Kentucky 1968 barn find California bug

[Adam47374]

I use to be a complete VW nut about 20 years ago and even worked in a VW repair shop in the early 90's in Bosie Idaho, but with needing something that would drive down the road faster than 55mph I switched out to newer cars.

I have always wanted another air cooled VW, and now 20+ years later I finally got one.

I had been looking on and off for the past few years, but with living in Indiana the rust belt the search for something that wasn't a complete rust bucket was hard.

What I wanted was a pre 1968 bug, but I ended up finding a 1968 VW Bug that has been sitting for almost 20 years in a garage in Kentucky. Not exactly what I was looking for, but it was time for a sacrifice of adding a lot more money to the pot, or getting a Bug that was in less than disirable shape.

This was an original owner 1968 bug that still had the 1994 California plates on it. It had been stored in a nice dry garage for the past 20 years, and at most had only seen one snowy winter.

After getting a price worked out I planed on having a tow truck haul it back to my house. I had to first get the bug out of the current location, and onto the street so a tow truck could tow it back. After about an hour of fighting a locked up rear axel, I finally got it out to the street. One of the rear wheels freed up during dragging it to the street, so I figured I would drag it down the street with a tow bar and attempt to free the other stuck wheel. Four block later, stopping every 1/2 a block and beating on the lug nuts with a mini sludge hammer, the last wheel finally freed up. At this point I changed my mind about wasting $400 on having it towed home, and towed it to a tire shop that got me four new tire mounted for only $270, and towed it home.


Since then we have cleaned the old fuel out, blew out the gas lines, and put in fresh fuel. Had to replace the frozen starter, and it fired right up. About five minutes later it started dumping oil out of the rear main seal, so we pulled the motor. I planned on just replacing the rear main, and installing some fresh plugs, and popping it back it after a trip to the car wash to clean off any road dirt from the past 45 years. When I pulled the plugs, one of them was froze in the head, and after forcing it out I had to hilecoil the hole. We also found that it has about 1/4 inch crank walk. So time for a rebuild. After thinking about it over night I decided since there is only at best 3 months before snow flies, and it's going to get stripped down and completely redone or replaced, that I will just run it for 2000 more miles then rebuild or replace the motor at that point when I stip it down for fresh paint.

Ordered some 8 spoke Empi wheels, and a complete brake kit, and all rubber seals that keep oil/grease in the correct location, and hope to have it on the road in a week.

I would say the Bug is about 97% rust free. The floor under the battery is a bit soft, and there is small rust blistering in two wheel wells, but for the rust belt I can't complain too much. Someone repainted the bug it's current color a long time ago, it use to be the light blue.. When it was parked In The garage someone hit the deck lid, and pushed it into the front wall of the garage. They did have the decklid fixed and primed, but the front is still pushed in about 1/2 an inch on one side. I hope to take it to my buddy's body shop next week and put it on the frame rack and attempt to pull the front back out, so I can keep all of the original body panels, and not have to replace the front wheel well area.

I plan on the winter:
fenders, hoods, and doors dipped to remove all paint
Body will get media blasted
Repainted to black or ??
Replace all rubber that needs it (original door window rubber is still good)
Rebuild or replace the motor with a 1600 or better.


I plan on having the car Logo'ed by hand (no tacky vinyl stickers) for my store, and using it for a daily driver to work in good weather.

After first bath in 20 years. My 3year old girl decided to name it "daddy why do you keep calling it the bug? His name is Murphy" this will be the first car I have ever owned with a name, but I wasn't going to argue with her.

Had to pull most of the trim off, the clips had failed after sitting for 20 years, and I lost one piece after towing it the first 20 miles.

[noah2burchell]

It sounds like you have a great plan for this bug ( or should i say Murphy ). I am anxiously awaiting the finished product.
_________________
Wanted: Anything from Risacher Motors VW dealership in Morristown, Tennessee or Westgate VW in St. Louis Missouri.

Original flat window 1302 Super Beetle