The Cars

So far I have owned five Volkswagens, two beetles and three busses. I bought my first one in July of 1995, July 25 to be exact, my old 1974 VW Beetle. That was it for two years...then I started searching for an earlier model to restore. Enter the 1966 European-spec VW Beetle, a steal with a bit of a story behind it. Keep on drivin' for a while, and then the engine in the '74 is out for an unexpected rebuild due to crankshaft endplay. Now I am forced to drive a 1986 Chevrolet Spectrum (whee) until my driver is fixed. I drove the '66 until it got rainy and more of the muffler disintegrated, then parked it again in the garage. A drive to Florida to look at a 1971 Crew Cab VW Pickup proves unsuccessful, too much rust, the day I get back I pick up an Auto Trader and spot a 1970 Bus, which was purchased the next day. Haul engine parts around in the bus and drive it every day -- engine seems to lack power -- until I'm off to college in Cleveland, Ohio. The bus is parked outside next to the still engineless '74, with plans to complete the rebuild during winter break. Whoops, somehow managed to get the last parking permit even though I was a freshman and came in two days after they had begun to sell them, in the afternoon even. A trusted mechanic finishes the rebuild in the '74 and I pick up the car on fall break and drive it up. Winter break approaches, reading rec.autos.makers.vw.aircooled (RAMVA) finds a 1967 VW Bus, Kombi model, for sale in Marietta, Georgia. Go back for winter break, sell the '70 bus, put a deposit on the '67 two days before I drive back to Cleveland. Sold the '74 while in Cleveland for money to put towards the bus. Sold the '66 and bought a '62 Bus. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I came to own my cars.

1974 Beetle, Zero

I bought this car from a VW master mechanic who was the original owner back in mid 1995 as my first car. It had 200042 miles on it, and about 3000 miles on the rebuilt engine in it. Original tranny, body all original, all components (except the 70's tape deck) completely stock. The engine was in the original, untouched case, housing an original crankshaft, original VW rods, camshaft, and lifters among other internal components. When I tore down the engine for a rebuild about 11000 miles after I bought it (sometime in mid 1997) due to bad crankshaft endplay problems, I was amazed that all of the parts were still within spec, including the crank which has never been ground. All I did was align bore the case to repair damage caused by the excessive endplay, replace the main and cam bearings, slap new piston rings on for good measure, and put the bottom end together. A mechanic finished the rebuild (see into paragraph) and the engine runs like a dream come true. I learned the ropes on this car, trying to keep it alive as a reliable driver. It provided plenty of chances early on with fairly constant breakdowns during the first few weeks of steady driving as worn out components failed. I wanted badly to fix it up but could never get enough money to get the bodywork done, particularly since once you get started it's best to follow through to completion. I kept it on the road, well maintained and in as good of shape as I could get it with my limited resources, and it has been an extremely reliable car these past years. I once drove it from Cleveland, Ohio to Newnan, Georgia in twelve hours of driving at 70-75mph on the interstate (OK I admit I was in a bit of a hurry) with three fueling stops. The engine ran cool and did not burn any oil. That's 750 miles, 12 hours of high speed operation. Not bad, eh? I sold Zero in late January of 1999 for more money to put towards my bus Misato.

Character:

1966 Euro-spec Beetle, Untitled

This was my project car that I hoped to restore to its beautiful former glory. This car was purchased in Germany with European specifications, including KPH speedometer, amber and red tail-lights, dealer option locking steering wheel column (fitted to cabriolets), provision for European tags, and maybe some other stuff I haven't learned yet. It is the "deluxe" model (113) and so has all of the amenities, such as a complete headliner, that were fitted to US cars as well, probably why I overlooked it as a "rare" vehicle when I bought it. The story is a little odd how I managed to figure out the car was European. I bought the car for an even grand, and since the body was so solid and it had many(!) of the original parts with it, including the original spare tire, intact washer bottle, etc, completely stock down to the 1300cc engine with 6-volt generator, I thought I got a pretty good deal. There was surface rust in several places but NO rust holes save for a small pinhole where the battery sits. That was immediately cut out and replaced with good metal, and now the welding part was all done! I went through the detailed maintenance records and receipts that the PO had kept (yes, they were very complete: the car was driven daily until about 1989 when it was only driven occasionally) and discovered a yellowed receipt from a VW dealership that stated: "replace KPH pod with MPH, $...". It confused the heck out of me. To make a long story short, I eventually figured out it was a European car that had been changed over. I verified this by sending my VIN number to VW, and they responded with the production date, original color, and where it was delivered, along with some other miscellaneous information such as the original engine number. The car was completed on February 14, 1966 (imagine that, a real live "love bug", haha), it was originally Bahama Blue, and it was delivered somewhere in Germany. My '74 was reported delivered to the USA so I don't doubt the accuracy of the report, and the engine number even matched. So far I have just been hunting up parts and keeping the '66 out of the elements. I also managed to locate a NOS locking steering-column ignition switch to replace the broken one on the car, a straight front blade to replace the original (which is bent a bit, luckily the overriders are perfect), and some additional parts lying around, some perfect German fenders to replace two that were really rusty for some reason, etc. This car has been sold.

Character:

1970 Standard Bus, Dill Pickle

Not too much to say about this one since I only owned it for a little while, but it was my first bus. I bought this bus when the '74 was out of commission while I was rebuilding the engine, a trip to Florida to see about a '71 Crew Cab was a failure due to extreme rust, and the '66 was parked because it was far too loud and it was rainy. So I saw this bus for sale, I went and looked at it and it ran well enough although it burned a bit of oil at startup and the steering was way loose. So, I bought it and started driving it around after I did a good tune-up on the engine, which fixed much of the trouble that it was having. I used it to get to work and to ferry engine parts back and forth for Zero's rebuild. I secured a few parts for it, intending to fix it up, like a perfect front bumper that even had bumper guards on it, a middle seat which was missing, and some other minor things mostly related to trying to get the engine to run better. The thing went through oil pretty fast (burned it) and had no power, it must have been an extremely tired engine. It didn't overheat though. I sold the vehicle to a father and son who wanted it for a project of their own, and as part of the deal I found a good engine for them that a mechanic friend of mine, Mr. James Jones, installed for them. I got to keep the old motor and I will rebuild it this summer probably, so I can see just how tired it really was! That's the end of the '70 bus.

Character:

1967 Kombi, Misato

Go to Misato's page!

Here's my firsty splitty, Misato the Volkswagen Bus. I sold my '70 bus to pay to get this one and spent myself down to nothing even then. I was pretty broke when I bought it anyway, having only $500 to my name at the time in addition to the meager amount I was able to get out of the bus. I had seen pictures of the bus on the previous owner's web site, Dave Easterwood who runs the Georgia chapter of NEATO, a split window bus organization, and edits the NEATO newsletter that goes out to all of its members. In fact, the picture above is one that he took. I went to look at the bus when I was back for winter break and decided that I had to have it -- but I had no money. I thanked Mr. Easterwood for his time, explained that I was broke and would call if I got enough money. I was desperate to get this bus. The '70 bus sold about five days before I was to drive back to Cleveland with Zero, and I put a deposit on Misato two days before I left. Now it is mine. I have found that it might be difficult to get it looking any better due to a severe past collision, but it is my daily driver and I hope to fix it up someday.

Character:

1962 Standard, Twinkie

Go to Twinkie's page!

Here is my second split window bus which I have named Twinkie. I named it that because three different people have accused the bus of looking like a Twinkie underneath its tarp! So the name stuck. This bus is completely stripped right now, but I will eventually be in the process of building it from the ground up. It'll be quite a project, but through all the work I will get to know it inside and out. Check out Twink's page for more information on this gem ;-)

Character:

1967 Westy, Gus

Go to Gus's page!

The latest and greatest of my split window harem. This bus is a Westfalia camper with a pop-top. I quickly fell in love with this one, you might say it is my dream bus! I will be pulling parts off of my Kombi to help fix this bus up, mostly things like the ignition lock, wheels, some electrical items, and probably the engine and battery. I'm going to do my best to get the rust repair done ASAP, but the bus will probably be driving on the road before it is all completed. There doesn't seem to be too incredibly much rust on it. I really like this bus :-)

Return to main
astrogeek@dork.com
[Blue Ribbon Campaign icon]
Join the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign!

1