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A sister site of Chris's WDW, with tons of Disney World Midi music to listen to! Indexed by park, land, and attraction. Always growing!
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The Love Bug
As some of you might know, I recently became the owner of a 1962 Volkswagen Beetle! Now in the process of being restored, it will eventually become a replica of Herbie the Love Bug! Pictures of the restoration will be posted and updated regularly. I might even take the new puppy for a ride in it pretty soon! The name of my bug is Oliver, named after a small kitten we had that recently died. :-( I like to think he has come back in the form of a car. :-) We had a heck of a time dragging it across the southeast, I'll tell you about that later!! Be sure to stay tuned as this exciting project gets underway! Same Bug time, Same Bug....Oh, you know the rest....
11/10/99
The rear rear of the car, showing an older style decklid, before the Volkswagen signature and full-length license plate light came along.
Here is a slightly modified dash of a '62 bug. Notice the metal switch below the radio faceplate, it turns on the wipers. We will fix it back to where the knob on the right above the plate will do this, as it was originally intended. The other knob turns on the headlights. The inner metal ring of the steering wheel (used to honk the horn) has snapped off, but will be replaced. The horn doesn't work anyway, so it hasn't been a big deal so far...
This picture shows the hole in the floorboard where Oliver's previous owners drilled through to install the wires for a radio, which we removed. The original gearshift knob, a small white disc, was on the shifter when we bought it. We found the custom VW gearshift knob shown here hidden in the glovebox; the people we bought it from had not put it on because the radio got in it's way when shifting.
Here is the right fender up in front. It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but in real life it looks cracked from an improperly repaired dent. This, along with the other three fenders, will be replaced.
This is my shockingly realistic portrayal of what would happen to Oliver should a flood hit our city. No, sadly, he will not float like his brothers or sisters, because he has no floor. That's right, it just rusted out in the back. We are considering either replacing the floor or getting back seat passengers to propel the car while screaming, "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!"3/24/2šoš
So, you put lights on the tree, the house, the hedges, why not the car? Especially if it's a Bug (It just wouldn't look the same on a minivan, ya know?). Here is Oliver in his first stage of decoration, before the windows and greenery had lights. Looks pretty snazzy, huh?
Over 400 lights were used to make Oliver shine, and it took some real ingenuity to figure out how to get all the strands on. The lights go around the entire base of the car, then travel up the chrome strip on the hood to outline the windshield. From there, they encircle the roof and border all 5 windows & the deck lid in back. Arriving back at the front, they snake around the windshield wreath and stretch halfway back down the chrome hood strip to hold the bough in place.
How did I get the strands to stay? Well, I just used scotch tape. (A collective gasp is heard from car enthusiasts everywhere...) Relax! Before you report me for car abuse, just know that he's getting a new paint job anyway, and I promise, he didn't feel a thing... think of it as a band-aid. The beetle could actually be driven in this state. I know this because it was turned around in the driveway while the lights were still on, but I wasn't willing to test this theory on the streets. (Besides, the lights had to be plugged in to work.) Oliver looks a little like a float from Main Street Electrical Parade, doesn't he? Hey, cars can have dreams too....For over 20 years, the only home Oliver knew was Dothan, Alabama, a small city 75 miles north of Panama City, FL. In fact, this bug parked in the same lot as my mother's when she attended Dothan High. Well, fast forward to 1999, when I decide that I want a bug of my own. I had been turning the idea of making it a "Herbie" around in my head, and when my grandmother told us that this VW (which just happened to be white) was for sale, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. My family and I spent a few days in Dothan checking the car out, then my dad went out to rent a U-Haul car dolly and returned to load the car on.
Realizing that the drive wheels shouldn't be on the ground, he put car on backwards, with the front wheels touching the road. He then securely tied down the steering wheel, to keep the car from roaming around. After dealing with some battery trouble from the minivan we drove, we all set off for South Carolina, towing Oliver behind. Oliver, however, would have none of this, and he shook frantically, like a dog trying to get loose of its leash. The problem stopped after slowing down a bit, but after being nearly thrown off the road into a ditch, it was decided that something needed to be done. We pulled off into a service station, and turned the car around on the dolly, this time with the drive wheels touching the road. Everything went smoothly until reaching Columbus, Georgia. Stopping to fill up, my mom noticed a yellow fluid all over the wheel and showed it to my dad, who recognized it as leaking brake fluid. We were not even sure we could make it to a hotel due to the threat of the VW's back wheels locking up, and my parents suggested leaving the car there, and returning to get it in the morning. I, however, was not a big fan of this arrangement for fear that thare would be no car left to pick back up in the morning. Taking a chance, we left for a hotel in the city, and luckily, the wheels did not lock up. In the morning, my brother, dad, and I pushed the car off the dolly and we went to the U-Haul station to exchange the dolly for a trailer. Unfortunately, the only trailer left was a huge one that the van was not rated to pull. Once again, we took our chances and left for the hotel. We then found that the car wouldn't start up to get on the trailer, and my brother and I had to push the car across the parking lot while my dad rode in it trying to crank it up. Stubborn as he was, Oliver was not going to go down holding his head in shame. He backfired and spit flames out at my legs before he puttered to life, and was finally driven onto the too-big trailer. The rest of the trip home went off without a hitch, which was lucky because everyone had already missed a day of work or school, and I think my mom was ready to ditch the car on the side of the interstate. She even nicknamed it "Schlepka" (S.L.E.P.C.) for "Stupid Little Evil Possessed Car", which is odd because we are not Jewish... Now, whether or not Oliver is I don't know. I guess he could be; I never really asked him. I'm too scared he'll try to barbeque me again.