Any old school Volkwagen fans?

[aquaman]

I am somewhat obsessed with these vehicles, already own a passat. My wife and I were going to the grocery store today and lord what did I see in the parking lot, a beautiful Volkswagen Beetle 1972 model, flawless condition inside and out, looked like a show car, and for sale. Needless to say within one hour I had called the seller and test drove the car and fell in love with it. I am going to take it to a mechanic on monday to have it checked out and if it passes the test, IT'S MINE. So what if I won't eat for a few months.

[ezgoingrl]

1. Ohhhhhh COOL!!!

WOW WOW WOW!!! Neat!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. Oh yeah, the bug lives on all over the place. I had two back in

the day. Great cars. Shit for heat or AC though.

[SoCalDem]

3. I gave my son a 1972 Super Beetle

bright yellow.. He adores it :)

I bought it for ME because I had always wanted one when I was in High school, and unfortunately, years of driving my Accord, had spoiled me.. It was not as much fun driving it as I had imagined, so we gave it to him :)

[aquaman]

5. The one I hopefully am getting.

Is bright and shiny cherry red.

[DBoon]

4. Had a VW

A '76. Drove it for maybe 5 years. Over 200k Miles on it. Sold it for more than I paid for it.

[DemoTex]

6. Check for rust

Check floor pans (lift carpet and check bottom side). Check door gaps. Check battery box. If you are interested in originality check the VIN and motor number, if the original paperwork is available.

[aquaman]

7. I actually crawled under the car.....

to check for rust and didn't see any. However, the mechanic, a friend of mine is going to check it closely. The lady that is selling it has paperwork in regards to the maintenance. She has taken amazing care of it and has had it in her garage for the last three years except for the drive around the block to keep it going. This lady reminded me of June Cleaver and had it sold to me before opening her mouth.

[SoCalDem]

8. Our Beetle was a one owner car and had service records

going all the way back.. He had them in a bound notebook..The original bill of sale..everything. Like an auto-autobiography :)

[mike_c]

9. I've owned a '68 and a '72....

I liked the '68 better, it was purer veedub somehow, but the '72 was sweet too. Lucky you. I wish they made real volks cars today.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

11. I was gonna rush out and buy one of the new ones, but I am

glad I did not. Jeeze, what a shitty impersonation. Just a golf with a different wrapper.

[caledesi]

10. I owned two bugs. 1975 and 1979...and both were f*cking great!

I LOVED the beetle. Since I am person who doesn't do much "maintenance" on vehicles, the VWs were the greatest. My two beetles just ran on and on. I loved these two cars!

I am seriously considering a Jetta.

Any news on Jettas?

[aquaman]

12. Jettas are great cars

As stated above I own a passat but my wife is looking to get a jetta. They are reasonably priced and get good gas mileage. Can't go wrong with it. I have had my passat for two years and haven't had a single problem, but I do treat it like a child instead of a car.

[FloridaJudy]

33. Those old bugs ruled

They sure were ugly, but they were *cheap*, and had about five moving parts. Even a mechanical idiot like me could usually fix them when they broke down.

The new ones are almost as ugly, but they're expensive and complicated. That defeats the whole idea of the old bugs. From now on I'm buying Buicks or Chryslers; they have a better repair record, and I don't have to cringe at the thought of my Jewish fore-bearers spinning in their graves.

[Kellanved]

34. ???

Chrysler is German now, the better models are even made in Germany.
GM, like Ford, has supported Hitler; a Buick is no better than a Volkswagen.

[oneighty]

13. My first new car was

a 1962 beetle. I think it was $1,600. Payment was $25.00/ month. I had two beetles, one Karman Ghia (Nice fun car)

and one used camper bus over the next twelve years.

Have fun with yours. Have your mechanic check the spark plugs to see that they are not frozen or stripped in the head! I had that happen. It is a very expensive fix.

Ed

[aquaman]

14. Thanks for the tip

:hi:

[Champion Jack]

15. I had a '59 bug all through school

They are real easy to work on. Learn how to adjust the valves and do not slack off on it. They run forever.

[disgruntella]

16. '71 VW Squareback, banana yellow -- named Martha

I thought it was a nerdy car when my parents said I could drive it to high school in the mid-80s. But I quickly lost that false belief!

I drove it all over Montana and back and forth to Seattle. 10 years later there are still people who remember me for that car! I wish I had a picture to post but it's not on this computer.

[DemoTex]

17. I owned a '66 Beetle in flight school.

Along the same line, I later owned a '65 Porsche 356C and a '78 Porsche 911SC.

[BiggJawn]

18. Had a '72 Kombi...

Would still have it if the tranny hadn't died at 260,000 miles...

I loved that bus!

One bit of advice:
NEVER run the spark more advanced than what John Muir's book tells you to!
This will ensure that the head of the Nr. 3 cylinder exhaust valve stays fastened to the shaft.

[sasquatch]

19. I drive sand rails that I made out of Beetles

real fun :)

[aquaman]

20. That is cool.....

:hi:

[tweekinnow]

21. I am/was a fan

I have owned several of them. Are you at all familiar with their maintainence needs?They are truely a hobby compared to newer cars.
heres a list of the ones I owned.I had them all apart at least 3 times.
1954 Beetle (european) just the coolest!!!!
1961 Beetle
1963 Beetle
1969 Karmann Ghia
1972 Squareback (fuel injected)
Any Questions? Ask.

[aquaman]

22. I am prepared to throw some dough into it if need be

I am somewhat cooky about keeping my cars in check so I will be just as focused on my new baby, if I get it. Unless the the mechanic tells me that the engine is going to fall out in a few days I will have it by mid-week. When you say maintainence needs, what do you mean? What do I need to do with it?

[tweekinnow]

25. Well...

Get a torque wrench(a good one) you will need it.The problems they have are mostly due to forced/crisis maintainence.
Keep your heads and rocker arms torqued correctly,pay attention to all of your torque values..Also (a BIGGIE) change your oil and adjust your valves every 2000 miles religiously!!!
The 3 rd.cylinder valve suck that was mentioned earlier is a symptom of overheating.This usually occurs from lack of oil or overheating from the valves not opening and closing correctly or both!I might add that # 3 cyl. failure is common in these air cooled pancake power plants.This tendency to fail can be diminished by installing Stellite or Sodium stemmed valves. The oil in a running V Dub is 300 to 330 degrees (air cooled,remember).Get an external oil cooler and install it, that alone will reduce your power plants temperature and increase your engine life by 20/30%.Also keep the engine and shrouding clean ,it needs to be clean to cool.
You will probably need to install forced heating fans for your heater boxes too.the stock heater/defroster is a real pain in the butt due to poor air delivery.
The other big ticket item is the pinion bearing in the transaxle.But if yours is bad you will know it immediately,I promise.Noise you can't believe and by the time the vehicle hits freeway speed you will want to get out and run.
Don't let any of this scare you,once you are familiar with the car and how easy it is to maintain I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed mine.I had quite a love affair going there for a while.

[BiggJawn]

29. AH-HAH! YOU'RE why I had to "put down" my Kombi...

Parts guy told me that there were no Typ-II trannys available because the sand rail guys snatched them all up and destroyed them playing on the dunes...

[sasquatch]

37. Get a bus tranny

that's what I use in my sand rail for climbing hills

[Must_B_Free]

23. Guess what I saw today!

A VW Beetle cut in half, the front half replace with the front half of a motorcycle. So it was like a three wheeled chopper/half Bug. It was unbelievable.

On Oahu alot of people like VW Beetles and they have monthly rallys.

[aquaman]

24. Bullshit, I don't believe you

Have you been drinking?

[buddhamama]

26. tis true in VW world

they're called Brothers of the Third Wheel.

[TheBigGuy]

27. 1960s versions....the Variant, Kharman Ghia, etc...

....I think in the 1050s there was sort of a custome convertible built too..VW engine & frame, but the body by some coachbuilder. It wasnt a Karman Ghia...something else.

I got real familiar w. the Beetle as my dad had one, a '65 or '66 I think. Had it till I wrecked it 1976.

The car was a realistic choice for urban transportation in Chicago, although we did take it to Arkansas once...my dad built a hommade luggage rack for the top out of 1x1s or 1x2s and metal angles and clamps...(i think he got the plans in something like popular mechanics or something).

[buddhamama]

28. to date

i've owned ten `70 or older VWs.

others have given you some great advice.
i'll reiterate one- every 2000 miles check and set your valves.
and buy a copy of the Idiot Book.

good luck and have fun!

[curse10]

30. Until recently I drove a 1974 VW Superbeetle

Best car ever!

My brother has one. We have another one for parts. We also have a 1953 bug that was turned into a baja. And we have a 67 bug.

My 74 used to have a rolls royce fiberglass kit until a loser from my highschool's football team ran into me in the student parking lot. Grrr. It was not replaceable.

[soup]

31. Not so much a fan as somewhat experienced

In one of our 'so broke we couldn't afford to pay attention' phases, my husband picked up a rode-hard, beat-up and very sad-looking old vw bug for $50.00.

We used a cookie sheet as the floorpan on the passenger side to cover the gaping hole from the original- long gone to rust.

The best that I can say about the one we had is it was light enough that I could push-start it myself and that we sold it a couple of months later for our full purchase price. They do hold their value. LOL

Hope everything passes with flying colors mechanically. From the sound of it, you're going to be much happier with your find than I was with ours.

[sam sarrha]

32. remember, the engine is an antique design from the 30's. if you drive it

like it is and antique it will last a lot longer. You should take it to a VW shop to check the supports under the doors they rot out, they are hollow units and heater ducts. they are the FRAME, they rot out... It has no oil filter. and if you don't have hydraulic lifters you MUST adjust the valves every 2000 miles, and keep a record of how much each was off. that way when one valve, often on #3, starts stretching you can replace it before it causes a rod to go through the block, i would put a flow through oil filter and an oil cooler on it. you can replace the internal cooling tower that blocks the cooling of #3. i would call the service people at AMSOIL.com, they have an oil system that runs about 40* cooler and the wear reduction can get you maybe a Million miles on an engine. with the dual bypass system you only change the the oil every 200,000 miles i got 8% better gas mileage and some more with the transmission oil, the bearing grease will will extend wear nearly indefinitely. the flash point of AMSOIL is about 980*. the flow thru regular filter is 12,500 oil/filter change or once a year. and you get extended engine wear also. a VW is not like a regular car, it will last if you treat it like an antique, get gauges oil pressure and oil temp, which is a dipstick, have fun

[patdem]

35. Passat old school??? Try a Karman Ghia...talk about old school!

I had two one was a convertable with a hard back window, then one beetle and one VW station wagon....Passat old school? I guess old gets younger as I get older!

[aquaman]

36. I wasn't referring to the Passat as old school

I was referring to the Beetle I am getting.

[patdem]

39. Okay...and I agree...If the machine checks out...by all means

VW's were the workhorses of the road...were and are even today....I wish I had my old Karman Ghia today.

Good luck on your purchase of a Classic and a Cultural Icon!

[rustydog]

38. My first car was a '62 beetle I bought it in '73.

I installed the 8-track player under the drivers seat and speakers in the rear window space and life only got better.

I still have a couple of photos of her in an album somewhere.