TheSamba.com :: View topic - Fire gutted '73 found in Kansas City, MO!

Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:42 am

To the Samba crew and it's members: I get a real pain in my stomach when I see a once-beautiful car that has been forgotten in a field or is rotting away in someone's garage. I guess I should be glad that so many aircooled VW's were sold over the years because I will need to find lots of replacement parts (especially the interior), so please remember my car and what it looked like. I've already removed the body and will replace the floor-boards in a few months.

Daniel
Kentfield, CA

Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:46 am

That really sucks what happened?

Airhead

Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:14 pm

Oh man, that sucks. Sorry for your loss!

Did the firefighters try to "pop the hood" to get to the "engine bay" in the front? :?

Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:08 pm

A fire is the worst thing on any car especially a VW, but it didn't belong to me then. I had been searching for a project car and found it on Craigslist. The current owner didn't know much about it, only that the owner at the time of the fire didn't have any insurance, so it was a total loss.

When I started to pull things apart, I found the following:

Battery had been moved to the spare tire holding area. No rust in the engine compartment where the battery is supposed to go, so not sure why this was done

A roll-bar was installed at some point, because it was bolted through the floor boards

The seats were from a late model VW (not aircooled)

The car has four-wheel disk brakes, it's lowered in front abit and SIMPSON racing seat belts were still in place

After reading some FAQ's on this site, I find that the VIN number is for a LEFT HAND COUPE!!!!! I've seen some real bad coupe to vert. conversions, but I was shocked because it looks like it's always been a vert. I guess if you have enough money a good body man can make a conversion look original.

And yes, it would appear that the firemen thought the engine was in front, or maybe there was fire coming from the trunk area.

None of this really matters now, because it will be beautiful when it's done.

I'm thinking of either a dark dark blue or red with a black canvas top.

I will post pictures as the project evolves.

Daniel

Thu Sep 04, 2008 1:31 pm

73kgc wrote:

After reading some FAQ's on this site, I find that the VIN number is for a LEFT HAND COUPE!!!!! I've seen some real bad coupe to vert. conversions, but I was shocked because it looks like it's always been a vert. I guess if you have enough money a good body man can make a conversion look original.

Is it possible that you have the pan/tunnel from a coupe and the body of a vert? There's no guarantee that someone didn't do a "pan-off body swap" instead of a "pan-off restoration" right? I guess there's not much of a way to know...the front inspection plates can always be pulled off and re-riveted...

Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:19 pm

If your VIN starts with 143 .... it means that it was build between aug 1972 and aug 1973

If doesn't mean you have a 143 model!!!

Patrick

Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:26 pm

Did I hear the call for a
red with a black canvas top.

Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:35 pm

HPW...beautiful car. Is this a VW red color? As it would have been painted when new?

hpw wrote: Did I hear the call for a
red with a black canvas top.

Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:22 am

thanks, not the original color, was white and it believe it is a vw color.

If your interested I'll get the info.

Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:28 am

the battery relocation was probably for better weight distribution. Between that and the rear disc brakes it sounds like the previous owner was trying to make a nice handling, maybe autoX, ghia.