Camille Project Update

[oldbugguy]

So... Five years after buying a 1966 white bug from a female nursing student at Linfield University in McMinnville, OR without a title, I am beginning the restoration. Getting the title is a whole other story. Her owners were gracious, cooperative and in their mid-90s. I am now the second (on title).
Camille is named after her original owner Camille Hawkins. She and her husband bought the car new and she drove it from the farm to the school where she taught in La Grande until she retired. It sat around the farm and obviously had some adventures. She came to me with a lot of dirt, but not a lot of rust, relatively straight, and running with starting fluid and occasional brake fluid pressure. Before Camille, there were 5 Bugs, 5 Buses, a convertible Ghia and a Fastback. Most of them were sold pre-1980, and all were pre-68 except for the 69 Fastback, a 72 Westphalia, and a 69 Westphalia. I was usually elbow deep with my idiot's guide by my side tinkering.

My first stop with Camille was at my old garage of choice in Eugene, OR - "The No Name Garage", where they replaced the torsion bar and reset the trailing arms to lift the rear end back where it started in 1966. I live in the mountains and have risked my life many times trying to stop a bug with the old drum brakes, so I had them do a disc brake conversion and they also replaced the master cylinder with a dual chamber '67 cylinder, new lines, new fluid - thus new brakes. They also did a 12 volt conversion for me. It was a tough choice, but I wanted the easy start and a radio. They resolved the starting issue and I was on the road again - next stop was 80 miles away in Sisters, OR.

I will be posting pictures in various stages. After I recover from the mechanical bill, the next big one is body and paint. For that I need to strip her way down, pull all of the glass and the doors. I want to be able to interview potential shops for that stage, so I'm tinkering with things that make her easier to drive around. Look for her in days to come - picture attached.

[jmartini]

Beautiful!

[Seibert66]

Very nice!