Our 50 yr old Karmann Kabriolett

[Ninamashr]

Here's our other beetle. Not too many left like this one.

1957 Vw Karmann Kabriolett



50 years and still buggin!

[Beetlemania]

Great, now I'm the one that can't see attachments! And I'd really love to see a '57!

[Lnzbug]

I can't see them either

[dasmurph]

I can't see either YOU HAVE TO POST THESE!!!! I had a '61 and am dying to see your '57!!

[Ninamashr]

Fixed them I think?!?!

[GINA]

You fixed them! That car looks fantastic

[my99vdub]

speechless, I'm just speechless - what a BEAUTY!!

[Beetlemania]

Hooray! I can see them!

Oh my goodness, that's gorgeous! Even better than I thought it might be! And the trailer is wonderful! I've seen only 1 hardmounted trailer before, and it was on a Transporter. So cool to see one in such great shape on a Beetle!

[callisto9]

oh ma GAWD! that's gorgeous! i love it!

[BEETLETHIS]

that **** is bad ass!!!

[PhoenixRising]

...stuning. Simply stunning.

[Ghia_Roadster]

wow. great job with takeing care of it.i ve got a friend that has a '57 hard top that was in hotvws back in oct. '06.

[boblamb58]

Can you adopt me? Please?

Ok, I go now to clean up my drool....

[LadybugEwa]

That's a real classy ride you got there. The trailer's just briliant!

[Lnzbug]

OMG! It's stunning! That trailer is great too! I have got to show this to the hubby. Anytime you want to trade it for oh, I don't know, my firstborn, just call

[Ninamashr]

Thank you for all those great compliments. This little vert has been in our family for over 25 years. Here's some history on the car. It came out of the factory in April of 1957 and was sold to a couple from San Fransisco. Back then VW had a program where you could purchase your beetle in Germany and drive it in Germany and then have shipped free to the USA. This was one of those cars. Once the original owners drove it that spring it was shipped to SF. The owners had it repainted back in the 70's and did minor work on it until my baby brother bought it in 1984. The mileage on the car was about 30K at that time and the couple told my brother it was original because they hardly ever drove the car due to it being too cold to drive in SF. My brother drove the car for about 1 year and he accidently left the car outside one night and somebody stole his rear decklid and tailights. He was very upset and we had a hard time locating the a correct rear decklid to replace the stolen one. Once we found the decklid he parked his vert in the garage and never moved it. When I would visit my brother I would see his vert in the garage year after year and once told him that I would buy it from him if he ever decided to sell it. In 2005 my lil brother sadly came down with cancer and he told my sister that I was to have his car when he passed away. He passed away in October of 2005. I really miss my brother and thank him dearly for letting me have his car.
I have partially restored it in his honor. All the work has been done by me, paint, interior, etc. As I've done the restoration I've found out that it has very special brakes, they are from a 1956 Porsche 356, aluminum drums with 2 wheel cylinders per drum. I still need to finish the top and I might redo the chassis. Since that car has such low miles, about 37k, there's not much left to do to it. Here are some pics of what it looked like when my brother gave it to me and some of the restoration.

[dnyed]

[hi-pitched squeel] Oh My Gooodddd!!! [/hi-pitched squeel]

A gem. Simply magnificant!

[Beetlemania]

What a beautiful story! You've done so very well with your brother's Beetle.

So this is the second repaint? What was the original color scheme?

[Ninamashr]

Beetlemania, thank you very much, Yes, this is the second repaint, I did take off as much of the 1st re-paint. Iris Blau was the factory color but I liked this 57' color scheme better. L41 black with L456 Ruby Red.

[LadybugEwa]

What's the story with the trailer? It matches SO well