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When my wife and I got married (1974) she did not drive; a couple of years went by and she finally relented that she would learn to drive if I got her a car that she could see all four wheels. A friend of a friend had a partially built kit car (kit, '64 VW chassis w/trans no motor). Started out noblely as a father/son project; the son got bored and realized that dad was mechanically declined. It had sat around in the garage for a couple of years. Needless to say I got a really good deal on it. First, I had to just about undo everthing done to it. Got the running gear sorted out; found a beautiful matched set (5) of Model A wheels and adapted them. Then relocated the body on the chassis to where it should have been. Then built some support structure for seat, dash, spare wheel etc. Found a '66 Karmin Ghia motor, I wanted her to be 12 volt versus the '64 6 volt. Wife made the bushing to adapt the 12v starter to trans housing. Built the dash out of a piece of 3/4 inch black walnut. Got the SW old style guages. I painted it Gray (her choice rather than red). Just like building a 1:1model. Finished in 1977 and has be running ever since.
She learned to drive (stick no less); once comfortable driving she graduated to a VW Thing (son was born). Both my kids learned to drive on this and terrorized the neighborhood in the process. Would take to church functions and give kids rides (and parents too) to raise money for church projects. Every now and then I take it out for a spin, just like driving a big go kart. Most people think it is a real car and are shocked when I tell them it is a recycled VW Bug. Guess I was Green ahead of my time. It is an assemblage of pieces parts, and a full size kit bash. It has an adjustable aero screen and fold down windsheild, the handbrake works through the original parking brake, I cast the knock-offs from my Jag and mounted then to the Model A hubcaps.
Ken
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