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New Family Member

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:22 pm
by Vdubtech
Well, I brought another car home to the stable, this time it's a '65 Beetle Convertible. I found it locally on CL, emailed the guy within 2 hours of the ad going up and he replied it had been sold. As well it should have considering the price.....I replied back and told him if the deal feel through to contact me and I would buy it. Few days go by, weekend comes and I get an email from him last Saturday....the buyer showed up and decided it was a bigger project than he wanted to get into and all 4 wheels were locked up from sitting and asked if he would pass it on to the next interested buyer. I emailed him right back and went out to take a look. Decent bug, it's been sitting in the same place under a tree in this guy's backyard since 1991. He drove it back there. Original owner....took it across the country, brought their kids home from the hospital in it in GA, kids drove it to school here in NY. It's been sitting on dirt for the better part of 20 years, through NY winters. I didn't know whether I would resell it, part it or keep it but I knew it was coming home with me.
The next day I loaded up the Bus with tools and jacks and jackstands and set about to get the wheels freed up and get it ready to be towed home. There were 6 wide 5 wheels and tires sitting on the seats inside the car that I hoped would hold air. I was able to pull the front drums and remove the shoes then reinstalled the bearings and drums and the front wheels were freed up pretty quickly. I pulled the cotter pins out of the rears and put my breaker bar on it. They spun. Not well, not well enough to try and push this thing out of its cocoon by myself......so I put it in gear and tried again. I figured the engine must be locked up by now. Well...it spun over. I ended up spraying ridiculous amounts of PB B'Laster into the rear drums and working them back and forth until I got them to move easily. Loaded up the 6 tires and aired them all up....they all held air. Brought out the jack and the B'Laster again and installed 4 wheels and tires on it and set in down on it's own wheels for the first time in almost 20 years.
Took me 4 hours total to get the wheels freed up, air up and install the tires and start to push it out of the backyard. I got the top to move a bit and pushed the Bug out into the soft grass.....through the back gate and out to the road. I had to make some "modifications" to the towbar the elderly couple swore to me had towed this Bug from GA to NY many years ago. It couldn't possibly have, unless it shrank over the years. I got it installed with two bolts and dropped it on the hitch of my Uncle's Trailblazer and followed it home in the Bus.
I spent a day cleaning it out, lots of leaves and debris, and one small animal skeleton. Not a mouse, an animal. I took it out from under the rear seat with a shovel. Vacuumed it out, washed the moss off of the body and polished the OG hubcaps and installed them. The more I clean this car, the more I think about driving it. It needs rear floor pan halves and brakes at a minimum, plus whatever it takes to get the engine up and running. Supposedly he drove it to where it sat, so I have no reason to believe that with a good tune-up, valve adjustment and a carb rebuild that it won't fire up and run. I put it on Ebay but at this point I really think I'm gonna keep it. It has a great story and it deserves to be driven again. I can fix the major problems and have it going down the road in a couple of weekends and then worry about the rest of the bodywork and rust repair over the winter. The top is a biggie. It's gonna need everything so for the time being I'll probable just get a decent looking boot for it and only drive it when it isn't raining. And now....some pics....

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Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:24 pm
by Vdubtech
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Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:26 pm
by Vdubtech
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Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:47 am
by Sylvester
You need your own TV show on the History channel. I think you have at least a couple of seasons so far! Nice find, I would love to restore a convertible.

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 12:44 pm
by vwlover77
Wow, you have got great karma on the VW finds! Awesome! :cheers:

(Your neighbors must be pooping their pants.... "OMG, Mabel, look what he's brought home NOW!!) :geek:

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:37 am
by hambone
Looks pretty solid. Are you going to keep it?

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:37 pm
by Vdubtech
Just to update....no, I didn't end up keeping it. I decided to keep it, I planned to keep it....I tried to end the auction on Ebay. There was less than 12 hours left and per Ebay rules, I couldn't end the auction. I emailed the winning bidder and told them if they wanted to back out I would be fine with it since I actually wanted to keep the car, but if they wanted to go through with the sale I would stand behind my end of the bargain and sell it. He said he did want it, so he drove up here from PA and picked it up. I was sad to see it go but I can't complain about a $700 profit for towing it home less than 10 miles and washing it. I've got my eye on another '65 Sedan that with any luck I'll be bringing home in the next couple of days....