TheSamba.com :: View topic - Yesteray Once More...sorta!!! (Throwback to the 80s?!)

Sun May 11, 2008 4:10 pm

Well, it was bound to happen, and finally...after 20+ years, it DID happen! Everyhting comes back around, so they say, and I'm finding that to be truer and truer the older I get!

Back in my teens, I messed with quite a few Vee-Dubs and discovered just how much work it was to keep those simple creatures alive long enough to get to the end of the block without pushing them home. Needless to say, I was in pretty good shape back then, so walking all the time and pushing dead cars didn't bother me TOO terribly...but even so...after a while it all got old and I moved on to other automotive pursuits!

The Bugs of my past were mainly a host of Super Beetles, with one Manx type Dune Buggy built on a 54 chassis and a couple of 60s Standard Beetles thrown into the mix. The WORST one of the bunch was an awfull wreck of a Super Beetle with the front fenders and bumpers missing (rusted and fell off!), the sunroof stuck open, virtually no floor pans left in it at all, one seat held in with ROPE, and open PORTS! That's right...no exhaust at ALL...just open PORTS! Ha Ha...that one also had the Automatic Stick Shift and despite it's horrible condition, it would fire up and drive anywhere at anytime (and make one hell of a racket doing it, too!!). I junked it after several cops warned me that they'd be gunning for me if they ever saw it on the road again, and that uncermoniously ended my involvement with Bugs...until just recently!

Ha Ha...I'd LIKE to say that I've come a long way and that I know enough to start with a cream puff this time around...being 40 and all...but that just ain't the case at all! I'd always wanted a classic "Baja Bug" (the dune buggy was lotsa fun, but I think Bajas look cooler!), and I kinda run against the herd in thinking that the Super Beetles are the best of the breed! (But I dig the 71-72 Supers with the standard type dash. My gold wreck of a Bug was newer with the "pod type" dash and that was okay, but I like the "flat dash" better). So...I kinda poked around until I came across a sorry looking 71 Super Beetle that someone had tried half-heartedly to turn into a Baja project.

It's more rust than metal, the engine never has run for more than 60 seconds at a time, it's loud, it needs just about every type of mechanical and structural repair that it possibly COULD need, the last owner left a mess of the brakes and wiring and I think he welded the lugs on because they do NOT come off at ALL no matter WHAT...but hey...it's pretty light and easy to push in and out of the garage...so it's a start at least!

So far, it's got fiberglass Baja fenders, the rear sheetmetal cut away, a stinger pipe, off road tires on the rear (and DAMN...you should see how some fool widened the stock rims to fit them treads! Scary, Scary stuff for SURE! :shock: ) and I've added a fiberglass hood since the pics were snapped a week or so ago.

It'll never be a desert terror, for sure (Hell, I'll be stoked if it ever makes it around the BLOCK at this point!)...but it's just what I wanted (I'm a masochistic idiot at times...I know! :) )...a 71/72 Super Beetle with the Baja look I loved so much from the 70s and 80s!

So...I'm back to playing with noisey, rusty Bugs that keep me well excercised by walking and pushing! Ha Ha! Maybe in ANOTHER twenty-some years I'll be just a wee bit smarter...but Naaaaaah, what fun would THAT be?!

It's a project...I bought it for something to mess with, and so far it's putting up one man-sized fight, throwing ten more problems at me for every ONE that I manage to fix...but one fine day (when I'm old and grey!), we just may hit the streets and rile up the new neighbors...just like in the 80s, Man!!! 8)

Sun May 11, 2008 4:35 pm

I guess we don't get more wise as we get older... I did the same. But not it is a great running buggy. NOT for daily use. :lol:

Sun May 11, 2008 8:17 pm

What size tire is that? Do you know how wide the rim is?

Sun May 11, 2008 8:35 pm

cool story

sweet bug

Sun May 11, 2008 8:43 pm

Thechosen1 wrote: What size tire is that? Do you know how wide the rim is?

I'll look at the tire size tomorrow and let you know. I'm not sure how wide the rear rims are, but they've been widened in what looks to me to be a pretty sketchy fashion! They have stock 4 lug centers in them and stock outter rims with some kinda sewer pipe or whatever in the middle to widen them! Ha Ha...they probably weigh a hundred pounds each from the look of 'em!! :shock:

Sun May 11, 2008 8:49 pm

Welcome to Samba. You'll find this place a lot like the VW version of HAMB, a lot of good people helping each. There are a few of us HAMB'ers posting here.

I'd always wanted a Baja also. Bought a $300 car, had it running the next day, and have been driving / breaking / repairing it to the tune of around $1300 or so total now.

Good luck with the project.

Sun May 11, 2008 9:04 pm

my 53' chev pickem up and I found out about the HAMB through thesamba... and now I have two ways to piss off the womern when i'm not in the garage....

welcome... keep the pics coming....

Mon May 12, 2008 5:10 am

Ha Ha...so, there's HAMBers afoot in here, eh?! :shock:

That's cool...feel like I already KNOW some of ya that way!! :D

Anyhoo...here's a photo I dug up outta my distant past...circa 1986. This is me striking a pose next to my old Dune Buggy!

(In full Harrison Ford mode! Ha Ha!!)

The buggy was a lotta fun, even if it was really slow, had a 6volt system, had to be push started every time and got me wet when it rained! For an 18 year old kid, this thing was SWEET!!!

Ha Ha...the cops never bothered me in this one for some odd reason! Yet, they were on me like flies on poo everytime I drove my unmuffled, rusted out, beat-to-Hell gold Super Beetle...or what was LEFT of it!!

EVERYONE loves a dune buggy!!! :D 8)

Mon May 12, 2008 5:22 am

Might as well include a pic of my poor little current project from a frontward angle, too! This was about a week ago. Since then, I added a black fiberglass hood and removed some more weight from the front (stock gas tank, stock hood and hinges, spare tire, etc). It sits quite a bit higher up front now...plenty o' tire room!!

Just tryin' ta make it as light as possible...toss out anything it doesn't absolutely NEED! (And install lighter stuff that it DOES need!) Everything is fair game...even the stock air cleaner was too heavy for my tastes, so I ordered a small stack-type to go with the new carb!

I know some dudes frown on the use of Super Beetles as Baja material, but after the Hell I put my totally rotted old gold Super through back in the 80s, I'm pretty confident that this one will suit my needs. It ain't ever gonna be a high flyin' canyon bomber or anything...just a groovy little street cruiser that'll get a little "fun time" on trails, dirt roads and around traffic on Michigan's miserable "roadways"! Ha Ha!!

(That old gold Super Beetle had the Automatic Stick Shift...something I had heard about before but had never seen or experienced in person until I forked over twenty dollars for that awfull heap back in about 1985 or so! I came to LOVE that ASS trans! Lotsa fun to drive!)

This poor sad-sack has the conventional four speed tranny which is okay too...the clutch and trans seem to be about the only things that work right on this miserable cuss, so I'll cherrish them while they last! (Oh wait, the passenger's door works fairly well, too!!!)

:D 8)
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Mon May 12, 2008 10:27 am

Fat Hack wrote: Ha Ha...so, there's HAMBers afoot in here, eh?! :shock:

That's cool...feel like I already KNOW some of ya that way!! :D

Anyhoo...here's a photo I dug up outta my distant past...circa 1986. This is me striking a pose next to my old Dune Buggy!

(In full Harrison Ford mode! Ha Ha!!)

The buggy was a lotta fun, even if it was really slow, had a 6volt system, had to be push started every time and got me wet when it rained! For an 18 year old kid, this thing was SWEET!!!

Ha Ha...the cops never bothered me in this one for some odd reason! Yet, they were on me like flies on poo everytime I drove my unmuffled, rusted out, beat-to-Hell gold Super Beetle...or what was LEFT of it!!

EVERYONE loves a dune buggy!!! :D 8)

Uh, where's your shoes?

Yeah, several HAMB'ers. Some use the same ID here, some use a different one. I've used this one for 10 years now, kinda stuck on it.

Here's what's kept me away from the HAMB lately...

I just finished repairing the damage, err, upgrading from that trip out. All new front end parts with 3/8" cut and turned beam. Drove it to work today, the front end feels much tighter than ever.

Get that engine lined out, drive it until it breaks, then upgrade whatever failed. Repeat as required.

Mon May 12, 2008 10:59 am

Sweet Baja, Les! I always liked the "Narrow Eye" kits on them things!

Ha Ha...hopefully I'll have my heap up and running in a month or so!

(As far as shoes go...I always considered them optional...makes me an "urban hillbilly" I guess?! :D )

Mon May 12, 2008 3:29 pm

Fat Hack wrote: Sweet Baja, Les! I always liked the "Narrow Eye" kits on them things!

Ha Ha...hopefully I'll have my heap up and running in a month or so!

(As far as shoes go...I always considered them optional...makes me an "urban hillbilly" I guess?! :D )

I wasn't sure which style I wanted until I started looking at pictures on here. I got lucky and found the rear fiberglass and front bumper for $75, then bought the front fiberglass and a tow bar for $90.

The car was a $300 special from Craigslist that was advertised as a parts car, engine worn out, needs rebuilt. He had a good title, as he'd driven the car daily for 12 years with the 1776 engine. A minor tune-up and it purrs until I punch it, then it roars...

I'm trying to avoid the non-running project status with this car. The longest it's been down since I got it was a couple of weeks. I plan to do what I suggested to you, drive it until it breaks, then upgrade.

Not sure about the hillbilly, but if it works...

:lol:

Mon May 12, 2008 7:38 pm

Gotcha beat on the age thing, I'm 52 and just did the same thing. Even bought a Super that had been hacked into a baja. Just like yours, mine had been trashed by the PO. Sitting in the basement right now waiting for the newest round of parts on order. Maybe this time it'll run....

And if I can ever figure out how to upload pictures, I'll post some to give ya'll a good laugh! Good luck with yours!

Sat May 17, 2008 12:49 pm

notsofastEddie wrote: Gotcha beat on the age thing, I'm 52 and just did the same thing. Even bought a Super that had been hacked into a baja. Just like yours, mine had been trashed by the PO. Sitting in the basement right now waiting for the newest round of parts on order. Maybe this time it'll run....

And if I can ever figure out how to upload pictures, I'll post some to give ya'll a good laugh! Good luck with yours!

Ha Ha...I feel your pain as far as waiting on ordered parts goes! I got a package the other day which included my new fuel pump and a new carb that turned out to be damaged! I sent the junk carburetor back to Mid America, waiting on a refund!

Now I need to figure out where I can buy a GOOD carburetor! :(

Sat May 17, 2008 12:51 pm

Thechosen1 wrote: What size tire is that? Do you know how wide the rim is?

Sorry it took so long to report back...the rear tires are L60-15. Not sure how wide the rims are, some custom hack-job for sure! I like the tires, but those rims got ta GO!! :shock: :D

Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:36 am

any updates?