The Boss-man's Beetle

[Volktales]

Sooo, here is something a bit different.  How often do you find a '60's "barn/garage/basement-find" nowadays?  Well my boss Jeff was tipped off to this '62 a short time ago...





This thing has been stuffed in a basement for a very long time, and was last insured in 2005.  The elderly owner decided it was time to let it go, and wanted it to go to a good home.  Jeff was undecided if he should go for it or not, until his wife said "You better buy it or your always going to regret it and talk about it forever!"  I wish my wife would say things like that to me...





The pouring rain has washed the majority of the thick dust off that covered the whole car.  This revealed the original colour of L469 Anthracite with matching grey interior.





Still powered by what appears to be the original 1200 cc ball of fire.  It does turn over OK.  Still a raging 6 volts of power too!





Interior needs some work, but is largely intact.  Other than that crappy radio, car seems pretty original.  Lots of scope for improvement though...

Jeff is not sure where he will go with this at the moment, but for now it will go into storage until his Type 3 Squareback project is done.  Given that his Thing actually belongs to his wife, and the Squareback is technically for his kid, then I guess this Beetle is HIS!  Now all he needs is a bus and a Ghia, then he is on his way in catching up to me...

[Volktales]

Apparently it did not take much to get it up and running.  Jeff cleaned out the carb, replaced the accelerator pump diaphragm, cleaned the points, and added fuel.  Even idled just fine too!  He will have to pull the engine due to a fat oil leak near the rear main area, and the brakes will need a lot of attention.  But this is pretty standard stuff for a "resurrection".  For now he will shift back into Squareback mode, and finish that project first before revisiting the Beetle...

[Brenticon]

Nice score Jeff!

[Volktales]

It's baaaaack!  Jeff now has his Beetle at the shop and is digging in!  So far he is dealing with the brakes (the usual shoes/cylinders/hoses etc.) and replacing all the tie rods that were completely shot.  The engine is on the way out to make room for something MUCH bigger...  A 12 volt conversion is on the way as well...  This is going to be a quick  project, as Jeff wants to cruise around in it this summer.  We are already laying bets on which component he is going to break first...

[Volktales]

So Jeff has been at it again and looked what happened.  The innocent little 40 horse has been unceremoniously yanked out and all the transmission mounts replaced.  The replacement engine should have been in there by now, but Jeff was thwarted by the dreaded wrong pressure plate issue.  He had the later style one without the ring, but needs the earlier style to fit the original trans.  Bummer.



 

But he moved on to patching up the floor.  He probably should have got the complete floor pan, but made do with patching with a repair panel.  It might not be pretty, but should be strong enough when he is done.





Interesting that his car has original cloth seats, just like my own '62 does.  His are a little tired too.





But look what is waiting to go in!  This ain't no puny 1835, but a full on 2230-ish displacement thumper.  I drove the previous Beetle this engine was once in, and DAMN it was fast!  How long before that differential goes bye-bye???

And this specific picture has reached a milestone.  The 6000th pic I have uploaded to IMGUR and the vast majority of which are on this site!  IMGUR and Proboards better never fail...