Happy Birthday/Veteran's Day/Armistice Day

Today is Veterans Day...also a my birthday.  I share my birthday with that of the Marines, and the end of WWI.  This car is a birthday present from my family to me; I can't think of a more ironic thing to get someone who shares his birthday with a day marking the end of the largest military confilict in the modern era.  A German car, designed by a company who created cars at the direction of Hitler, who of course had a small role in WWII. All kidding aside, I am extremely thankful and gratetful.  I have wanted to get another VW since I sold my Super Beetle in 1985. 

So, a few things I learned yesterday while systematically removing the wiring from under the dash, trunk and engine compartment.  Here's a brief list, expunging all of the expletives.

1) Never underestimate the ability of people to spend a very small amount of money and time to completely screw-up something that took millions of dollars to engineer and build.  I found all of the wires coming from the ignition switch stripped completely of their insulation...ripe for a hot-wiring car thief. 

2) Also, somewhere over the last 40 years, someone had the bright idea to wire in a starter button hidden inconspicuously under the dash...also removed. 

3) When you repaint or partially repaint a car, it's never really a good idea to paint the wiring.  This sort of defeats the purpose of color-coding the wiring...again millions of dollars were spent by enterprising young German engineers deciding on the proper colors for each and every wire.

4) For some reason that I may never fully understand, the Hazard Switch was moved to under the dash...maybe to bring it closer to the crazy hidden starter switch. 

5) I've yet to find a Headlight switch...more to come on this I'm sure.  Since no power is getting from the battery to the either the business-end of the car (the engine) or the "brains" of the car (the dashboard), I can't tell what's going on quite yet. 

So my next steps are simple.  I can either cut my losses and push The Zambezi Project into a marsh, or I can press on.  I think it would be fun to completely re-wire the car.  Rather than take the easy route and buy one of those wiring harness kits, I may take inspiration from Boyd Coddington, Caroll Shelby, and Ferdinand Porsche (RIP gentlemen) and wire everthing myself.  My father is crenging right now as he reads this, for fear of more "Mickey Mouse wiring" from his eldest son.  As Mr. Porsche said "I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself".  

For those of you who have concerns about my ability to complete this project, remember this.  I have no deadline.  I have no budget.  I have no specific skills.  I have no idea of when it will be completed, how much it will cost, or how I will do it myself.  But if it turns out like my last project car (my replica Bugatti Veyron) it will be acceptable.  If you look closely at the picture, the offset on the wheels is all wrong...no one has ever noticed.  So I'll leave with a final thought from Ferdinand Porsche..."If one does not fail at times, then one has not challenged himself"