SS100 Jaguar Kit Car
1965 Volkswagen Other Description
1980s Amer. Classic kit car on 1965 VW chassis Price: 1100 No title (Ebay does not offer this as a choice above)-- seller will give Bill of Sale (NYS will allow you to obtain title)
VIN number is 115424997. When I bought it, it had been outside for a number of years, and had rust. The drivers side floorboard was rusted through, affecting the brake line and the supports for all the pedals. The passenger side was only rusted through around the seat floor bolts. Some of the chrome had flaky rust. The chassis, otherwise, just had surface rust. The shock areas and wheel supports, and the engine support and mid-tunnel were all good. The wood dash was weathered, and there were some wires hanging. The interior carpeting was wet and moldy, and the top was missing (a tattered section remained unattached). The fiberglass was all good, not too shiny. All four tires were good with good tread. It rolled well.
1. Body. Took off the rear spare wheel and holder (weighed a lot, I guess it keeps the drive wheels on the ground?), took off the rear fenders, engine cover, and the part in back of seats to gain access to the clutch, engine, rear axle. Latches (hood, doors) are good.
2. Seats--good condition, cleaned, painted metal base sections, greased, they slide as they should.
3. Front end. Headlights were taken apart, sanded, repainted. Same with small running lights (I guess these are turn signals). Bought new wing mirrors. Front bumper is a rusty, heavy, chrome piece (kept and sold with car). I replaced this with two wood poplar sections, stained and varnished (much lighter). Took off wheelcovers and sanded-repainted all 4. Took off front wheels, and bearings, to look at the drum brakes. The assemblies had surface rust so I used rustproofing liquid on them.
4. Front compartment. Had a 6 gallon red plastic marine tank mounted on a doubled aluminum raised piece. I took this apart and removed it to get to the master cylinder. The tank looks clean and so do the lines. Bought new master cylinder (installed not bled). The brake lines feeding out look great. Bought a new brake reservoir and repositioned it for easier access. The wires in this section look good. The fusebox looks good. Battery cables are clean.
5. Windshield. Chrome edges were rusty so I sanded, painted them black Rustoleum Gloss. All the beautiful chrome and aluminum accessories were cleaned and re-assembled. The car has smaller oval windscreens. One of these was cracked so I made another one out of Lexan and installed these after cleaning--they look great. The wing shields were broken so I made these out of thinner plexiglass, painted the attachments Black Rustoleum, and re-assembled. The wiper assemblies were not rusty; I made new wiper blades for them.
6. Interior. The steering wheel is a Superior Performance Products "The 500." I removed it, cleaned the chrome, poly coated the wood. I've seen these selling on Ebay for over 100 dollars. I took apart the wood dash, sanded it and polycoated it (seems like it's oak). The five gauges are Classic Instruments, all in good condition (Ebay new as a set for 500+ dollars). I labeled all wires and re-attached them. Six wires were not attached to anything and I left them that way (I think one is a series wire for the Dynamo and another is for the windshield wipers). There is no condensation rust under the dash at all.
I am not a welder, so gave a lot of thought to how to fix the floorboards. If the buyer does not agree with what I have done, floorboards are available for about 200 each (the passenger side would not need one anyway), and the repairs I made can be easily removed and a steel replacement welded in. Because the sills were good, I decided to cut with tinsnips sections of heavy aluminum and use lots of overlapping Gorllla Tape to fit them in. Most of the rust-through was in back of and in line with the pedals. I put two lengths of Kevlar webbing across the seat section, and metal-screwed these into the sills. I then cut two sections of 8 ply plywood, seeing this in a MG forum. These force-fit into the floorboard section. My plan was to get longer bolts for the two seats, bolt them through the wood and the metal underneath, and fasten them under the car, holding the entire sections together. I cleaned the seats; they are heavy vinyl and have no tears. I bought new seatbelts. The seats are out of the car and will be sold that way.
I bought a Walmart burgundy carpet and cut patterns for the front, interior sides, and floors (not the mid-tunnel). I contact cemented the front section and the sides. Under these are some of the wiring (battery and starter), in good condition. The passenger side is put together (not all glued) and looks good. It will take another carpet (20 dollars) to have enough to finish the middle tunnel and the luggage section.
I was given an extra battery with the car (It's been changed to 12V). Wanting to check the electrical and the starter, I trickle charged the battery until it started to make noise. First time I turned the key to accessory, the passenger front light came on, and a couple of the gauges moved slightly. Next time, the same front light did not come on.
The radio works. The speakers were these large Pioneer units that PO had velcroed in back of the seats, in the luggage area. They took up so much space that I decided to change them. I sawed off a lot of the excess plastic until each was about half the size, and put them together in the footwell of the passenger side. This is such a long section that it does not get in my way, and I am 5'10 with long legs. They are loud!
The pedal assembly was not secure to the floor, with the rust in this area. I removed it, cleaned, painted, and lubed it. I installed a new spring for the brake pedal (and for the clutch but this spring is in the rear of the car).The gas pedal in this year is a separate unit. I patched this whole area with doubled heavy gauge aluminum, Gorilla Tape, and drilled holes for the pedal assembly bolts. I re-attached the clutch cable- which seems to work fine. The brake pedal has an extension to the master cylinder. This is not attached. The tolerance is ½ inch or less, according to forums, because the master cylinder has a small pressure valve that must work. The gas pedal, according to forums, has to be in a position where it slightly scrapes the mid-tunnel. I re-attached it to the cable, and it moves the carb flap valve. The brake and clutch pedals bolt horizontally to the tunnel.
The emergency brake works. I took apart the shifter, cleaned it, all the parts are there, but when I re-assembled it, including the plate and spring, there is free play--does not seem to engage the linkage. The plate found under the rear section, when removed, shows all parts there.
Rear section. The axle boots were cracked and leaked; I bought and installed new German ones. The shocks and wheel linkages all look good. The rear wheel drums were not removed; I would expect their condition to be the same as the fronts. I removed the starter and looked inside; it's clean with no rust. The pancake four cylinder engine is not rusty. There is no air cleaner, and I am not sure of the carburetor hookup to the cable. The plugs look good. The engine has proper level of oil, and turns from the rear belt. Underneath, there is some fluid that leaked out when I first got the car. I bought a new clutch arm and wingnut; these seem to work properly from the pedal. It is beyond my capabilities to open up the clutch and engine. The aircooling fan turns.
The exhaust had a patina of surface rust. I wirebrushed it, then rustproof coated it. There seem to be some "force-fit" sections here, and the heating to the cabin is removed, resulting in two open tubes pointing forward. I replaced the rear rusty bumper with poplar bumpers like on the front. Good chassis. Solid except for floorboards. Has an angle iron across the midsection; this is unbolted and removed at the moment.
The rear lights, on the rear fiberglass section, have good wires going to them and are not cracked, in good condition.
Top: the aluminum frame is there, as are the snaps on the body.
It has no title, I will provide a bill of sale. There is a letter, related to a previous sale in 2004, that had the VIN number.
Please ask any questions. I tried to include everything. For the right enthusiast, this could be pretty easy to finish. When bought, I will put the wheels back on so it can roll to a flatbed. Sold as is of course.
For buyers, I can provide a link to my Dropbox with many pictures.
John,show contact infoNorth Babylon, Long Island NY