I bought mine for $1000, spent $1000 on redoing the seats, about $1000 on Misc other items. And hours and hours and hours and hours of work. But I didn’t pay a mechanic until I had it running and on the road. Now I have him look it over and set the valves at every oil change and still do sometimes a few and sometimes several hours of work on it monthly.

But, it’s so much FUN!!!!!

I’m and old and sort of elderly VW fan, I’ve had a Campmobile, a Bus, a Vanagon and 3 different beetles when I was young and fun loving. Now I’ve found a 74 Super and restoring it is both a labor of love and frustration. We drove it home and it ran great but needed a lot of TLC. We cut out and replaced the front lover pan gasket, replaced the front steering dampener and box, stripped out the interior restored the seats and replaced the carpeting, freed up all the cables, repaired the heat channels, removed all the chrome strips, sanded and repaired body rust and sanded and sanded. Then painted it in the original “safety” yellow, it’s Bright. Bead blasted the wheels and painted them bright red and put it back on the road. That’s when the fun started. We’ve cleaned and religned the fuel tank, replaced the fuel line front to back. Rebuilt and then replaced the fuel pump. Changed the fuel filter 6 or 8 or a dozen times. Rebuilt and cleaned the carburetor, oh, a lot I’m even getting pretty proficient. Discovered after it ate 3 sets of points it had a 6 v coil on a 12 v system, had 3/4 in reach plugs on domed pistons, really got lucky there nothing broke. And on and on we go – it’s giving me grief now, missing and stalling; checked and reset the points. Checked spark plugs on 1 and 3, (the easy ones) they looked good. I’m about to start another round of tune-up and maintenance.
But, it’s so much FUN!!!!

I bought an exceptionally cheap 1973 German version of the VW Beetle 1300 in April 2008. Just like any would-be car owner I had to check out on its condition. I test-drove it and though the engine appeared to be running smoothly on both idle and cruising speed, the body was in a very sorry state with numerous dents and dings ( both large and small ) all over, one can visibly see through the holes and cracks on the floorpans the broken lines painted on the highway, the generator was not totally functioning and I had to rely on a fully-charged battery to keep going, the steering wheel had clearance plays rendering proper handling impossible, the sparkplug cables had cracks on them and the sparkplug themselves, as well as all the tires were of different types and makes. it was good the weather was cooperative because the wipers were not functioning either. But despite all of these, and since I love the challenge of bringing a near-dying car back to life, I eventually bought it just the same.

Now the next task of negotiating more or less 100 kilometers of both smooth and rough roads to bring the Beetle home. At first, I drove it at around ( I said around because the speedometer was not functioning, either ) 40 KMS. //hour and after, say 40 KMS., had decided to increase the acceleration to around 60 KMS./hour; and as I gradually gained confidence in this small machine, accelerated to higher speed. At last I reached home and got some flaks from people for having settled with this old thing. But a Beetle enthusiast would just take any criticism with a grain of salt. Eventually, after having tried four impostor Beetle mechanics, I finally finally hired somebody who really knew his craft ( up to date the same mechanic maintains my “baby” ). Now it is colored Metallic Tivoli Blue and is now a far-cry from the one I purchased in April 2008. I had to rebuild the engine and had to change unserviceable parts and equipped the car with a header exhaust system and it runs like Beethoven’s masterpiece.

Non-Beetle owners wouldn’t understand what we are in to because it takes only a Beetle owner to speak the same language as another one does. …DANNY MADAYAG -the Philippines

I’m interested in vw beetle bug but can’t decide cause hav never ownednor been exposed to them before. can someone assist me now!

Thank you.

For cold weather also check the fast idle cam travel limit pin. What? On the left side of the carburetor is a little floppy thing, almost triangle shaped with a curved side and a side that has little teeth on it. There is a slot in this cam, and there should be a little roll pin through the slot and into the body of the carburetor. This keeps the fast idle cam from spinning around too far when the choke engages on cold mornings. That pin often falls out. You can go to a machine tool supply house and buy a replacement pin that is very slightly larger than the hole the other one fell out of. Just ask for a “roll pin”, but of course there are thousands of sizes. Parts places will know what a roll pin is.

I would like to use it year round and would need to either reconnect or ad a gas-heater. Is the thing ok in the winters? i live in the Southcoast of New England (Providence-cape Cod area) or would I have to winter it? Any help wouldbe greatly appreciate it

As the pressure is lower, the cooling effect of the ambient air will be less. You may want to look into it.

Like I said, I’m not an expert just an engineering student. I don’t own a bug or anything aircooled.