Once again, a half-car pseudo-teardrop

[groys02]

Will do, thanks.
And the little camper will be in my thoughts a lot... ruminating.
It may take me a couple months to decide on how to make a ceiling for the teardrop that's both pleasing to look at and insulated---don't want the sun to bake a hot metal roof just above my head when out in it.
Once upon a time I'd purchased a set of approx. '70 Ghia taillights to graft onto the Anglia... now I'll likely put them on the back end of the teardrop instead. So there's that to plan out & ruminate on as well. Oh, and some kind of back bumper...............

 

[groys02]

Various car & camper projects shuffled around. Teardrop project back in main part of shop.
Proceeded to fit one of the 70 Karman Ghia taillights to the driver's side... still a filler panel to make for the area just below the 'new' VW light assembly, but so far, looks okay to me, and beats ordering taillight lenses from England for the original. Also, bigger & brighter taillights with the V-dub unit.
Original taillight base on righthand side of teardrop.........

 

[groys02]

'70 Ghia lights fitted to modified rear corners.
Rot in lower trunk corners repaired & primered.

Next up: Fasten to "rotisserie" and primer & paint frame... seam seal... undercoat?

 

[groys02]

I don't suppose there's much call for a rotisserie when building a more normal teardrop camper, but it sure will be handy on this project. Having sat for a while, the raw steel frame has a fair bit of surface rust to be scrubbed off before I can proceed with priming.
I also have a few odd bits to weld, that I couldn't handily get at earlier... now I can.
Once that's done, I can primer the frame, and my steel filler panels here & there... and then seam-seal... and then paint the frame.
Feels like progress. [Rotisserie is just a pair of engine stands, with some steel tubing & angle fabricated for attachment points.]

Even understanding Center-Of-Gravity pretty well, this last picture looks scary to me........

 

[groys02]

Been a while. Some progress, by fits & spurts.
Sealed plywood flooring pieces... 2 coats of oil-based stain & sealer, held to floor with recessed machine screws, caulked all around bottom framing.

And finally got light angle-iron framing in for galley, and covered that with plastic sheet with aluminum skin on both sides... don't know what it's properly called... it came from a warehouse surplus auction, via friend-of-friend. It's a fat 1/8" thick. I'll cover it with either self-stick floor tiles or Formica later, and trim around the edges of it oak strips. It's approx 33" x 36", and a little over 10" clearance between it & trunk lid at front, a bit over 10" below, where my feet will go. [and I'll lose some of that clearance once padding/mattress is in place] Room at right of galley platform for a good-sized battery & electrical odds-n-ends... room at left of galley for several gallons of fresh water to ride.

Today I hauled it into town to the local elevator to get an idea on weight, before putting it away for a few months. 720 lbs... which will rise some as glass is reinstalled later, and it's finished off inside. So, easily 800-850 lbs when done... I'd hoped it'd be a little lighter, but it is what it is.

 

[groys02]

Back again. Teardrop survived the winter just fine 'under wraps'.
I'll swap out the torsion axles for softer ones soon---took almost 10 months to get them, with all the supply chain shortages.

But first to fabricate a rear bumper. Couldn't locate a stock one, and had some leftover 1x3x1/8" tubing, soooooo... arced the majority of it's length to match back of car-body... bent up some simple brackets... bolted the bumper in place... split the ends to facilitate heating & curling them around the corner of body... and tack-welded the split ends back together again.
More welding & grinding to come. A little crude, but it should do the job.......

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

Well, isn't this a fun looking project! Glad to see you're back on it.

Bruce

 

[groys02]

Thanks, Bruce.
It IS a fun project, at least for this old weirdo. At my rate of progress, it could easily be another year or two before I'm actually camping out of it.
I'll be able to just focus on smoothing up the body panels soon, and then I can shoot some paint on it & reinstall the glass. Then the fairly slow and step-by-step process of wiring & 'finishing' the interior spaces.
keepin' on...
Gary

 

[groys02]

Got the bumper primed, colored & cleared yesterday. Today I lightly scuffed it to kill most of the clear-coat gloss, and then installed brackets & bumper itself.
It's all something of a compromise, but I'm content with how it came out. Sturdy and 'tidy'... it'll do.
Now to get those new & lighter swing axles on it, and then take it for a test drive........

 

[groys02]

Well, it's been 2 years [almost] since last post.

Life's been upside down... wife passed away in '24, after quicker than normal advancement of dementia. We had 50 yrs together, so I reckon that counts for something.

With spring coming on, I've gotten back to fussing with the pseudo-teardrop project.
Trying to push through sanding & prep for interior surfaces that'll still show when interior's finished [which isn't a lot], and then 'edge' the doors & trunk lid & door & window openings. Just gonna paint them with medium-gray tractor enamel for simplicity's sake... thinking I'll lightly scuff the paint when it's almost fully-hardened with super fine steel wool, to give it a satin finish.
Then I can re-hang the doors & trunk lid, and install the windows. Later I'll paint the exterior a medium-gray metallic... base coat/ clear coat... so it shouldn't clash with the plainer paint inside.
Maybe get this first stage of painting done this weekend. Hope so.

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

Wow, that's a tough year. Hang in there...
Bruce

 

[Tom&Shelly]

Wow, that's a tough year. Hang in there...
Bruce

+2 from Tom & Shelly

 

[groys02]

Hey, thanks for the moral support.

It's only been fairly recently that I feel plugged back into some of my old/ongoing projects. 10 months on, it felt like time.
I'm a little worried that I'll get my little teardrop useable, only to find out that it's too weird camping solo. I don't think it'll be tooooo weird, but there is that nagging doubt. But, gonna find out. And if I haven't got it camp-able by the time it starts getting hot & humid here in central Iowa, I guess I'll try hauling it out to Colorado... lots of good memories of various camping trips out there.
And, if the solo thing really doesn't feel good, there are a number of other friends & acquaintences near that I'm confident will be happy to share some camping time with... so my little psuedo-teardrop will get used one way or another.

keepin' on...
Gary

 

[groys02]

Well, a month after my 'schedule', I got the various bits painted. Slow-drying enamel, but 2 days on, it's pretty hardened-up now. Depending on how things go, I may get the doors & trunk lid refit tomorrow.
Another project demands attention, so I'll be able to then move it into the spare bay in the shop for the moment... then return to it later to install glass panels all around, at which point it will be pretty well sealed up, should it need to sit outside for a while.
On the interior shot, you can see the 2 rectangular openings in the dash... the right one will be the glovebox [I'll paint the door for that later]... and the left one, where the gauge cluster was, I'll box in and mount a stereo there, along with space for misc stuff.
Below the dash you can see the spare tire well intruding. I'll build a plywood bulkhead between the back of the well and the bottom edge of the dash, and then I'll have additional 'pockets' of room for various stuff, either side of the spare tire well.

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

The gauge cluster area will be awesome for light switches and a battery monitor.
Bruce

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Did you ever get a look at the CAR S.O.S. episode where every member of a family had their own Anglia?

Neat cars. Will be interesting to see when you ahve this all done.

 

[groys02]

Well, I had to go look up Car SOS.
I don't have cable here, so it's mostly unavailable... but maybe available via Sky.com and AppleTV???

I'll look into that a bit later. Crazy week ahead.
Yesterday I got the teardrop doors & trunk lid reinstalled, and wheeled it into the spare bay... my '58 Anglia's now in the working bay, waiting for me to flush the cooling system thoroughly & then do a head swap.
If my Anglia wasn't so darn lightweight [ca 1900 lbs], it'd sure be fun to tow the teardrop with it when it's done... but my Mazda 3 hatch will have to do.

 

[bdosborn-SMB]

Well, I had to go look up Car SOS.
I don't have cable here, so it's mostly unavailable... but maybe available via Sky.com and AppleTV???

I had to look it up too. It looks like it's on Apple TV+:
Car S.O.S.-1x05-Anglia Angels

Bruce

 

[groys02]

Thanks, Bruce.

Now, do I went to spring $10/month for a service I just now heard of?

 

[groys02]

Well..... 2 months later on, and the Prefect/teardrop is back in the shop. Over the last several days, a few hours at a time max (it's crazy hot & humid here just now), I got the front & rear windscreens fitted... and today I fitted the small panels in the former front doors (shortened front-to-back by one foot). I just used polycarbonate for those, as I could easily cut them out and adjust as necessary, and then sanded them with fine sandpaper in the D/A, so now they're "frosted" panels.
I believe putting the back door glasses in again will seem easy, after the others.
Pics attached, including the ratchet strap in lieu of a second pair of hands on the back-glass, to hold a bit of forward pressure on it.

At any rate, getting it closer to being "sealed up". I'm getting a bit desperate for a bit of camping... wanting to haul it to Colorado to some of the Forest Service Campgrounds, and suck in cool, dry air. Even if it's unpainted, and the interior work's mostly still to be done... just aiming for functional at this point.