VW Beetle ragtop resources

[hemi68charger]

Hey gang..  Ok, don't disown me... My wife likes these....
I was wondering if there are any resources for value/resto if 60/70's vintage VW beetles.. There's a convertible VW Beetle, about a '68/'69, that's for sale three houses down.. It's a complete car with new top, interior, fairly good paint and a running/driving car.. Think he'll take somewhere between $2-2.5K

Looks like this and similiar condition...

Troy

[Troy]

A convertible in Texas for under $3k? I haven't found anything close to that nice around here for that price. Yeah, I like them too but I already have too many cars. As for info, I just use Google. I haven't found a great resource for them when I've looked. The guy I bought one of my 68s from was big into Beetle convertibles but he was in PA so local ones were mostly all junk.

Troy

[hemi68charger]

Thanks Troy... I found a local VW club of Houston.. Did some searching myself on google, but only had one hit other than the typical ebay ads...... Maybe I can get some info there........  I went and looked at the car again about an hour ago... There are some blisters in the paint on the hood, but due to bad prep I think... The top and seat covers are new. The carpet's in great shape as well as the body... The motor supposedly  runs great, but the battery was dead.. I'm going over tomorrow to help him change it out..... We'll see then on what I offer.. He's a nice guy.. Have alot of Air Force stuff in common.. We talked Strategic Air Command (SAC) stuff for over an hour.. lol

Thanks for looking Troy...

Troy

[mikepmcs]

YOU BETTER BUY THAT VW!!! Wow, that's a pricey little auto, not my favorite but they get some coin.  2-2.5 is a steal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[69chargeryeehaa]

that's a good deal, look carefully at the heater channels and under the back seat where the battery is for rust, if there's no holes buy it.

Here's my stable:



parts are dirt cheap: www.cip1.com

[mikepmcs]

Thanks Troy... I found a local VW club of Houston.. Did some searching myself on google, but only had one hit other than the typical ebay ads...... Maybe I can get some info there........  I went and looked at the car again about an hour ago... There are some blisters in the paint on the hood, but due to bad prep I think... The top and seat covers are new. The carpet's in great shape as well as the body... The motor supposedly  runs great, but the battery was dead.. I'm going over tomorrow to help him change it out..... We'll see then on what I offer.. He's a nice guy.. Have alot of Air Force stuff in common.. We talked Strategic Air Command (SAC) stuff for over an hour.. lol

Thanks for looking Troy...

Troy

Were you guys stationed at offutt?

[tan top]

also check to see if it is a genuine convertible & not a hard top with the roof chopped off .   i have heard it is quite common for the beetle guys to do this .

[69chargeryeehaa]

also check to see if it is a genuine convertible & not a hard top with the roof chopped off .   i have heard it is quite common for the beetle guys to do this .

it's very easy to spot a car with the roof cut off, verts have unique doors, vent windows, rear cowls, windshield/pilar. 

[hemi68charger]

Thanks Troy... I found a local VW club of Houston.. Did some searching myself on google, but only had one hit other than the typical ebay ads...... Maybe I can get some info there........  I went and looked at the car again about an hour ago... There are some blisters in the paint on the hood, but due to bad prep I think... The top and seat covers are new. The carpet's in great shape as well as the body... The motor supposedly  runs great, but the battery was dead.. I'm going over tomorrow to help him change it out..... We'll see then on what I offer.. He's a nice guy.. Have alot of Air Force stuff in common.. We talked Strategic Air Command (SAC) stuff for over an hour.. lol

Thanks for looking Troy...

Troy

Were you guys stationed at offutt?

He was at Bergstrom AFB in Austin a LONG time ago, '53.. He was an SP.. I was stationed at Carswell AFB from '87 to '91......

[hemi68charger]

that's a good deal, look carefully at the heater channels and under the back seat where the battery is for rust, if there's no holes buy it.

Here's my stable:



parts are dirt cheap: www.cip1.com

What are the heater channels? I'm a donce when it comes to VW....

[69chargeryeehaa]

basically the VW's are air cooled, the heat for the interior comes off of heat exchangers in the exhaust, and then goes down the lower sides of the car into the cabin.  The heater channels are basically the lower door sil, when you open the door.  You can see them from under the car, just under and behind the running boards.  They're not too bad for rust, alot better than mopars!!!!  Plus the body just bolts on and is not a uni-body.  some 15 or so bolts and get 4 of your buddies and you can lift the body off of the chassis.  Have you ever had a VW?  They are a blast, i dont' know what it is about them but they are so much fun to drive, plus they get about 40mpg stock!!!< as opposed to my charger 440 that got 1mpg!!!!   

Verts are alot more work just because of the top, i personally prefer the sedans, but the verts are also very cool.  Also one more thing to check, if you can help it don't buy a super beetle, you'd prefer a standard beetle with torsion bars in the front as opposed to the super which has a strut front end.  The standard suspension (torsion bars in the front) have alot of aftermarket parts available, and they're ALOT eaiser to lower, and improve handling to "go-cart" on rails handling.

here's another pic of my bug (74 standard beetle):

[mikepmcs]

 
I've always wanted one.  they are priced too far out of reach for me now cause i'd rather have Mopar Muscle. But man wouldn't i like to have one

v/r
Mike

[Lostsheep_01]

Hey, nice Type 1!! JC Whitney has a lot of V-Dub stuff.

[Charger_Fan]

As an x-parts-dude, I've had to sell parts for those...as a direct result, I have nothing nice to say about VW's.

A guy I worked with dubbed them Hitler's revenge.

[69chargeryeehaa]

As an x-parts-dude, I've had to sell parts for those...as a direct result, I have nothing nice to say about VW's.

A guy I worked with dubbed them Hitler's revenge.

I'm really supprised you'd make such a statment.  Obviously you don't know how to fix them or much about them.  If you wanna talk realibility, my 69 charger is a POS compared to my bug.  I restored that bug in the pic in 1999, and have driven it almost daily in the summer and have about 40000mi on it since the resto which was'nt even major, it has never let me down.  My charger on the other hand needs something fixed every week.

[mikepmcs]

ok here we go!

if you don't like your charger anymore, i'll be happy to keep it and fix something every week on it for you.  those 2 vehicles are apples and oranges and cannot be compared to each other in any respect whatsoever, reliability or otherwise.  Let's all breathe and have a cold one on me.

You have a very nice VW collection though, i think i said that yesterday.

v/r
Mike

[69chargeryeehaa]

ok here we go!

if you don't like your charger anymore, i'll be happy to keep it and fix something every week on it for you.  those 2 vehicles are apples and oranges and cannot be compared to each other in any respect whatsoever, reliability or otherwise.  Let's all breathe and have a cold one on me.

You have a very nice VW collection though, i think i said that yesterday.

v/r
Mike

i think you missunderstood me, i LOVE chargers, BUT that guys previous statment is just wrong.  But i understand this is not the place to talk vw's, did i mention i have a mustang too?

[mikepmcs]

ohh crap, now i'm really done with you.  just kidding.

didn't you post pics of the stang up here somewhere a while back.

v/r
Mike

[69chargeryeehaa]

maybe i did in someones post asking a mustang related question.   

[mikepmcs]

found it!

Hemi, sorry for the hijack,  buy the beetle already?

v/r
Mike

[six-tee-nine]

I also have one standing here......

original 1964 1st color no rust what so ever.....

[69chargeryeehaa]

I also have one standing here......

original 1964 1st color no rust what so ever.....

very nice

[sad72]

Looks good great price buy it. I had a 71 for 8 years paid 500 for it, had a good paint job decent interior blown motor.I replaced motor did a little more fixin up and sold it for 2800 so I can buy my dart that was 8 years ago.