Hi all, it has been a while since I posted here daily. Back in the days I had a Golf II and after that a Jetta, which I modded just a bit. After that life caught up; getting married, buying a house, getting 3 kids, rebuilding said house, selling that house, buying another house and currently in the process of rebuilding that one too. Daily drivers during this period were not being modded at all, being a '96 Nissan Primera, '96 Golf Station and currently a '06 Toyota Avensis station and a '06 Fiat Panda 100HP. The last one is a hoot to drive and sensible at the same time. 
But anyway, at a young age my parents had VHSs of Herbie and that got me into the VW Beetles, always dreamed of owning one. But the before mentioned life gave me the idea I could not find any time for a hobby car, so never considered owning one. Until last fall, when my wives bookkeeper mentioned his granddad had a Beetle of some sorts in a shed in the garden which was not being driven for a few years and with the old mans health declining he was considering selling it. The bookkeeper has a Prius and was not interested himself, his dad mostly works on old Yamaha's and did not have any time for a car project either. Both the old man and the dad were not into it for the profit and not wanting to advertise it online to get all sorts of people coming over they simply asked if I wanted it. So, in the fall I went over to take a look, have a short drive on some back roads (car is suspended for road-use) and a cup of tea. I have only recently moved house, so no place at the time to store it, but I liked what I saw and agreed to let them know if I wanted the car. In the mean time it was semi-dry stored in a lean-on kinda shed and they were not going to advertise it online.
My wife actually brought the car to my attention and she implied that I needed some fun distractions from our 3 kids, all the home-improvement, my 9-to-5 job and no real social-life to speak off...
With SWMBO on board I told the guys I wanted the car, but with a garage full of moving boxes and a driveway full of building debris and a small trailer I asked if I could keep it at their place for the winter. No problem at all and I plan to pick it up end of the month.
Some pics of the car when I went for a drive, back in September.
The Beetle is a 1983 Mexico-build 1200 with ATS classics in mint condition with near new tires. It had a light rebuild at some point and was painted blue over white, while it was originally beige. The painting was done with a brush it seems and is not great, the chrome trim was put on badly and has more cracked pins than complete ones. Some bondo, slight rust on the rear valance and a few cracks in the paint all around are visible too. Rear brakes and lines are shot and this is also the MOT failure that kept the car off the road since last year. But structurally there seems to be no big rust issues and the engine is running smoothly when the battery was replaced.
Paid 2500 euro for it, which seems to be a good price. Online there are some Beetles in this price-range, but they are either rust-buckets or non-runners. This one is neither of those.
Plans are simple for starters; do the brakes and get an MOT. Then I can at least drive it, because my 3 kids are already asking when we are going for a ride.
After that I want to get the nose down a bit and take on the bodywork while keeping it running. After that, who knows...
But anyway, at a young age my parents had VHSs of Herbie and that got me into the VW Beetles, always dreamed of owning one. But the before mentioned life gave me the idea I could not find any time for a hobby car, so never considered owning one. Until last fall, when my wives bookkeeper mentioned his granddad had a Beetle of some sorts in a shed in the garden which was not being driven for a few years and with the old mans health declining he was considering selling it. The bookkeeper has a Prius and was not interested himself, his dad mostly works on old Yamaha's and did not have any time for a car project either. Both the old man and the dad were not into it for the profit and not wanting to advertise it online to get all sorts of people coming over they simply asked if I wanted it. So, in the fall I went over to take a look, have a short drive on some back roads (car is suspended for road-use) and a cup of tea. I have only recently moved house, so no place at the time to store it, but I liked what I saw and agreed to let them know if I wanted the car. In the mean time it was semi-dry stored in a lean-on kinda shed and they were not going to advertise it online.
My wife actually brought the car to my attention and she implied that I needed some fun distractions from our 3 kids, all the home-improvement, my 9-to-5 job and no real social-life to speak off...
With SWMBO on board I told the guys I wanted the car, but with a garage full of moving boxes and a driveway full of building debris and a small trailer I asked if I could keep it at their place for the winter. No problem at all and I plan to pick it up end of the month. Some pics of the car when I went for a drive, back in September.
The Beetle is a 1983 Mexico-build 1200 with ATS classics in mint condition with near new tires. It had a light rebuild at some point and was painted blue over white, while it was originally beige. The painting was done with a brush it seems and is not great, the chrome trim was put on badly and has more cracked pins than complete ones. Some bondo, slight rust on the rear valance and a few cracks in the paint all around are visible too. Rear brakes and lines are shot and this is also the MOT failure that kept the car off the road since last year. But structurally there seems to be no big rust issues and the engine is running smoothly when the battery was replaced.
Paid 2500 euro for it, which seems to be a good price. Online there are some Beetles in this price-range, but they are either rust-buckets or non-runners. This one is neither of those.
Plans are simple for starters; do the brakes and get an MOT. Then I can at least drive it, because my 3 kids are already asking when we are going for a ride.
After that I want to get the nose down a bit and take on the bodywork while keeping it running. After that, who knows...
