Finished Metal Work - Part 2

More pics....

If you look closely at the leading edge of the floor pans in the upper right pic, in the vicinity of where the driver's feet would be, you can see that the Schirmer's actually welded the body to the pan using a reinforcing plate. This is not how the Ghia was constructed - the body is bolted to the pan around a raised ridge that runs the entire periphery of the pan. I'm not clear why this was done...and it's done on both the driver's and passengers sides...just another hazard of not being around to monitor and guide the work. I really did not want this to be done, and the Schirmer's do know better as they have worked on myriad's of VW's in the Cincinnati Rust Belt. Alas, it is what it is.

In theory, it would be relatively easy to cut thru these plates to free the pan from the body, however, given where this restoration is going, I don't ever see that as being necessary. It's nice to know that it could be done if required. At one point, I was considering removing the body from the pan one final time after the welding was complete to have the body media blasted and the pan powder-coated, and although this is really the first class way to do a Ghia restoration, I don't think this car really warrants that at this point...and my pocket book won't tolerate it at this point, either. Maybe next project. Hey, I said it was a learning experience, didn't I?