While Pete builds his Porsche and Ashley digs into both Bimmers, I got back to my bug. Time to finally close out a couple of small things that keep me from just driving around the block and enjoying it.

Brakes first. I got into them, checked everything, found no real problem, put them back together careful. We'll see how they behave. This is the kind of thing you don't rush, because ending up on the road with no brakes is not a fun afternoon. I'll test them slow, 2 km/h slow, with a rubber stop at the end of the driveway in case she doesn't grab. No ditches today.

Then the plates.

I hate the center position for a plate on this car. Here's why. The bug is a tiny car, but it reads big now. I chopped the roof 7 inches and flared the arches front and rear, so visually it grew. Small mirrors make it look heavier still. But underneath all that it's a small car, about the size of a Porsche. Put a plate dead center on the back and the whole illusion breaks, because the giant nose above the plate tells everyone the truth. It's too massive. It gives the car away.

So I did this. Welded an extension from a strip of metal, made a small bracket, tore the plate holder off the trunk and moved it onto the right fender. Now the plate sits pushed out to the side, hanging off the corner. That creates width. Because width doesn't have to be actual width. It can be an optical trick, the same kind of thing Pete does with the louvres on his Porsche's rear glass, sitting the car lower and wider than it really is. In my case the widebody is genuinely 2 inches wider each side than stock, and the arches are pushed out well past factory, so there's real width under the trick too. Both working together.

The back always lost that width, because the huge "nose" above the plate gave the size away every time. So I pulled it off entirely and moved the plate down and to the right.

Turned out there's a hole straight into the engine bay under the license plate light housing. Doesn't stop us. Cut a piece of metal, made a plate, held it behind, and quick-stitched the edges. Welded it shut. Could have been cleaner, sure, but the point was to close it, and it's closed. Didn't even wait for it to cool. Mixed up some fiberglass filler and threw a couple coats on. Not that I'm rushing to final, but I'm not fussing either, because rough is part of the bug's whole design. No smooth forms, no perfect lines. The opposite. The whole car is built on rough, and it works. Let it dry, hit it quick with 40 grit. Tomorrow it needs two small pinholes filled and then the plate's done.

Rear lights next. Welded a couple of tabs beside the plate on the right to mount a taillight. Temporary. People love to say temporary solutions are the most permanent ones, but this one really is temporary, until I settle on how I want to light the rear. Still working the design.

These have to sit out past the body too. Do it the normal Beetle way, flush and tidy, and it looks sad. Why? Because a Beetle is a cute little thing. Mine stopped being that a while ago, so the taillights have to answer to what the car became. I keep getting the urge to stand two or three rods off the rear right corner like lightning rods, Mad Max style. We'll see.

I welded two mounts for the lights. Haven't wired anything yet, that needs a multimeter, because these wires are a total mystery, no telling what goes where. I painted them all black anyway with grill paint. Tomorrow the lights go on the mounts. I'll probably have to drill the metal to bolt them, and I'm still working out how to mount the lights themselves. Bolts would be good. Panel adhesive too, probably. That combination isn't going anywhere once it sets.

So the car is more or less road ready. More or less, because the brakes never really leave the conversation. I need to test what the real story is there. Friday and the weekend.