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Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:53 pm

I've wanted a Beetle ever since my Dad had one back when I was in elementary school. Not sire the exact year of his, but it was an auto stick.
After searching for years, then putting off buying one, I decided to buy a truck to build and show. That came and went. Fast forward to a little over a week ago (when my Wife was out of town :lol: ) I found and picked up a 1960.
I would have not normally picked up a non running, un-known condition as a starting point, but I wanted one, now! I'll be honest, I do not know anything much about the VW's other than I wanted a pre '65. The forum has been a wealth of knowledge and has kept me from posting questions that seemed to have been posted a few dozen times.

Here are some of the pictures. I have not touched it since it was towed to my house and stuffed in the garage. I'm trying to learn more about it before I take anything apart.

Fri Sep 19, 2014 8:03 pm

Everything looks to be there, minus one tail light. The seats are shot, along with the entire interior. I'm not a purist, but I don't want to go crazy modding anything either. First thing in order is to get it running. Need to have a key cut and buy a battery. I want to keep as many original parts as possible on the engine. A tune up, clean out the gas tank/lines. Then hopefully it will fire right up. After that, I want to go through the wiring, clean up grounds, new bulbs, make sure all the electrical is in working order. Mechanical....brakes, steering, etc.....

I think I will fix up the inside and leave the exterior as-is. Lower it. New window rubber and so on.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 12:18 am

Please dont lower it, there are hundreds of custom lowered bugs for sale at any given time, buy one of them instead of modifying, yet another one that has survived intact.

It looks like it's in great shape and complete with the origonal engine. I like your plan of going through it and getting/making it run and road worthy. Do that and drive it for awhile before you decide what you really want to do with it or keep it. You may decide to fully restore it, or pass it on to some one who will. You might decide that a heavily modified bigger engined bug is what you really want.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 5:19 am

Looks like a good project. Don't know how pure you want to stay with it, but if you want to keep the original motor, don't be so quick to fire it up. Lube it up, turn it by hand a few times, clean the gas tank and lines and take your time with it. Nothing kills a project more than fking it up before you've started the project.

My 60 was a find and I took it back to stock-took my time and it took about a year and a half but I sweat the details

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=982884

Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:36 am

Wishing you well with your work on the '60! It's the same color (L363 Arctic) as the Euro '60 sunroof I fixed up as a teenager in the mid '70's. My chassis# was 3092993; one of those numbers which stick with me all my life. I bought the car with many spare parts which all had different colors. Ended up painting mine saturn yellow which was the color of the '73 Super Beetle SportsBug special edition.

It looks like your engine has the correct 36hp fan shroud, it being the only year where the spark plug wires are held to the fan shroud using rubber clips/plugs. Looks like the right leg of the intake manifold's preheater pipe has separated from the main section of the manifold. If the rest of the engine is original to the car, it'd be a nice plan for you to keep it with the car rather than fitting a later, larger engine. Yeah it's slow, but in good shape it'll do 70mph all day.

Here's a shot from the gallery of a beautifully restored '60 with your color-

Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:18 am

I love your plans and second the vote to not lower it. I'm doing the same with my 63. They're only original once!

Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:25 am

^^^ Look at that restored origonal, absolutely beautiful/perfect.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 12:05 pm

I plan to keep the motor exactly as it looks in the picture. Of course a tune up would be in order. As far as painting, chrome, or converting it to 12v, not going to happen. It's staying 6v and original. The only way I am going to clean it up is if it has to be rebuilt, and still, it'll stay stock

Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:39 pm

Don't lower it there are enough ghetto bugs out there like that already.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:42 pm

Quote: As far as painting, chrome, or converting it to 12v, not going to happen. It's staying 6v and original. The only way I am going to clean it up is if it has to be rebuilt, and still, it'll stay stock
That'll work fine. You can always apply satin clear-coat to the body after you wash it, to preserve the surface patina. Are you able to bang out the dented front apron with hammer+dolly?

At least clean off the engine top and bottom so that you won't mind working on it in the future, and degrease the engine compartment tar insulation.

Please update occasionally with photos so we can see the originality and your progress.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:52 pm

The spare tire well will need to be repaired. The front apron may be able to be hammered out while repairing the well area.

Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:42 pm

Nice find.

I learned to drive in a 60 bug.

That model in Australia still had semaphores, but you guys in the USA got indicators a few years ahead of us.

Please don't lower it - as said above, the original cars are getting very rare and it will hold it's value MUCH better at stock height. And in any case, when you lower a swing axle bug, the rear wheel bearings run dry - they NEED a slight positive camber to keep a small pool of gearbox oil behind the bearings.

You might find the repair and maintenance articles on our site (below) useful, along with a good manual or two.