1959 VW Beetle Ragtop - Miss Mabel

Mabel's looking drop-dead gorgeous now that she's got her paint on. Spook shot her with BASF paints in colors he custom-created for this VW restoration project.

Now begins the cutting - or, scratchy, scratchy, as he says. While the clear might be glamorous... after all, it is BASF's Glamour Clear, the process is not. It's a lot of work, and he'll cover every millimeter of this car's surface many times over, using increasingly fine grit.

"Shiny is just scratches you cannot see."

Miss Mabel is Airkooled Kustoms' entry into the 2015 Ultimate VW Build-Off in Las Vegas, NV this October. She's a 1959 VW Beetle Ragtop that Spook has had for years - one of those "some day" kinds of projects. That day came when the shop got its invitation to compete in the Build-Off.

The rules of the contest are simple:
1. Has to be a vehicle that rolled off the factory line as an air-cooled ride.
2. Has to be a new project, started and completed within the time of the contest (about a year).
3. $20,000 cap on parts.

Thank goodness there's no cap on the labor, because the labor alone would make Miss Mabel go WAY over that cap.

Airkooled Kustoms is proud and honored to have many excellent vendors, suppliers, and friends sponsoring the build. It's a major commitment of resources to build a car like this as a showpiece, and we could not do it without our sponsors' support. Two sponsors we are especially pleased to have supporting the build is BASF, our paint manufacturer, and FinishMasters, our paint distributor. These two fine companies take great care of us, deliver excellent paint supplies, and are top-notch all the way around. We very much appreciate their help with Miss Mabel.

You can learn more about Miss Mabel, and even become a sponsor, by visiting the Mabel page on this site.

You can learn more about the Ultimate VW Build-Off 2015 by visiting the show's site here: http://ultimatevwbuildoff.com - and if you happen to be in Vegas the first week of October 2015, we hope you'll come by and see us and enjoy gawking at some of the most beautiful Dubs built this year. The competition features the top VW builders bringing their very best work. While some may be bringing client projects, others, like Airkooled Kustoms, are building vehicles specifically for the contest.