Saga de Baja part II
The first thing I did was remove all the lights from the fenders. Please note that when you remove the headlights you do not have to cut the wire that comes from the wiring-loom to get the fittings through the rubber grommets. You can use a small screwdriver to push in on the contacts of the headlight assembly - they then slide out. I, of course, did not know this so I got happy with the wire-cutters. This turns out to be no big deal.

In case you are wondering what it looks like, here is a fender free VW Bug. Please note Jolly Green Giant in the background - my beloved 1979 VW Westphalia.
I then removed the bumpers. Some people seem to have problems with the bolts holding the bumper bracket to the body, but I had no problems and they & their grommets were placed to one side. I was beginning to have quite a collection of 'bits' building up so I grabbed some freezer-bags and some mailing labels and startted bagging and labelling so that I wouldn't be left wondering what stuff was later. I also tried to clean the worst of the gunk off most things.

Grabbing a 13mm socket & wrench/spanner I turned my attention to the fenders/wings. I was amazed at how easily most of them came off. The picture at right shows the position of some of the rear-passenger nuts that the fenders bolt in to. You can just make out to the lower left where I wrapped the light wiring in masking tape & plastic bag.
All of the fenders relinquished their attaching nuts without complaint except for the front-driver's side. It was at this point that I discovered that my little Bug had been in a pretty nasty front end prang and had more than its fair share of concertina'd metal and rogue, alien fenders. The driver's side fender was originally blue and the passenger side had been red.

All the fenders needed patching and ding filling. Both of the rear fenders had small cracks near where they met the running-boards, both of which had also been removed by this stage. The running-boards were totally rotten and folded easily into a trash bag.
It was about this time that I started to have the bad thoughtsthat fellow VW owners have grown to fear. As my little Bug sat there lean and fender free I started to think how cool it looked without those stupid, big lumpy fenders or that shiny chrome trim that I had also ripped off. I visualised it with some big honkin' wheels and tires and a whip antenna thrashing overhead. I saw bumpers. Not those wimpy little chrome jobs with their cute rubber impact-strip! Give me a break! I wanted Toyota crushing four inch black-pipe muthahs that could break a telephone pole in half. And lights! Arc-lights! 100,000 watts of retina burning pain. With a stereo! What the hell - give me another 100,000 watts there! I wanted to play Wagner until my nose bled. And machine-gun mounts and flame-throwers and spikey things.

Nobody wanted me to do it. Shoot! Half of them thought removing the chrome was sacrilege. But the more those insidious thoughts ran through my mind, the more I knew that I had to listen to my churning guts, that I had to follow that visceral strewn path to Hell & damnation.

I HAD TO HAVE A BAJA BUG!
It takes some courage to make that first cut. I had read three different articles on the topic and none of them had a detailed description of where and how. I had bought a seven-piece Baja kit from a friend of a friend. I spent three days strengthening and fixing some cracks in the fibreglass - it seemed pretty solid and I really enjoyed that first time foray into the wacky world of GRP (glass reinforced plastic). That is some cool stuff.

The fateful day came and putting a thin metal cutting disc into my new DeWalt angle-grinder I offered a small prayer to the dark powers of hell and sparks flew as I cut off the front of my beloved Bug!

It was like a knife through butter.
I tentatively offered up the nose-piece from the Baja kit. Okay I says, a little snip here and weeny grind here and it should be fine. Some hours and a few inches later I had the nose-piece in position waiting to be pop-riveted in place.

To ascertain the correct position for this nose-piece all the articles said to mount the new shorter Baja hood and make sure that the nose & hood follow the same line.

Attaching the new hood involves removing the spring-assists from the old hinges, (the new lighter GRP hood doesn't need them) and loosely bolting on the new hood. I checked to see if the hood and nose-piece looked in the right place.

They looked good, so I duly riveted the bugger in place. It looked cute - very roundy and obviously much shorter than a regular (pansy) VW. I stood back and admired my handy work.

Boy had I screwed up...