Volkswagen Restoration: Week 2 and 4

Okay, so Car-car, my 1972 Volkswagen Beetle has been at ROS Autoworks for a month (tomorrow), and Remi and I have visited twice since my first post about it. The work is going quite nicely and now that they’ve scraped the paint down to metal, we could clearly see just how much damage and rust is under there.

Wait, before I get ahead of myself, I’ve had a number of people ask me just what I’m having done on the car and how much it’s going to cost me. First off, here’s the job order: 

> Remove seats, glass, lights, carpet, ceiling, gas tank, fenders
> Underpaint, interior paint, body paint (Anzahl with top coat)
> Strip to metal
> Bodywork 

As for the quote, let’s just say it’s a little over the price I’d have to pay for a year of parking. I think I got a good deal, considering that I’d gotten the 6-month payment term and considering that somebody once gave me a quote for 70,000 pesos. In case you’re planning to have your bug restored, I suggest you ask for quotes from a lot of shops.

Dean Montalbo, a friend from the Las Pinas Volkswagen Club, swears by a Volkswagen specialist in Paranaque, Kuya Nanding. I wasn’t able to visit their shop, but if you’re located near the Valley 1 area, you may want to give them a visit. Another friend, Bong Reyes from Artiken Marikina, offers body work and repainting services as well, so you will want to visit him if you’re in the Cainta-Marikina-Quezon City area. He wasn’t available last June, so I wasn’t able to get a quote from him either. Everybody has his or her own suki so be sure to ask around. I didn't have much time to do canvassing, but I had a fair idea of how much it would cost since I've been asking around for a few months - libre naman magtanong, libre din mangarap.

Since no two project cars are the same – I mean, they can be from the same year, but the damage and rust wouldn’t be the same on each – my quote may vastly differ from yours. I have a banged up headlight and hood from the accident, and I have a mysterious leak where water seeps in if I park the car outdoors. So yeah, ask around.

Anyway, progress. Some bodywork has been done on Car-car. It’s been stripped to metal and we could plainly see previous work done on the body, as well as additional holes that we hadn’t noticed before. I saw that some of the existing metal patches on the body were pretty banged up (spot-welded), though hopefully, they can correct that.

Week 2 pictures:

Also, if you saw two girls carrying a pair of bumpers at Kamias, Cubao about two weeks back, that was Remi and me. I had bought a set from BatVolks member James. They were dirt cheap and I had them sent over via bus. A middle-aged dispatcher helped us fit it inside the backseat of Remi's Vios.

Also, if you've seen a Vios flashing its lights or beeping, that might be us as well. We do that every time we pass somebody driving a Beetle and we get disappointed when they don't greet back. "Dahil ba naka-Toyota tayo?"

Week 4

Bumpers from Batangas!

Before Midnight (Not a Review)

I come from a generation that had been fed fairy tales. We all thought that true love was as easy as making a deal with the sea witch and trading your voice for a pair of legs, kissing the beast to get the prince, and maybe even riding a magic carpet - shining, shimmering, fucking splendid. Then we grew up and realized that nope, it doesn't quite work that way. You have to date, kiss a multitude of beasts and frogs and find out that they were no more than beasts and frogs.

Last night, I saw Before Midnight, the last installment of the Before series. Now, the Before series follows the story of Jesse and Celine. The first one, Before Sunrise, explored magic. How two people can meet by chance, and have such a great connection. It wasn't quite like a fairy tale, Jesse didn't ride a white horse and save Celine from a dragon. (Actually, I think she's more than capable of taking care of herself, and Jesse, though he has a flair for grand romantic gestures, isn't quite the type.) The story isn't fairy tale-ish, but it is something we all wish for at some point: Meeting your soulmate - or at least, somebody who looks like him or her - on the train.