Rusty Restorations BUS & BUGFEST Ireland

14th 15th 16th July 2023

VW aircooled event & full weekend of camping, show, music, bar, food stalls, tea & coffees & trade stands for the first time in Ireland.

I would like to invite all VW clubs to participate for the weekend, feel free to bring your banners etc and let your club colours fly! Please pm me if you’re interested so I have an idea of numbers. There will be a huge swap meet over the weekend. Please bring any parts you would like to sell, pm me for slot availability.

Early bird & family tickets will be on sale on the website from July 2022. Early bird tickets will be limited so keep an eye out on social media for the link to the website in the coming weeks. Tickets and weekend passes also available at the gate.

All aircooled VWs are welcome, we’d love to see your campers, beetles, barndoors karmanns, fastbacks, squarebacks notchbacks etc in one location in the centre of Ireland.

If you have a project you’d like to display on the weekend, please pm me for details.

Full recovery and mechanic services will be available for any struggleing aircooled vw’s over the weekendyou have no excuse now to not take out your aircooled vehicle !

The event will be held in the Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath (N91 W6HV).The event will be fully insured. Amenities onsite will include; ample parking for day visitors, camping area, toilets, security, emergency services and much more! - Facebook PM @Mossey Conlon

WORDS BY NED FAUX

I think I mentioned in my last instalment that I desperately needed to get up to Irv’s. We’d hit a point in the metal work where I needed to make a few decisions that I really needed to see for myself to make. After saying I was going to get up there over and over again, I finally put a date in the calendar and promised to stick to it. You see Irv is in Cumbria and I’m close to Kettering. If that means nothing to you, that’s around four or five hours away – no big deal, but when you’ve never been busier it’s a lot to cram into a single day. After chatting with a mate, Pete Marshall, I decided to make a day of it and stop at his in Manchester on the way and cruise up in one of his VWs. We ended up taking his ’67 1500 for the other part of the journey. It was a rare beautiful day and the roads were clear. It was great to drive up with Pete. He shares my nerdy disposition for these cars and very similar tastes in music so we had plenty to chat about.

Although I catch up with Irv regularly, I’ve not got up there to visit since before the pandemic and I must say I was blown away. I think it’s the biggest restoration operation I’ve ever seen. I love to see how Irv’s business has progressed over the years we’ve known each other and I felt proud that I had the man himself working on my car.

We didn’t waste any time. When Irv asked if we wanted the grand tour or shall we go straight to the car and see what’s what, of course I wanted to go straight to the car. It was weird to see it in the flesh as it didn’t even resemble the wreck that his lads picked up from Hayburner HQ all those months ago. I was taken aback by the standard of work. Although the car looked quite straight, it really wasn’t. They had done an incredible job of getting the twist out of the body and the door gaps were perfect.

I spent the next hour or so with a black marker pen, drawing X’s over every hole that had been drilled in the car over the years. There were a ridiculous number of holes drilled in the car over the past 74 years. They must have had every accessory ever made bolted to the car over time. The car had holes drilled for Deluxe trim which I’d always been curious about, being a Standard model. I wondered if being an export model it had had trim factory fitted. After a close inspection, the holes had been done at home – a little egg shaped and irregularly spaced – so I asked Irv to weld them all up. I also highlighted areas I didn’t want repairing. We’ve come so far with the car and the temptation to fully restore it is definitely present. I just don’t want to go too far. The car has little dents and areas of pitting that I want to leave. It’s part of its story and character, plus like I’ve said before, I just don’t have the money to complete the project with NOS parts.

The only part that was still alarmingly bad was the roof. The roof was still awful! It was dented everywhere and it had a huge hole previously repaired where it had had snow on the roof. Although the repair needed dressing, it was welded quite well, though the top of the metal was thin and pepper-potted in some areas. We discussed finding a full doner roof clip and replacing the lot, but it seemed a shame as he’d done such a great job in saving so much of the car that others would have replaced. It would be sad to have to replace the entire roof. I’ve read comments on a couple of my posts regarding this project and “It’s going to be like Trigger’s broom” seems to be one that comes up. I don’t really care as they obviously have zero clue about restoration and it’s really not that sort of car. It’s had channels, one front corner due to crash damage using an original cutting, rear valance and a pair of floor pans. Personally, I’d call that standard restoration replacement panels for most Beetles. I’m actually really proud of the amount Irv has managed to save, when it would have been so much easier to cut out and replace. With this in mind, we made the decision to panel beat and repair the car’s original roof.

After this we took a tour of the workshops. I left feeling glad I’d left my car there and that it was in good hands.

Other than this I’ve not had a great time of time on my hands. I’ve been doing what I can getting bits and bobs blasted and roughly primed. Every part I pick up seems to need some sort of repair but

I am enjoying the work. I hope once this mag’s out I will have a few more spare hours. Irv has said I should expect the car back over the next couple of weeks so I really need to start making space.

Oh, I should one more piece of the puzzle. I managed to score a ’49 only Standard Phillips Elomar radio. I was going to leave the dash with the blanking panel, but when I got offered this I couldn’t resist. The bloody thing cost me my Bekowa roof rack, but out with old and in with the new/old.

As always, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has ever subscribed, advertised, supported, contributed, put a sticker on their car or represented us with a T-shirt. We are lucky to have you. As long as you enjoy reading, we will keep writing it.

Thank you all for being a part of it.

Ned