligned wrong, and your ride will never ride right.

You'll see that the guys wore rubber gloves - that's because their hands are greasy, dusty, dirty, and possibly bleeding... it happens. Don't want to get any of that crud on the paint!

Looks Heavy, Right?

The body weighs probably between 500-750 lbs, so it's best to have four people doing the lifting... Although, Spook and Rodney both have admitted to doing body mating SOLO back in the day. Basically, you stand in the car, bend your back so the body's resting on your upper back, stick your arms out the windows, and GO. Not ideal... especially if you're not 20 years old!

Here Are Some Pics from the Build File

We take a LOT of pictures of each project in process. First, because the build file helps us prove what we've done, in case an insurance company ever needs to know. Second, because many of our clients come from far, far away and can't exactly pop into the shop to see what's going on in person. Third, it's kind of kool to look back and see the before pics and what we're able to transform these rides into after MANY hundreds of hours of work.

Love Classic Cars? We Should Hang Out More

If you've got questions about car restoration, Volkswagens, Porsches, or what it's like turning very old cars into brand new, very old cars, put them in the comments!

That's it for today... we've got Dubs to build!
Blood, sweat, and vintage steel... it's a zen thing.

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