Scarlet's Metal: Doors, Lids (Hoods), and Match Numbers

The continuing story of Scarlet, The 1963 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet

Here, on this page, the metalwork for Scarlet's nose repair is described, illustrated in 7 images.

This is a sub-topic to Scarlet's Metalwork, which can be found here.

ABOVE RIGHT: Scarlets "Body Match Number", originally used to match fitted body parts after painting.

The body match number was originally used on all the doors and lids but by the time Scarlet was manufactured, use was limited to the two doors. Her number is 1206, as can be read above. Note that the left door appears to have either been mis-stampped by a worker at Karmann, or it was replaced at some time with a door from a car of the same color as Scarlet (Ruby Red). The right door would have been replaced, as described below, but was retained, and it is the original to the car.

Scarlet's main page is here.
Find her "initial rebirth" page here.
The previous step, disassembly, is here.
The next step, paint preparation, is here.

Repair Strategy

Damage to be Repaired

The rear (engine) lid was so badly rotted from rodent urine that it was replaced, even though the impact damage could have been repaired. The right door was fairly badly damaged from impact and had some corrosion issues, so a replacement was found, however, when the time came to use the replacement door, it was found the vendor had made an error, sent the wrong door, and another could not be found in a timely manner, so the original was saved. The front hood had no damage to speak of whatsoever, and the left door only had minor dings, and damage from having been opened too far, perhaps from a wind-storm.

Not to be overlooked, several door mounting screws broke off during the attempts to remove them.

Available Materials

No metal replacement was performed on any of the lids or doors. Replacement was limited to the rear lid.

Performing the Repairs

Most of the repair in this section was done with a hammer and dolley. The original damage is visible in the "before" photos, and there's nothing much more to show during restoration until the paint phase, where body filler use shows where the damaged areas were better than any direct photo due to lack of contrast. There's not much to show here except the damage to the right door's lower edge.

A drill and later tap were used to repair the door mounting screw holes.

Images

Unfortunately photos were not always taken, so some images we'd like to have are regretably unavailable.

First, FOUR broken off door mounting screws.

The right door, being saved. The corrosion was wire brussed away, and there was a lot of banging with hammer and dolley: Note how the lower edge in these photographs comes up (toward the center of the car) in the aproximate center of the door. Also note the missing (original) paint - this was caused by early attempts at straightening the region. It was time consuming because the door could be seriously warped if someone attempts to move the metal too rapidly. Instead, it has to be gently shrunk back into position as impact damage stretches metal.

The door match numbers, left on the left, right on the right. These locations are on the inside webbing - look to the two imags of the right door to see where.

Now, the rear lid. It was in pretty good condition but had surface rust. Unfortunately, no image of it in its "before" condition was taken. This image was taken during wire-brushing to remove the corrosion. Here, you can see along the lower right edge (right foreground in this image) what the entire inner surface looked like prior to wire brushing. The center has lso not yet been done, as well as some areas around the left hinge. Wire brushing of all these areas were completed prior to moving on to the paint preparations phase.

As indicated above, the front (trunk) lid needed needed no repair.

BACK: Click here to return to Scarlet's Metalwork page.

Scarlet's "before" condition can be found here.

Scarlet's restoration is described here.