Two things happened this weekend on the bug. The louvres are done. The front splitter is on. Neither one is finished, but both are real metal on the car now.

Louvres first. The fiberglass over plastic worked (I know, l know), Bondo on top, then a few coats of grill paint. From a distance she sits right. Up close the lines aren't fully resolved yet, you can still see where the bondo wants to be sanded out. Next weekend I'll go back in, take the surface down properly, pull the lines clean, and lay another coat. For now she runs and she breathes, which was the point.

Splitter is the funny one. From the front it looks proper. From three-quarters she still holds up. Walk around to the side, full profile, and the truth comes out. The winglets stick out too far. The lip itself extends maybe three inches forward, which is too much. The center tunnel for the air intake is sketched but not cut.

The deeper problem is the lip softens the car instead of sharpening it. The whole point of this build is rough and aggressive. A Beetle in its bones is a gentle machine, almost a hippie car. To make it mean, you have to fight that gentleness everywhere, in every panel, every angle. The current lip works against me. It rounds things out where they should bite.

This is her without the lip. Look at the stance, the wheels tucked, the shadow under the front. That's the energy I'm working to keep.

Plan for next weekend: trim the side winglets in half, shape them, then start bringing the lip length down. Either evenly or with the center sitting slightly forward of the sides, both options are on the table. Cut the center tunnel. Make it bite.

This bug is the experiment. Half the fun is showing up with something that doesn't quite work yet and figuring out what comes next.