I bought this Beetle on July 10th, 2003. I plan to make this my daily driver. These pics are from the ad I bought the bug from. Overall good body, some rust in places. No motor.
7/28/03 - Cleaned up, new window seals, new engine gaskets (engine awaiting installation) put in my single port that came in my Ghia, rusty spots chemically treated and painted over to keep it from getting worse until I can sandblast it.
8/14/03 - Got the car on the road. Converted to 12 volt (everything but the radio which is original). Installed a very nice set of seats from a freshly wrecked 67. Runs great.
8/18/03 - Treated and painted underneath the fenders and the entire underside of the car. Passenger side floorboard needs replacing from the front seat back, drivers side has some minimal rust but not bad. Painted the headlamp buckets and installed new headlamps. World of difference. Replaced the steering wheel with a much better one. New turn signal lenses and seals, big difference also.
8/23/03 - Already put 1100 miles on it, planning to put all new brakes on it tomorrow. Hopefully will break out the sandblaster weather and time permitting.
10/3/03 - Got new floorpan halves, fender welts, gravel guards (German), interior light, and decklid seal today. I'm already removing the old seals and cleaning up the body around where they went before installing the new goodies. Driving this car around (over 3300 miles now).
10/14/03 - I went to the Farmington VW show on Sunday. It wasn't as big as it used to be, but was still a good show. Good racing too. Maybe with more advertising next years two shows will be even better. I picked up front turn signal lens seals, rear turn signal lenses, sun visor clips, and a dash vent seal. Welded in the passenger side rear floor pan half (battery area). No more risk of loosing passengers. Having a new floorboard is a good thing.
10/21/03 - Replaced the shifter bushings under the shift arm and the coupler bushings under the little plate under the back seat (pain to replace). Shifts very nicely now.
11/10/03 - Replaced front outer wheel bearings and installed a bus master cylinder.
1/20/04 - Installed new shocks and carb. I just broke the 10,000 mile mark on this car since I bought it.
2/9/04 - Installed roller style gas pedal assembly from a 72. The old gas pedal broke off a couple weeks back. Used the brake and clutch pedals that came on it as the 72 assembly pedals are slightly different.
2/22/04 - The old single port engine I had in it finally gave up the ghost. Debating on doing a complete rebuild, finding another engine, or what.
5/3/04 - New pistons did the trick. Found several other nasties when disassembling the engine including what looked like the beginnings of a mouse nest in the fan shroud. Not sure if its been there all along or not. The heads didn't look too good, replaced them with a good used set. Seems to be running good again.
5/10/04 - Still running great after a week of driving it. Replaced the front hood seal today and replaced the front bumper with a nice original one. Getting close to time for new tires.
5/17/04 - 3 new pictures.
5/28/04 - Front end aligned, all new tires.
8/30/04 - Got a running dual port engine installed at A&B Imports. Also upgraded to an alternator. Runs great. This car is now mechanically sound and I would nearly trust driving it anywhere. Most everything left is cosmetic.
9/20/04 - Did alot of sanding and repairwork to the hood. At some point in the car's life it looks like it may have been hit with a tree limb (guessing the roof too) or something in two places in the hood. The dents were pretty small but when it hit the paint it had cracked into several rows if that makes sense. It allowed water to get to the metal to keep starting surface rust over time despite being treated when I first got the car. It'll probably require another good afternoons work to get it completely smooth, but for now its lots better.
10/02/04 - Broke clutch cable, had to repair in the rain. Sucked bad.
10/11/04 - Installed new door rubber. Discovered that the passenger side door had been replaced as it was a different color underneath the old weatherstrip.
12/10/04 - Replaced the drivers side outer door handle. It had an aftermarket handle which had been getting worse for the last few months. Got an original one, but it had couple little dings in it. It works great though not to mention its just a better built handle.
2/17/05 - I put my 20,000th mile on this bug today.
4/3/05 - Drove it to Farmington NC for the VW show. Bought and installed a new e-brake boot and a drivers side window crank. The ivory knob was starting to get very loose. Also bought a set of grommets that the door panel clips will go in. Gotta get new door panels first. I need to do the window felts and scrapers before that though.
4/12/05 - New fuel pump, alternator (bad bearing in old one), and points.
7/6/05 - New spare tire. I'm thankful I have not needed one yet. The one that was in it was one of the old skinny tires and would not hold air.
7/13/05 - Hit 30,000 miles since I bought it.
7/20/05 - Installed new oil switch. It was leaking oil and getting all over the engine and enginebay. Got new running boards. Probably going to wait until after the car is painted to install them.
9/22/05 - Brakes adjusted, got the dome light working properly, and had the outer tie rod end replaced. Also got a set of window scrapers with chrome
11/8/05 - Took the door panels off and lubricated the window tracks. They were starting to get very hard to roll up and down. Taking the pass side door panel off confirmed that that door has been replaced. The paint on the inside is a light green color. Hints of the cars original tan color had been painted over some of the bolts that are normally not painted.
11/17/05 - Hit 40,000 miles.
3/6/06 - Door window felt and scrapers installed on both sides all except the vent windows. They were in fair condition and I've heard brand new seals are not that great for the vent windows. Going to replace door panels as soon as I get some extra $$$.
3/28/06 - Got the new door panels, clips, and clip boots.
4/14/06 - Finished installing the door panels today. Replaced the plastic sheet and painted inside the doors to protect from rust. A little surface rust had started. Chemically treated before painting. I put the chrome strips on the new door panels from the old ones.
4/15/06 - Hit 50,000 miles.
4/20/06 - Broke the accelerator cable. Glad I always carry a spare!
6/9/06 - Engine gave out on me. Cam gear had been loose, finally gave. Knew it was coming, just hoped it wouldn't be this soon. Had been planning on getting a rebuilt engine. Now its mandatory.
7/7/06 - Picked up a completely rebuilt longblock (heads and all) from The Buggery in Monroe, NC for $700.
7/14/06 - Back on the road. Engine sounds good.
7/16/06 - 200 miles on the new engine and it cuts off. Towed it home. Distributor hold down was slightly bent and allowed the distributor to move up enough so the rotor wouldn't turn. Replaced the hold down.
8/20/06 - The drivers side seat frame (top part) had broken away on the left side a month or so back. Welded that back together and strengthened the weld on the other side which was beginning to crack.
9/16/06 - Bought a 1966 North Carolina tag at the autofair.
10/4/06 - Had 4th gear set and slide gear replaced at A&B Imports as it has been jumping out of 4th for several months and gotten progressively worse. Also replaced the axle boots, front transmission mount, and both hand brake cables. One of the hand brake cables broke last week.
11/7/06 - Hit 60,000 miles.
3/25/07 - Cleaned and undercoated the underside of the car. Figured it was good to do after winter.
6/1/07 - Hit 70,000 miles.
9/10/07 - Broke another accelerator cable. Bought another spare to replace it with.
12/15/07 - Drivers window came out of its track due to the new window scrapers pulling on it when I roll the window down. Bought a new seal for the window track. A friend recommended rubbing the inside door glass with baby powder to keep it from trying to pull out again.
1/12/08 - Hit 80,000 miles.
3/??/08 - New clutch and pressure plate.
7/7/08 - Broke the belt on the interstate. Pulled into a gas station at the next exit and replaced it. Bought another spare before returning home.
8/20/08 - New master cylinder (bus). Old one was leaking a little. Also replaced the H30/31 carburetor (aftermarket) with a correct one. Runs much better.
8/28/08 - Odometer rolled over back to 00000. That makes at least 200K. It was showing 12,424 when I bought it and judging by the condition and wear it had already been rolled over at least once. I guess a title history search and/or talking to all previous owners would tell for sure the correct mileage.
10/12/08 - Replaced rear bumper with a better one. Ran out of time, still need to adjust it better as the decklid barely scrapes it when I open it now.
