TheSamba.com :: View topic - When you bought your bug, how far did you drive it home?

Wed Oct 06, 2010 12:45 pm

bought my 66' T-1 half finished project in denver on a whim about 5 months ago paint was done and fresh 1600dp but needed full interior and chrome, I was supposed to fly back but instead I drove it all the way back to San Diego 24hrs non stop, except when the tail lamps failed and one headlamp when out, car was a trooper :D , finally getting around to finishing it now, almost done, interesting thing about the car that it may be a 66 standard with a rag, has rag that was not grafted in, dont know for sure yet

Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:42 am

Bought mine in Gilroy *garlic capitol" and drove it to San Jose, 25 miles.

Fri Oct 08, 2010 6:13 pm

In an enclosed truck....hahaha

Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:34 pm

1958 type 1 drove it from Clarksville Indiana to Clarksburg WV. About 336 Miles. No problems.

Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:47 pm

San Jose to Corona, about 400 miles. Hadn't driven the car in almost 20 years, no seat padding and the back was being held up by all the junk in the back seat. Not much brakes, dry rotted tires.

Made it home though in one shot. Hell of a good little car.

Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:42 pm

I purchase a 62 ragtop beetle in Monterey California and drove it to Cottonwood California to start restoring it. So about 300 miles and I did not have a single problem with it, I was very pleased with the engine.

Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:17 pm

Bought a 66 beetle in South San Francisco for my daughter, headed 150 miles home to Rescue. Generator puked in Dixon in the dark. Hotel stay ensued. Daughter wasn't impressed, but learned how to push start!

Has been stone reliable for ten thousand since.

Fri Sep 09, 2011 10:04 pm

i drove my '62 from santa Fe springs to toluca lake, about 62 miles....

only to find out the next day that i had a major fuel leak :shock:

next beetle i buy will be towed home

Wed Oct 05, 2011 10:24 am

Approximately 2800 miles were put on my 1964 Beetle before I arrived home. Not much was done besides tires and a tune-up. About 250 miles from home my points crapped out on me again but were beyond filing. One cool dude helped me out, his daughter has a 67 and he gave me a 009 dizzy to get back on the road. Thanks Paul in Gothenburg.

So ya, it was a long rough and surprising cold ride for being early April. Heck, it took nearly 3 days to get from Idaho to northern Arizona due to inclement weather. Good times.

ps- my wrist has recovered from the small case of carpal-tunnel incurred from all the solo push starts.

pss- my trip was from southern ID to Southern AZ and back to Omaha Nebraska. WOOT!

Wed Oct 05, 2011 10:59 am

Okeeej here we go.

Ragtop bug 63: 350Km
Ragtop bug 59: 340Km
Spare parts 65: Transported
Hardtop bug 60: 21Km

Just cant stop loving them :P

Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:25 pm

The shipping company brought me mine.... glad they did too... It broke down at mile 2 of the 3 mile trip home. CA to MI would have been a nightmare!

Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:39 pm

PO drove it to my house so technically zero miles.

Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:06 pm

Here's one for you. After agreement to buy it, the couple couldn't or wouldn't pick me up when we went to the bank to pay it off. I walked about 4 miles that day, in the dead of summer. Damn, it was hot.

Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:15 pm

Bought my first VW just last Thursday, a 1967 Beetle and drove it a whopping 1 mile to my house...Spent saturday giving it a tune-up and adjusted the valves, and this week taking short trips into town and back, and fixing the little things that crop up with a car this old...Thinking about driving it the 18 miles to work tomorrow...

Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:11 pm

I found my 62 about a 1/4 mile from my house in San Diego, I rolled it home. It was sitting under a tree without a sunroof cover for a couple years. I changed the oil, plugs, and battery and drove it for the next 3 years. (after I cleaned the leaves and spiders out)

Wed Oct 05, 2011 7:39 pm

I picked my car up about 35 miles outside of Tucson. out the "Redneck" town of Picture Rocks two years ago.

Wed Oct 05, 2011 9:39 pm

1000k from Sydney to Melbourne starting at 1am in the middle of winter! Managed to keep a small portal through the windscreen ice to see where I was heading. Lost feeling in my toes for 3 hours. Ran like a dream. But I did buy it off my mate who had looked after it for 10 years

Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:15 pm

My first beetle (a '64) was towed home behind my dad's 1971 Ford LTD about three blocks. It was 1980 and I was 15. Bought it off a neighbor that was a couple of years older than me. He had gotten frustrated with it and decided to turn it into a Baja, but only got as far as taking the fenders off and ripping out the headliner. The engine would not crank, not that it would have mattered since it was like a Flinstone's car ..... the driver's side floorpan and the floorpan under the battery were completely rusted out - it had a leaky sunroof. I paid $40 for it! Got a summer job and earned some cash and bought lots of parts from J. C. Whitney. When the UPS guy would show up it was like Christmas. Had a hell of a fun time fixing it up. I did get it back into as close to a stock configuration as a 15 year old's earning power would allow. Patched the floorpans with some sheet aluminum Dad had laying around and a pop rivet gun - definitely not how I would do it now. Did all the body work myself and took it to Earl Scheib's and got a $69.95 paint job. Didn't turn out too terrible actually. I got the car into decent running shape about 4 months before I turned 16 and could get a driver's license. That of course did not prevent me from taking it around the block for a test drive when the parents weren't home.

I wish I still had that car.

Sat Oct 08, 2011 12:51 pm

Bought my '62 rag in Arroyo Grande,Ca. in 1991,drove it the 22 miles to my house-it ran great(apx15k on a fresh rebuild),but I noticed a little whine in the diff-told myself if it got any worse,I'd get a new transaxle.
That was 20 years ago,and 75k miles later,I'm still waiting for it to get worse.
It's the 13th and best VW I've owned.

Although the '67 Bus I've had since 1981 ain't too bad either....

Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:29 pm

When I bought mine I met the guy half way then an hour into the drive the clutch cable broke and I had to get a tow to a hotel, then my wife drove home in the 2nd car to to our place to meet the mother inlaw amd get my truck, then the wife came back and left my daughter and ma-inlaw at our place, rented a trailer from uhaul and towed it home 500 miles. It was also on a holiday weekend and no one was open, I tried bribes, posting all over forums and everything. Everyone in the world was too busy that weekend and I couldn't find any help or a $10 cable that cost me about $500 after gas, uhaul and hotel haha. It was a terrible weekend but I was soo excited that I didn't even care. More than anything I was bummed because I really wanted to drive the car and knew a $10 part was the only thing in the way haha. Needless to say I have a spare at all times under the rear seat along with a belt, plugs and ignition :P