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Post by drew on Mar 1, 2008 17:54:45 GMT 1
Hi all Here is my Kubelwagen after I had trailered it back from the North of England. Chassis number 2-034 001 built in February 1944. The body number has had a piece of metal braised over the top and the chassis number stamped in, when I remove this I hope to find the original body number. As you can see from these pictures this Kubel is going to require a lot of work to get it back on the road. at some point in its life it has had hydraulic brakes fitted, the front spare wheel area has had new metal welded in place and the top 50cm of rear bodywork has been chopped away at some point, probably to fit a flat bed and then replaced with hand made panels and doors to make it look like a kubel again. The kubel came with two 1950's engines but I have since bought a couple of original 44 engines to rebuild. The dash area had been heavily modified with metal welded over the original frame and later instruments installed, the steering column has been adapted to take a crude steering lock. Someone has also installed rather tastful vynle panels inside the non original doors. These pictures were taken back in March 2004, I have done very little to the Kubel in the past 4 years but I am hoping that by posting my progress here it will spure me on to finish the project. I will post more pics as I go along. Regards Drew Surrey United Kingdom
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Post by drew on Mar 1, 2008 20:22:22 GMT 1
Hi All The Kubel came with a set of original mudguards so I got to work stripping years of paint and underseal off... On the front left mudguard there is an unusual bracket and nut with a tear drop shapped re-enforcing piece I think this might be the remains of a penant fixing, if anyone has seen one of these before I would be interested in their opinion. Once stripped you could see a number of period repairs, one of which had coroded badly so I fabricated a new section with wire edge reinforcing. Once welded in you will not be able to tell the difference. Next up is the removal of the non original dash and instruments. Regards Drew
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Post by oelsardine on Mar 2, 2008 8:54:04 GMT 1
Hi,
hm....looks like a lot of work to do, but in case of a Kübelwagen it should pay off. Good Luck !
Axel
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Post by einar on Mar 2, 2008 12:48:32 GMT 1
Hello Drew! Interesting pictures! I have recently bought a 1942 VW, 'restored' in the eighties. Have not collected it yet so do not know all details, but car is complete and fairly nice but will need a lot of work to once more get into original condition. cheers, Einar
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Post by drew on Mar 2, 2008 14:19:01 GMT 1
Hi Einar Please share with us some pictures of your new Kubel, the early cars seem to be rare compered to 43 and 44's. As you can see my car was 'restored' some time in the 70's or 80's with hydraulic brakes and many non original parts... But it is very satisfying putting a Kubel back to original spec, I am looking for cable brake parts for the rear wheels at the moment. Regards Drew
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Post by einar on Mar 2, 2008 14:36:01 GMT 1
Hi Drew! As I said, do not know all details yet, but I think engine, front axle, brakes (hydraulics mine too), mudguards (glass fibre!), steering wheel and speedo are later, partly 50-ies VW and some may be even later. But body is fine and uncut! Car is registered and I hope to have it running doing very little only. Extra engine, older, with it. Cheers, Einar
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Post by drew on Mar 2, 2008 15:11:56 GMT 1
Hi Einar Finding the original details like instruments is quite time consuming but I found this original Veigel speedo on Ebay a year ago... as you can see it has the original paint on the rim and perspex window that allows the bulb in the dash iluminate the instrument. Good luck with your Kubel and share your restoration with us when you get the car. Regards Drew
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Post by drew on Mar 20, 2008 1:06:46 GMT 1
As promised here is the latest update. Visited the War and Peace show last year and picked up some new sheet metal for the front of my kubel from Hans Schuckenbohmer. So the time has come to cut out the non original metal, a few minutes with an air saw and a grinder and you could see the original structure underneath. So on to the front suspension. I have removed the front left stub axle and found that the speedo drive is locked solid I have soaked it with oil but it just won't budge, I am going to make a tool to free it up . The original black paint is still visable and it has part number 82.41.01.1?2. At some point in it's life someone has fitted hydraulic brakes but I am going to put original cable brakes back on. So the hunt is on for original KDF marked cable brake parts. The brakes have been quite difficult to find. But eventually I have got a complete set... This is the front brake set that need some welding but they are KDF marked. A friend here in the UK (Keith) who also owns a Kubel has helped me find the rear set, so finaly my Kubel will have original cable brakes. Next up is welding in the new spare wheel metal. Regards Drew
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Post by drew on Mar 21, 2008 2:37:57 GMT 1
It's amazing how this hobby takes a hold of you. I was more than happy with my Kubel with a 50's engine but soon I wanted an original 44 engine to go in it, and within weeks I had one... But this one was not perfect, in fact it was so corroded that it had a hole in the bottom of the crank case. So the hunt was on for another... It was'nt long before I had found an engine in almost perfect condition with original paint in Germany, original distributor and original service sticker on the fan shroud... Now there is one thing that this hobby surprises me with every day, it's the ability to make friends with complete strangers from other countries, friends that want to help you out with missing parts or advice, but most of all friends who want to trade parts. "I need this", "you need this" lets trade, no money just honest exchanging of parts, I love it! The fan shroud went to Nick in Sweden, he's mad about original engine parts, but in return I got several parts that will get my Kubel one step closer to being finished. So guy's this is a great hobby we need to help each other out, no rip offs just honest trading. Keep Kubeling Drew
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Post by drew on Mar 23, 2008 21:29:09 GMT 1
The old non original dash came out without a fight... Although it had been welded at either side it had only been bolted to the support bar so this was in good condition. At the rear someone had welded flat sheet metal over the original ribbed bodywork so this went the same way as the dash. This Kubel has had a lot of alterations in it's life but I am determined to put it back to the way it was over 60 years ago and save as much of the original bodywork as I can. Regards Drew
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Post by drew on Mar 24, 2008 0:37:52 GMT 1
When you start stripping the paint away you always hope that there are clues underneath to the Kubels previous history. So take a look at my rear engine cover... You can just make out the license plate... And with a bit of photoshop I have managed to re-build the license number. There is a guy (Charles) on the wartime VW forum who says this license plate belonged to the 4th SS Politzie division. So I am trying to research the unit and hopefuly find a picture of the Kubel in action. Any help would be much appreciated. regards Drew
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Post by drew on Mar 24, 2008 0:50:30 GMT 1
This German license sticker was on my Kubel, can anyone help me work out where this Kubel was registered in 1989? Regards Drew
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Post by amelinas on Mar 24, 2008 12:57:36 GMT 1
This German license sticker was on my Kubel, can anyone help me work out where this Kubel was registered in 1989? Regards Drew I dont think that it is a German license sticker. It looks more that the sticker comes formerly from Austria, but thats just my opinion..
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Post by palio on Jun 26, 2008 17:10:34 GMT 1
...it's from Austria.
Many greetings to the "Generalkonsul".
palio
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Post by volkswagen on Jul 6, 2008 13:22:54 GMT 1
Drew what is the number of your wartime engine?
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