History Just Begun....

After a bunch of efforts, doing some research and find all the materials, I started the Karimun Retro Project...

Based on the Blue Retro Wagon-R picture (see my previous post), the most unique things are the wheel. I could easily get the whitewalls, but where should I get the 'moon-shaped' wheel cover?  Browsing at PMK (Pasar Mobil Kemayoran) and Atrium Senen, I finally found it. It's originally a Volkswagen wheel cover. In Indonesia it's known as 'dop moon'. I got it at a VW specialized shop. But unfortunately, it's has 15" diameter, while initially I have planned to have a 14" rims. FYI, the original rim size of Karimun is 13".
While I couldn't get any 'dop moon' in 14" size, then I should changed my plan to find 15" rims.

This is the 'dop moon' looks like :

It took a whole month to find the 15" rims matched to the 'dop moon'. They're Toyota IST stock rims, which have 15" diameter and 4x100 PCD. But the other problem was the rim's offset. It's somewhere around 38, which definitely would  be scrapping my inner fender. Hmmm... then I should asked the body shop to do some 'wide body' modification to the fenders. It's okay... it's just easier to do than to find any other rims... hahahaha...

But the story was not just happy ended. I found another problem. I got the white walls easily, but since it was my first time with whitewalls, I just found that the tyres shouldn't have had any 'rim guard' feature. You know what? The consequences I should take by using the 15" rims is that the tyre's aspect ratio should not be greater than 55. Damned..... The only tyre with 55 aspect ratio, and without any rim guard was Bridgestone Potenza series..!!!  My goodness... it costs me 900k rupiah each... *hiks...*

Then goes to the bumper. I met Oom Alex, the owner of fiberglass custom shop in Atrium Senen. Forgot his shop's name, but he promised to build a new bumper for me.

Got every materials I need, then I went to the body shop near my house. The project started.

First thing to do is fitting out the new bumper made by Oom Alex a couple days before. Hmmm... I think Oom Alex had been loosing some points of my instruction. The bumper was more into 'racing look' than retro style.... Huuffhhh... had no time to reconstruct... I shall continue the project... 

Then the painting works started.

Look at Toyota IST stock rims. Thank God, I have modified my rear spring several years ago to one which has a little bit hard and higher, so that it can accomodate 15" rims nicely. See the small glass windows at the rear end? Soon they will be replaced.... hehehe...

So far, I haven't told you guys about the color I wanted to apply to my Karimun, right? Well, since I adopted Volkswagen's Moon wheel cover, then I was kind of addicted to anything about Volkswagen, especially the Combi model (the bus model of VW). And when I saw retro VW Combi passing me by when I was on the road in Jakarta, I thought that I had to have my Karimun with that color. It's two tone. White - Orange...!!!

After about a month, these are the results :

I added sideskirts, and lower spoiler to the original rear bumper.
And an oval-shaped muffler tip.... plus "Streetrod" emblem, I got from (again) VW shop...

Huuffhhh.... Done...!!! It took about 3 months from scratch... Started by some researches, finding all of the materials, and the construction....  hmmm... not bad... but, am I satisfied? hehehehe... not yet...