25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Restoration?, August 6, 2000
This review is from: VW Beetle Restoration Handbook: How to Restore 1949-1967 VW Beetles to Original Factory Condition (Paperback)
If you really intend to "restore a beetle into factory condition" you should probably look out for a better "handbook" than this one. Thats the summary of my impression (or should I say: depression?) after reading this book. I own a beetle built in 1965, which has come to the point where it's necessary to strip it down completely, because the heaterchannels have rusted away (their bottoms) and it doesn't make any sense to try any "quick-repairs", but a complete rebuild is needed.
So I bought this book, full of hope to find needfull information, but was disappointed in a very cruel way, when I got it. For example there is a chapter dedicated to a beetle, which needs no restoration at all, because it has gone less then 50.000 miles (if I'm not mistaken ..sorry, but I can't look it after. Reading this book makes me angry!), a fact, which is very interesting but doesn't help me in solving my restoration-problems at all! Another thing is, that problems, you are surely involved in, when restoring (and that means: "RESTORING"!), are not mentioned by a single word, or are solved by using new parts. The beam is one of the most impressing examples! As the authors say:" We decided to get the complete unit,.., so all the work was already done. We just had to bolt it in." Fine! But I missed some words of how to restore this section... The No.1 rust point of the beetle, the heaterchannel, is not mentioned and it seemed to me, as if beetles in the US don't have to be splitted into frame and chassis even after 50 years of use. Welding seems not to be necessary to "american" beetles. The highlight of this book is (in my humble opinion), when it tells you to fill small holes in the floor-panel by using bodyfiller! Thats what I call a real "Restoration into factory conditions", though I've never heard about any beetles leaving the factory with bodyfiller on their floorpanels;-) I was deeply impressed, when reading the 4th chapter (Installing power windows & doorlocks), but still wonder in which years beetles left the factorys with power windows and door locks between 49 and 67? But thanks God I'm told, that this is no job "for the inexperienced enthusiast". My conclusion? If you want to restore your beetle yourself, don't buy this book! Especially, if you want to see it in original factory condition after all that work....
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
VW Beetle Restoration, October 9, 2000
This review is from: VW Beetle Restoration Handbook: How to Restore 1949-1967 VW Beetles to Original Factory Condition (Paperback)
WASTE OF MONEY!!! I was under the impression that the book would help me restore by bug back to original. But instead it showed me how to install power windows and other basic stuff. I do not recommend this book.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Restomod, maybe. But not restoration, October 2, 2001
This review is from: VW Beetle Restoration Handbook: How to Restore 1949-1967 VW Beetles to Original Factory Condition (Paperback)
Just like the other reviewers have stated, this book has nothing to do with the restoration of a Beetle. The subtitle, "How to Restore 1949-1967 VW Beetles to Original Factory Condition", is not just misleading, it's a bold-faced lie. Complete waste of time and money. HPBooks and VW Trends should hang their heads in shame. Booo. Hiss. If I didn't love anything and everything VW Beetle, this book would be getting returned.
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