Gonna buy a 1960's Bug, any precautions?

[Coldfusion]

Yeah my question is pretty much stated in the title lol

I should say that I'm looking for a 1965-ish Beetle for around $4000, with what I'm hoping to be around 100,000 miles on the clock. Is there anything I should be wary of? If the car I get has high mileage, would an engine rebuild be necessary and cost much? Oh and rust will be an issue so I might need some advice for that as well.

My plans for the car will be to keep the exterior of the car looking mostly stock, but I want to improve things like grip, suspension tune, power and braking equipment. Queensland Raceway and Warwick are only a short trip away, so next year I might drive over and have a go when VWMA drag racing happens again. When I get off of my P-plates, I am hoping to fit a Rotrex supercharger for that extra kick.

Thanks for any advice and stuff, it all helps :)

(BTW not many threads in this section, nobody else has a Bug around here??)

[team_v]

Yeah my question is pretty much stated in the title lol

I should say that I'm looking for a 1965-ish Beetle for around $4000, with what I'm hoping to be around 100,000 miles on the clock. Is there anything I should be wary of? If the car I get has high mileage, would an engine rebuild be necessary and cost much? Oh and rust will be an issue so I might need some advice for that as well.

My plans for the car will be to keep the exterior of the car looking mostly stock, but I want to improve things like grip, suspension tune, power and braking equipment. Queensland Raceway and Warwick are only a short trip away, so next year I might drive over and have a go when VWMA drag racing happens again. When I get off of my P-plates, I am hoping to fit a Rotrex supercharger for that extra kick.

Thanks for any advice and stuff, it all helps :)

(BTW not many threads in this section, nobody else has a Bug around here??)

There are a few bug owners in Brisbane area.
The VW Drivers Club of Qld has a lot of them as members.

4k is a bit pricey though i would think.

Ask STIDUB on the forums about them as he is doing one up.

[Coldfusion]

Awesome mate, yeah $5000 is the absolute limit for me. A lot of cars have popped up for sale for as little as $1500 but pretty much all of those needed resto work in some way. So cheaper is better of course, but hey the last thing I want to have in my posession is a rustbucket that absorbs money lol Okay thanks I'll ask this other guy sometime :)

[Jarred]

dont.

Not the answered you wanted? Try an aircooled forum instead. :) Not many beetles round these parts.

[Coldfusion]

Haha I was thinking, like this is the most popular car ever made and it isn't on a VW forum?? Anyway never mind it's all good, there's plenty of time to learn stuff until I actually buy the car ;)

[team_v]

As this forums is mainly for the watercooled varieties the older aircooled ones aren't as prevelant.


You would have much more interest if you were to buy a mk1 or 2 golf and try to work on that.
Plus they cost about the same but are a lot newer and there is much help on these forums.

[Coldfusion]

And it's now that I read the title of this forum :facepalm:

Yeah I know what you mean, because I saw an MK2 Golf GTI for sale for my asking price and it's incredibly tempting! I don't know I'd love any sort of VW but the Beetle is more appealing because of it's RR layout, but I'll see what comes up in the near future because I don't have to buy straight away.

[XXX-1.8T]

Do it!

I bought mine in 2001 for $800 went well but then 4 years later 1300 dies so i fitted a 2.1 Porsche/Kombi motor. Over the years the rust started to get bad so got it all fixed along with resprayed so all up cost me $5K over 10 years.

Great car and you cant beat the feeling of driving an aircooled VW apart from an old Porsche ;)

---------- Post added at 07:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:24 PM ----------

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/forums/f35/shazza-my-1966-sea-blue-deluxe-beetle-37990.html

[wai]

There are a couple of things you need to look into.

The first is the base of the A pillars. If the bug had a leaking windscreen rubber, then water would run down the A pillar as the sills and A pillar were used to bring warm air to demist the windscreen. As a result, the base of the A pillars can rust out, and you don't know this has happened until you thoroughly check out the base.

The other is that the battery is stored under the rear seat, and it has been known to short out when the sear sprints bridge the battery terminals.

[blutopless2]

we bought our 74 bug years ago for about $2K.
Best advice i have is look around and take your time. Dont just rush out coz your keen and buy the first one you see. It took us about 6 months of looking. Happened to buy the first one that we went to inspect coz it ticked so many of the boxes that we needed it for.
If your going to fix up the suspension, engine, gearbox, brakes then the condition of these is not as important as the body.
We took a similar approach as we wanted to fully rebuild the car. So for us it was important that it was not butchered and modified too much.
Check for rust under the battery as well as the cover for the battery for the reason stated above.^^^^
Check that the fuel lines are in good condition as they can cause engine fires.
Also remember that pre 68 was still 6V system.
hth

[brad]

I had a 1972 bug in the mid'80s & it was one of the most fun cars I ever owned.
I like the '70s models because:
*Twin port head
*swing axle was gone
*12v electrics

I think the main problem I had was rust around the back window/c-pillar

[BlackSuperb]

Floor pans tend to rust out. But they are easily cutout and replaced. Rust at the bottom rear edge of the doors is a problem too.

[Coldfusion]

Awesome guys, thanks for the advice! Now it's just all about waiting for something to come up in the classifieds :)

[greasykitchen]

Go to the Aussie Veedubbers forum. Plenty of helpful people and advice there. $4 k may not be enough for a decent old bug as they're old. As pointed out, rust is probably the biggest issue, more so than mileage or mechanical condition. Rust repairs can be expensive and/or tricky; mechanical repairs less so.

EDIT: here's the URL: http://www.aussieveedubbers.com/Site/Welcome.html