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Does anybody have any experience with older Volkswagen beetles


Rustlestiltskin

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I always thought the older 60-70's were pretty neat. Just wondering if anybody on here used to own one or currently owns one that could shine some light and give me the pros/cons on having one as something to tinker with on the weekends.

thanks,

Paul

 

 

inb4yougayashell.

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Boss has a ~'59 with 33K miles, service writer has a '61 with 133K miles, it was shown at the Columbus Auto show the last 2-3 years in the main hallway. We work on a shit ton of them at the shop. I work on a majority of them with my boss.

 

They are easy to work on, have a ton of little issues, parts are cheap and readily available, and it is a PAIN IN THE ASS to find one that has not been totally screwed up by back yard bob.

 

Say you are looking sub $5,000...fair?

 

You are looking at cars that more than likely do not have the original floor pan, if it does it has a ton of holes in it. Almost all of them have the area under the battery re-welded back in by some shitty welder. If the pan was replaced, odds are good they got it mostly put back together, but not totally. Ones with original floor pans are probably $8K+ cars because they are usually pristine.

 

Odds are good that it has fiberglass fenders instead of metal ones.

 

The brakes need to be totally over hauled, front and rear drums, the heat won't work...not that it works well when you have it set up correctly. OR someone did a crappy front disk conversion.

 

Clutch jobs happen all the time due to the rear main seal leaking and destroying the clutch. Of course it takes me about 13 minutes to pull a carburated motor, and 17 minutes for a fuel injected motor. They always leak oil...ALWAYS, both of the show cars at the shop leak oil.

 

Need I say more??? They are a ton of fun once they are sorted out, we love them to death. Feel free to swing by with one if you find one you like, and we can check it out for you, we really enjoy getting people into them because they are fun.

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Boss has a ~'59 with 33K miles, service writer has a '61 with 133K miles, it was shown at the Columbus Auto show the last 2-3 years in the main hallway. We work on a shit ton of them at the shop. I work on a majority of them with my boss.

 

They are easy to work on, have a ton of little issues, parts are cheap and readily available, and it is a PAIN IN THE ASS to find one that has not been totally screwed up by back yard bob.

 

Say you are looking sub $5,000...fair?

 

You are looking at cars that more than likely do not have the original floor pan, if it does it has a ton of holes in it. Almost all of them have the area under the battery re-welded back in by some shitty welder. If the pan was replaced, odds are good they got it mostly put back together, but not totally. Ones with original floor pans are probably $8K+ cars because they are usually pristine.

 

Odds are good that it has fiberglass fenders instead of metal ones.

 

The brakes need to be totally over hauled, front and rear drums, the heat won't work...not that it works well when you have it set up correctly. OR someone did a crappy front disk conversion.

 

Clutch jobs happen all the time due to the rear main seal leaking and destroying the clutch. Of course it takes me about 13 minutes to pull a carburated motor, and 17 minutes for a fuel injected motor. They always leak oil...ALWAYS, both of the show cars at the shop leak oil.

 

Need I say more??? They are a ton of fun once they are sorted out, we love them to death. Feel free to swing by with one if you find one you like, and we can check it out for you, we really enjoy getting people into them because they are fun.

 

pm'd

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Things are dirt cheap paul. Who gives a fuck if the floors are swiss cheesed to shit. New motors are like $1700 total. You can build em cheaper yourself.

 

I looked at a few, I just don't have the room.

 

I was thinking how nice it would look to have an early 70's one lowered on whitewall tires/chrome hubcaps with a wooden roofrack. Something along the lines of this

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj288/Dubs740/3kf3o23l65T35P55X0b1o7ad547185a181dfa.jpg

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Hell yee. I wanted to build a baja type but with some sick power for the street. I just don't know if they have the gearing.

 

yea I don't care if its beat up. Hell, I'll go with the rat rod look and keep it rusty. slam it to the ground, toss some whitewall meats and shiny hubcaps on it then call it a day.

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Here is a couple of things you can do with it.

 

http://www.socalook.com/gallery/hidalgo64/450/3_4front.jpg

 

http://philscarblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/vw-beetle-sti-large_4.jpg

 

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSoFylhPsr3NP4TglQTyHRZ8cCfX5JC6u73pjfBOez9yVUBZiZ4

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Had a friend with an early 60s one I think. Can't remember the year. You could pretty much fix anything on it with a flathead and pliers. The wiring is as simple as any car I've ever seen. One time for fun (he left the windows down) we tripped the starter with a screwdriver and parked it behind the building. His was flat gray and slightly lowered on some classic wide fives, so it's not like it was built all out, and it still turned heads. Kinda neat having something so simple, cheap, and unique. OTOH, it was probably the scariest car I've ever driven. 1940s tech sucked ass. The suspension was awful, the brakes didn't, the steering was a mere suggestion, and it couldn't get out of its own way. People like to joke about crapboxes like Geo Metros, but my Metro was a fuggin' supercar compared to his VW.
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my dad had one when i was little kid traded his 67 396ss chevelle in on it....

 

it got great mileage, but he always seemed to be fixing something on it every other weekend and the heat sucked even when it worked right.....

 

cool little cars if you don't need to depend on it for any length of time

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It's not a daily driver for sure. Things break on it a lot just like any car from the 50's and 60's with that times technology. But parts are easy to find (relatively) and they are easy to work on. It's a nice car to cruise in on weekends and tinker with.
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It's not a daily driver for sure. Things break on it a lot just like any car from the 50's and 60's with that times technology. But parts are easy to find (relatively) and they are easy to work on. It's a nice car to cruise in on weekends and tinker with.

 

Got a guy that daily drives a "thing" here at the shop lol.

 

whats the weight on em? with some weight savings they could be devastating since people have somehow found ways to sap hundreds of HP out of the little 4 cyls.

 

2-3 guys can lift the nose

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whats the weight on em? with some weight savings they could be devastating since people have somehow found ways to sap hundreds of HP out of the little 4 cyls.

 

 

Mine checked in just shy of 2100 lbs., and its all in the rear. 180 horse and itll pull the front wheels easy.

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