Bought a bug

jthw8 · July 14, 2010, 10:06:15 PM

Went to look at a 69 Bug for dad tonite. Maybe you all saw the rather non descript craigslist ad. "69 Bug $500 good floors" no photos

wow...way to undersell a car. Floors were repaired but excellent. Drivers side heater channel was replaced, passenger side was repaired but solid. No major rust or rot, paint faded but ok. Nice interior. 4 good tires, engine in good condition, dead battery so havent started it but hell $500 for a solid bug that *should* run with new gas and a battery...SOLD.

I figured if Dad doesnt think its right for him Im still ahead and I'll keep it for myself.

Gonna tow it home friday and get to work, Dad has no DD right now so I need to get this thing on the road quick.

Only potential issue, it was parked because it stopped running right, was bogging down under throttle. Going to clean the carb and look for vaccum leaks, everything looked very good so I dont expect to find any major issue on getting it running well.

Dad is thrilled, Im happy to pay him back for all the times he helped me find and fix cars while growing up.

jthw8 · July 14, 2010, 10:08:05 PM

BTW...seller has a little early 70s 'vert for sale too. Body looks nice but it needs floors and rear cargo area repair. Interior was nice, engine looked clean and nice but they admitted to some electrical issues. Asking $2500, I'd probably pick it up if I had more money.

Its listed on CL also but if you are interested and cant find the ad PM me and I'll send you the contact info.

6T5 square · July 15, 2010, 05:38:29 AM

pics or it didnt happen.

jthw8 · July 15, 2010, 07:48:09 AM

It happened :)

scarecrow · July 15, 2010, 08:05:48 AM

WOW, nice score.

jthw8 · July 15, 2010, 08:10:04 AM

Quote from: scarecrow on July 15, 2010, 08:05:48 AM
WOW, nice score.

Yeah after all the junk we've gone to see in the past 2 months priced at $1500 and up I didnt have much hope for a $500 car but I was just hoping that we could use the rest of his budget to fix it up. Turned out to be in better shape than most of the $1500 cars we saw.

6T5 square · July 15, 2010, 10:51:44 AM

Daily driver? yeah, I'd roll it.

looks in real good shape

jthw8 · July 15, 2010, 10:58:29 AM

Quote from: 6T5 square on July 15, 2010, 10:51:44 AM
Daily driver? yeah, I'd roll it.

looks in real good shape

Yep its gonna be his DD and he works in DC so it meets his requirement exactly, functionally sound and solid but too ugly for anyone to want to mess with it.

Baha (Shawn) · July 15, 2010, 11:14:48 AM

Quote from: jthw8 on July 15, 2010, 10:58:29 AM
Yep its gonna be his DD and he works in DC so it meets his requirement exactly, functionally sound and solid but too ugly for anyone to want to mess with it.

He must know Senator Burr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpL9e7Bf98c

VWPANZER1 · July 15, 2010, 12:31:38 PM

Wow, Great Buy!

Even if you have to replace the engine, your still ahead.

jthw8 · July 16, 2010, 09:07:25 PM

Well I drug it home tonite. Drained the gas and put in fresh, popped in a fresh battery and crossed my fingers. Naaah, can't be that easy. Fuel line leak at the car (replaced line temporarily, need to get proper metric line) and no spark. John Muir to the rescue, followed all the steps and everything said the coil was bad. Lucky for pops I have stupid amounts of VW spares here and had a brand new bosch blue sitting on the shelf. Swapped the coils, crossed my fingers and turned the key....purrs like a kitten :)

Sooo, what the heck, we got runs, how about drives and stops? Pop her in reverse and say a little prayer to the VW gods and she moves, throttle stuck full open...dammit. Some WD40 on the pedal pivot and all is right with the world again. Out the driveway and on to the street. Runs and drives better than any VW I've ever owned. In fact other than my 79 Westfalia which I bought fully restored Im willing to say this is the nicest VW I've ever purchased. Good thing I love my pops.

Still needs some going through, 3 out of 4 parking lights dont work and the reverse lights are out, but Im willing to bet there's alot of corroded grounds that need my attention. Brakes work good, a bit sticky so I'll pull all the drums and clean and lube everything. Going to replace all the fuel lines and soft brake lines as a precaution but over all I think we'll be into it for under $1000 for a nice fully functional daily driver.

Going to make a post over in wanted but if anyone has an AM/FM that fits in the stock location without cutting we'd sure be interested.

Bob(Herbie) · July 17, 2010, 09:07:07 AM

Hey Great buy! About the brakes. In the late '60s& early '70s the wheel cylinder pistons were known for causing sticky brakes. If the cylinders aren't leaking, check to see if the pistons have corrosion build-up. If so, clean them up on a wire wheel or with sand paper/emery cloth. This makes a big difference. Also if you are old enough to remember, all VWs used to have a grease fitting on the pedal cluster. I wonder why they deleted it! PB blaster works wonders for sticking pedals. Good luck with the car.
Cheers,
Bob "Herbie"

jthw8 · July 17, 2010, 10:37:13 AM

Thanks for the advice Bob. Dad is on his way up tomorrow because he wants to "get his hands dirty" and learn how to maintain the bug so I plan on pulling all the wheels then to show him the brakes and go through them and do all those things. I dont expect he'll do his own brake jobs but I want him to know how to adjust them and be able to see everything and how it should look.

I had a great experience with a sticking slave cylinder back in 07 when we took a bug on BABE rally, I'll have to post the details up later.

Gave her a quick bath and polish this morning, not too bad.

jthw8 · July 17, 2010, 01:30:50 PM

And the electrons are my friends today. All the lights work now. Combination of corroded fuse socket, some broken contacts and a bad bulb or 2. Replaced all the bulbs for good measure and cleaned/repaired the contacts and she's lit up like a christmas tree.

scarecrow · July 17, 2010, 02:09:42 PM

Chit, that came up real nice