TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:12 am

Anyone who owns a bug has heard the old "I had one exactly like this. I bought it brand new in 1974", when referring to your early model. To nonVW people, all bugs look the same. Last time someone told me they had a bug just like mine they would give me, I jumped on it immediately just to discover it was a rotted out '74 super. I'm sure I'm not the only one who this had happened to. Well about a week ago one of my dad's friends was over and was talking to me while I was fiddling around with my car and she told me her dad has one in the garage that's been sitting for twenty years and of course, it looks exactly like mine. I call the guy and he tells me he's not sure what year it is, but the motor is seized and it needs floorpans. Long story short, I go to check out the car, expecting another '74 super with rotten floors and channels, and to my surprise, a decent looking OG Smoke Grey '63 is sitting in the garage. The motor spins freely and the floors and heater channels look great. Why he told me otherwise is beyond me. $400 bucks later, it was mine.

But here's the important part. Pictures..

It swiped something on the passenger side at one point so both fenders are a little crushed in. The only real rot I've found so far is around the edges of the fenders. The body seems super solid.

More to come.

Sat Sep 25, 2010 10:49 am

Everyone's favorite thing to do when they get a new old car, find all the hidden treasures. Under the hood I found the two missing hubcaps, two late model caps, the original jack and tool kit (which is thrashed, unfortunately), and a spare belt. No spare, though. It also came with a fitted beetle car cover which is pretty rad.

In the glove compartment I found a homemade butterfly suncatcher thing made out of broken glass and solder (gave it to my girlfriend, she thinks it's great), some fuses, a sweet little tape measurer, a james taylor cassette, an original tube of VW touchup paint, and what VW wouldn't be complete without a Jerry Garcia Band button and a Grateful Dead mixtape?

Close-up of the VW paint

This was in the car. I wonder what it could be..?

A brand new cheapo bumper! No thanks, I'll take my pitted original. This will be sold for some project cash.

Cheapo tank, also in the car and getting sold.

Couple non-cameraphone exterior pics.

Decent interior. No door card warpage.

Great headliner, no tears.

Only flaw in the interior is right here where the seam separated. Nothing a leather needle and some fishing line won't fix.

I'll post better pictures when I'm done cleaning out all of the mold and mouse shit.

Sat Sep 25, 2010 1:21 pm

Cleared all the rat's nests out and cleaned/disinfected the interior. It doesn't look much different than the first pictures I posted but trust me, there was a lot of mold. I'm psyched by how complete this car is. Every knob and button is here.

I've cleaned many a barn find with these. The abrasive side is great because it's not too rough.

Under the hood was literally packed with mouse house. I've never had a bug that actually had this under the hood.

The tank could use a little lovin', no need for the cheapo repro.

...and the holy grail, an unmolested wiring harness.

What do you guys do for frozen seat tracks? I've used Deep Creep and the like before and they've always worked but this one's a bitch.
I also managed to snap off one of the hood hinges while WD40ing everything.

[/img]

Sat Sep 25, 2010 7:58 pm

Nice score, that car looks great.

Interior looks super nice original to me.

Sun Sep 26, 2010 6:27 am

Nice find. Looks very, very complete and original.
Gives me hope in finding decent old VW's in CT :)

Sun Sep 26, 2010 2:59 pm

From experience, they're all hidden away in the farmy areas. I found this one in Kent.

Minor update. I checked out the motor today and there's water/fuel in the oil so I'm going to get a new fuel pump. The distributor, wires, and all the tune up parts look brand new but the points were completely closed. My guess is someone threw it together and didn't really know what they were doing and couldn't start it. It never looks like it's been fired. It also has some sweet "MOFO CO" valve covers. Anyone ever heard of them?

I need a decklid hinge too if anyone has one laying around they'd like to donate.

Sun Sep 26, 2010 4:57 pm

As in MOFOCO? One word or two?
If one word, Roy posts here all the time. Well known shop with a good rep. Never seen any MOFOCO logo'd valve covers though. :-k

Oh yeah....let me look, I believe I have a spare hinge. Let me look tomorrow. If I do, I'll send it to you or you can pick it up if your close.

Sun Sep 26, 2010 5:24 pm

Man thats a great find.

Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:22 pm

Mayhem, that'd be awesome if you have a spare. Where are you located?
But yeah, the valve covers are chrome and labeled "MOFOCO". I'll snap a picture tomorrow. I searched "mofoco" on here and came up with a bunch of threads about how they make shit engines. :lol: Fantastic.

Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:02 am

zombie wrote: Mayhem, that'd be awesome if you have a spare. Where are you located?
But yeah, the valve covers are chrome and labeled "MOFOCO". I'll snap a picture tomorrow. I searched "mofoco" on here and came up with a bunch of threads about how they make shit engines. :lol: Fantastic.

I live in Groton.
I think Mofoco had a bad time years ago, but they are supposed to be much improved. Roy seems to be a stand up guy.

Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:36 pm

No work on it today, it's pouring out.

Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:27 am

Drained/showered in the varnishy old oil today, still waiting for a nice day to really get into the motor.

mofoco valve covers, one of which has definitely seen better days.

Wed Sep 29, 2010 1:18 pm

Well, I really should get started on the motor but I was really eager to see what the floors looked like so I ripped up all the carpet and tar boards.
Lots of surface rust but overall they're super solid. There's still paint on a lot of it.

Even the battery tray was solid..

...for the most part. This is the only spot that'll actually need a patch and maybe the soft spot opposite to this on the driver side.

Next was the package tray. The rear window seal leaks so I was shocked to find this. This isn't going to be the build thread I was expecting if things keep going this smoothly.

I'm wondering what I should do about this. Both sides are like this but the channels themselves are solid. Any suggestions?

Very usable original floor mat. It has a few rips towards the front but it'll do.

The car has one shoulder harness for the driver. I'm guessing this wasn't a factory option in '63 so I'm wondering what these holes were originally for and if it's a good docking point for the belts?

Wed Sep 29, 2010 2:07 pm

zombie wrote: The car has one shoulder harness for the driver. I'm guessing this wasn't a factory option in '63 so I'm wondering what these holes were originally for and if it's a good docking point for the belts?

Looks like an original belt and attachment to me. In '63 I think they still only had shoulder belt attachments, none for the lap belts. That's the correct place for the belt to go. Of course you're not going to want to just use shoulder belts since shoulder belts alone are almost as bad as no belts at all.

Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:44 pm

Thanks for the info.

Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:36 am

Nice find!! I had a '63 with the same nice og interior, still regret the day I sold it!

Fri Oct 01, 2010 7:34 pm

awesome find! congrats!

Thu Oct 07, 2010 4:15 pm

Work on this has been slow because my daily has been giving me problem after problem, go figure.

A lot of the oil drained out when I removed the valve covers but I dropped the sump today and that's where all the fun stuff was. I literally had to pick out the sludge with my fingers. I flushed the motor out and it didn't take long for it to run out clean so it might not be too bad. I'm going to put new oil in it and replace the points and see if it starts. The carb looks like it's been rebuilt and all the tune up parts are new so I figure it's worth a try.

Motor pic for fun. Check the sweet red tin.

I also stitched the seat up. Good as new.

Thu Oct 07, 2010 6:36 pm

My 67' bug had that similar heat channel rust. I just trimmed out the bad stuff and then bought some empi door sill pieces and used the lip on that to tuck the carpet. Worked really well, unfortunately, i don't have a picture.

Thu Oct 07, 2010 10:28 pm

Thanks for the idea, Dubbin. I had actually thought of that but I know those are notorious for causing rot. But I plan on POR15ing the channels and floors anyway so I'm not too worried about it.