"Vanilla Smoothie" VW Roadster

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 10:21 pm

This car shouldn't have happened, but somehow it did.

The body had been the result of a disasterous painting experiment. I threw it in the body box, and left it for dead. When I was doing that Hummer recently, I had my doubts about that and started to turn this body into another Baja Beetle. I got as far as shaving the bumpers before I remembered how much work that was and ditched it again. So it's sitting there, and I think it's pretty cool with no bumpers, so I start fiddling with it. Oh, I had big plans, like a street baja bug, with a push bar, roll cage, and a big whale tail. Just to be silly, but somewhere along the line the shape of the smoothed over body put a picture in my head, and this is pretty much exactly what it looked like.

After I smoothed the bumpers I cut a targa top, but then decided to take it all the way off, that's when I started to see the lines of classis roadster and my direction changed.

I carved out the front end to recess the staple intercooler. Thne I carved out the back for some extra fat exhaust made from pieces of antenna.

I had a layed a gold base coat. The metallic color showed off everywhere it was angular, and less than round, so I smoothed and smoothed for 2 days. Laying the gold base coat 4 different times before I was satisfied.

Leaving the interior clear was last minute decision, that I really like. Looks almost surreal with the interior just kinda floating there.

This car is all business on the underside too. Silver painted Precious chassis, w/ blue KIT Racer gears, stacked FETs, and a Perfection 4.2 Pro.

HirotoR34 · Post by **HirotoR34** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 10:27 pm

Nice resurrection CD! Good thing you didn't forget about it. Are those rims pullbacks or Super BCG?

staple intercooler.....there's one I haven't seen

z-beam · Post by **z-beam** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 10:53 pm

i like it! after doing the smoothing job on my supra i can really appreciate the job youve done on the bug. creating new body form is really satisfying because of the unique look of the finished product.

and nice work on those rims as well, am i right in thinking they're all from a kit racer? i've never seen the front rims modded and they turned out real well,

nice work CD

Post by **CaboWabo** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:27 pm

I totally started thinking classic roadster just before I read your line.

looks great dude

SuperFly · Post by **SuperFly** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:20 am

crazydave wrote: This car is all business on the underside too. Silver painted Precious chassis, w/ blue KIT Racer gears, stacked FETs, and a Perfection 4.2 Pro.

Damn, I bet that is FAST.

It looks incredible, I really dig your treatment. It's ultra-California.

betty.k · Post by **betty.k** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:02 am

nice butt

DarkTari · Post by **DarkTari** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 6:35 am

You and dem Damn Names !

I Luv It !!!!! Perfect, Just The Perfect Name Pimp !

I Like Everything About it, Period !

Yummy

Slurp !

Sdog · Post by **Sdog** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:05 am

I'm diggin' the clear interior thing...

Nice orginal ride.

HACHI-RYOKU · Post by **HACHI-RYOKU** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:18 am

I like the reincarnation. I know how much work it is doin fix it jobs, especially after you fudge the job first. I think I've fudged just about every paint job I've done recently. It's gettin annoying and takes a long time to get it fixed again. Nice work. The flames really gave it some flavor,

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 9:26 am

betty.k wrote:nice butt

Thanks for noticing. I meant to say, "Check out that ass!" in my post, but I forgot. It is a sexy ass and my favorite part.

Superfly wrote:It's ultra-California.

It is, but not totally from the VW scene. I was thinking of Boyd Coddington's Smoothster, and some of his other earlier works, alot when I was doing this.

HACHI-RYOKU wrote:I like the reincarnation. I know how much work it is doin fix it jobs, especially after you fudge the job first. I think I've fudged just about every paint job I've done recently. It's gettin annoying and takes a long time to get it fixed again.

Exactly, I think you hit a nail on the head. This body had paint caked on it pretty thick, I had to sand every mm, and every crevice. I had to carve new door lines, and new hood line. I think that really forced me to take it a little farther.

I have to admit, when I was done, I was a little disappointed, because I didn't think it looked like it had as much work done on it as it did, but I realized in retrospect that because I spent alot of time trying to make it look normal, or at least right, and I did everything clean enough to where it looks like it belongs.

Another tricky area that you may not see right off the bat, is how hard it is to get the Beetle body to sit that low. Because of the angled back of the body, it's really tricky to tab lower. Basically the back of the body would hold the heatsink down adequately. I was gonna leave it like that, because it worked fine, but it didn't seem right, so the back was carved at an angle matching the body, and a piece of plastic glued flat against that to hold the heatsink down.

I kinda rushed those pics (what's new?), but I'll get you some chassis shots, and some group shots of my VW stable when I get home this afternoon.

Thanks for the great comments, you know that's what inspires me to keep working.

HACHI-RYOKU · Post by **HACHI-RYOKU** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:49 am

I've been using Goof Off to get the paint off. It still takes a little time and it doesn't get the crevices real well, but it takes off the paint in the open areas and softens the paint up in the ridges and crevices, so the paint can be taken off with a toothpick. If you try it, just makes sure you use a papertowel and don't pour it on the shell or dip the shell in the goof off. The goof off will eat the plastic and too much will make bumps in the plastic. You just need to put a little on a papertowel and rub it on the paint. Also, wear gloves and open a window. It's safe on all the putty I've used so far. It doesn't seem to eat the putty like it eats the plastic.

sg219 · Post by **sg219** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:52 pm

You just keep pumpin' out the sweet rides!!

Great flames, once again.

Bird · Post by **Bird** » Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:10 pm

That is beautiful, man... Looking at it makes it hard to believe that it was a do-over.

And I love that color combo... very classy.

stampede_dude · Post by **stampede_dude** » Tue Oct 26, 2004 7:11 pm

HirotoR34 wrote:Nice resurrection CD! Good thing you didn't forget about it. Are those rims pullbacks or Super BCG?

staple intercooler.....there's one I haven't seen

DT uses it on all of his cars. i tried it once and you almost cant go wrong with it. i read about it in a post somewhere, but all you really have to do is get the right amount of staples and cut the legs off and slap in on there with some epoxy. too bad i dont have a suitable car to do that on...all ive got is muscle bodies

and by the way...

GREAT JOB CD!!!

bitPimps.lixlink.com

"Vanilla Smoothie" VW Roadster

"Vanilla Smoothie" VW Roadster

Re: "Vanilla Smoothie" VW Roadster