74 VW Beetle

m.mac

Hi all.
I am going tomorrow to view and hopefully buy a 1974 VW Beetle. I had lined up a mechanic friend to come along but due to work and other things he is busy.
So I am looking for advice on what to look out for when viewing the car. Rust and any other problems ect that Beetles might have. The man that is selling the car says that it has been stored for 15+years in locked up shed, that it was painted and then stored up and has no rust. From the pictures the car does look clean but he hasnt shown close ups of it.

Any help is appreciated.

Daved_XB

Hi, I was going to help my other half buy a Bug a while ago so I went to Youtube & found a good set of clips from someone who runs a business restoring Bugs & seemed to know what he was on about..

I'm not going to put them all up but if you watch one & look for other clips from the same guy you'll find them all

Hope this helps

Kenny Logins

I'd consider asking somebody that knows beetles to come with you, there are a lot of ****ters out there.

Where is the car? Try asking on www.eircooled.com, somebody might know it, or may be able to go with you.

m.mac

Daved_XB - Cheers really helpful links.

Kenny Logins - Yea there sure is. The car is up above Newry and Im travelling from Monaghan.

Also does anyone know if Beetles were ever made without vents on the boot lid.
Here is a pic of the back of the car. I am trying to pin down the exact model and the back of the car is confusing me.

trevorbrady

oh jesus!! steer clear unless you REALLY WANT a Wizard Roadster. It's a far cry from a standard beetle and if it's your first foray into beetle ownership I'd recommend you stick to a standard model.

Do a little homework and you'll find that that car started life as a standard beetle then it had its roof lopped off, a fibreglass rear deck bonded on and an ill-fitting decklid bodged on too. I'd put money on the roof leaking and engine bay access is only made worse by the small decklid. I'd also predict the bonded-on rear deck will start to crack as you get miles up on the clock. I just wouldn't look twice at it, TBH...

Take a look on eircooled.com, there's a lovely blue '74 for sale in Cork at a fair price. The distance from Monaghan is worth travelling to get a nice car. It'll be money well spent when you DON'T have to overhaul the car again in 6 months time.

see here:

http://www.eircooled.com/deforum/showthread.php?10770-74-Late-looker-beetle



There are probably a few more for sale too, it's just the blue '74 comes to mind.

Kenny Logins

Cheers Trev.

(Justin here)

m.mac

Thanks guys for the all the sound advice. Totally agree with you Trevor and I would want an original not a custom chop job. And again thanks for all the help.

Capri

That was a close call :eek: No amount of 'Wizardry' would fix that :D

The blue one looks nice - amazing that some can be tastefully done while others ...... :rolleyes:

m.mac

Yea was indeed Capri, but thats what it is all about:D..Nothing wasted thanks to Justin and Trevor.
They do look amazing when they are properly done.