INVADER GT

1971Invader GT body on a 1963 swing-axle frame

project update 11/5/2003

i can not believe how long i have had this car and got next to nothing done on it. obviously i need to work a little harder. this summer i did get a new transaxle and rear brakes installed. the dashboard has been pulled out and the car gutted of what was left of its old wiring.
i would like to remove the windsheld a-pillar and rake it back further to make the car look a little racier. i think i can use a lexan windshield to achieve the effect i'm looking for. i have toyed with the idea of removing the t-bar roof, and may still do that. i picked up a set of early vw headlights to give more of an angle to the nose of the car.

project update 3/12/2003

well, it's been awhile since anything got done on this page... so here's some updates for you! the invader has been sitting idle for about 4 months... but that will change soon. it will be the next project after Kassybug is done. i now have a swingaxle tranny for this car. those will be installed first, then new brake lines and a new master cylinder. i also intend to install a roll bar.
i'd like to play with the windshield a bit, so we'll see how that goes. the ghia windsheid it is really too small for the car, and is far too forward for its size. so i'd like to get a larger, more rounded winsdhield for it. i guess we'll see how that goes. with any luck i should be working on this puppy in 2 months or so...

project update 5/20/2002

well, this is the first project update since... well, i havent done much of anything with this car since i got it. but since i had time this past weekend and didn't feel like working on the other 2 superbeetles, i decided to investigate the car a little bit and see what i could do with it.
i spent the day cleaning out the interior of leaves, muck, rust, and bits of carpet. fortunately, the floorpans have large holes to sweep all this stuff out of the car *grin* the floors rotted out directly beneath the fiberglass seats. rather than do a "frame off" on this car, i've decided to work with what i have. the frame is quite solid but for the floorpans, so there is no reason to really take the whole car apart. i'd think i will change the car over to IRS, but given the effort it would take to do that i'm not going to bother with it for now. i'd have to weld in the irs piviots to this frame and use the superbeetle suspension i have laying around (kassybug's original frame). but the tranny in the car is shot so i will have to address this at some point.
i decided to work on making the car a look little more complete. the first round is going to be patching up the floors, the rear window area, and the engine cover. the drivers side floor had a fiberglass "box" cut into it to fit the seat down as low as possible into the car (look below the blue car at the bottom of this page). it was a real work of art - blecch! since the floorpan area in front of the seat was rotted out as well, i decided to make a new floorpan section to weld in its place. it places the seat about 3" lower than the stock floorpan. its not beautiful, but not bad for air shears, a bench vice, and a hammer...
i hope to have these new pan sections welded in and coated with POR-15 by the end of the week or so....

project update 5/27/2002

well... i didnt get both pans welded in. the first one i bent out of sheet metal wasn't deep enough nor long enough to put a sliding seat track in. so i made a new one. it hangs about 4 1/2" below the stock vw pan, and looks damn nice if i do say so. it is welded in place, and i'll use some fiberglass to smooth it in a bit.
not sure when i'll get to the passenger side. it is in worse shape, almost the whole pan is gone from the shifter back.

picture of a finished, slightly modified invader GT

this invader GT I body sold on ebay for about $400.