Hi All,
First time posting so hope it's OK to post this here.
So, my new purchase has had a wide arch conversion in the 80s (i believe). The conversion is all metal so not fibreglass. It's also had a colour change, original colour was canary yellow L11E.
Firstly, I do like the wide arches at the rear as they can house some big original ATS wheels, but would it be worth reinstating the original arches?
Secondly, I prefer the car in red, but, as I'm fully restoring the car something is telling me that I should return it back to the factory colour. Would it be more desirable to go back to Canary yellow?
Finally, has anybody seen a wide arch conversion like this before?
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Vin
Attached thumbnail(s)
Hi, nice new project (and nice beetle in the back as well ) and welcome !
It is your car, but if the arches are done properly, I would leave them.
But....you mention " fully restoring the car" so that would mean to get rid of them.
I would however (if a paintjob is required) go back to original color for sure !
PS Yellow ones go faster, did you know that ?
Is it just the rears? Post some better pictures but from where I’m sitting, I’d say go GT or back to stock and Yellow ones are definitely faster.
I'll throw in my US $.03... If they're done right, I'd consider fairing out the tops to eliminate the sharp angle creating that "shelf" and take advantage of the extra width with some extra rubber
Welcome Vin,
My two penneth....
If you're spending money and time on a repaint, definitely go back to yellow, makes a better job on door, trunk, boot and engine bay miss matched colours and will add value back to the car in the long term.
Those rear arches look like someone horizontally slit the quarter, pulled it out and welded in a shelf !!!
The fronts wings look original
If it were mine I'd put it back to stock, as at the moment is not one thing or another (neither narrow body or all round flared) which will effect value and in my opinion just looks odd.
Plus financially it'd be better to fix the rear quarters than have to do all 4 arches.
At the end of the day its your car, so do what pleases you.
Cut out those flares and install proper 914 GT steel flares all around.
Easy for me to say since it's not my money...
The flares aren't too terrible but agree the crease is unusual. If it were my car I'd definitely paint it the original code.
I say leave the bodywork as is and paint it whatever color pleases you. The car will never be original again, so don't waste money trying to make it look original. Its already been personalized, so make it reflect your personality. Yellow and red strips sounds good to me
I'd leave it or smooth the top of the flare to better flow into the stock body lines....that would be very cool!
You're at the beginning of a great journey and the final destination is up to you. Keep in mind that there's a difference between "original" and "stock". Since the car won't be "original", the pressure to keep it "stock" isn't as great.
Personally, I'd get the metal back to stock and repaint the Canary Yellow. Just because I like the factory look. But it also depends on what else you have planned for the car, and what your budget is. If you'd like a more powerful engine, carbs, a roll cage, transmission upgrades, etc, then the car won't be stock anyway...so I say do what makes you smile.
I'd get the car driving without restoring anything, drive it around, enjoy it for a year or so, figure out what would enhance your ownership then do that. It's hard to know what you want when you haven't been driving the car. Plus there are just too many cars on jack stands around here.
Thanks all and thanks for the welcome. Some interesting views on the arches. Hadn't really thought of them looking like shelves! Think I'll go back to Canary yellow. Re the arches I'll see what's lurking under the paint and then do some soul searching.......... As long as I can get the thought of it looking like a subaru wrx out of my mind........Although a scooby engine is going into another vw beetle project. I'll post some pics when I've painted it. Cheers!
You said you like the red and you like the flares, so what's the point in doing a full resto? Unless you flip cars for the income, build the car you will enjoy the most.
Stock is over-rated. Driving isn't.
The flares remind me of one of my favorite rides, the Audi Coupe Quattro Turbo, world rally champion for several consequitive years in the 80s. Lancia's rally car also had similar flares - Delta. I owned an 85 Ur Quattro and it was quite the ride. Like this, with those great flares... So keep the flares, be unique and don't bow to the stuffy purists.
My conditional opinion.
If you take the flairs out and go stock there, then you should go back to yellow. If you leave them, does the color really matter?
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)