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Sat Jan 12, 2013 3:18 am

Well we finally found the car we have been looking for and it's a 1973 Super Beetle. It has a 1600 DP engine, all original glass, all original metal (except for the passenger side fender), pans are solid, heater channels are solid, motor does run (and yes I witnessed it). It has a body of resto started about 9 years ago and to this day it hasn't been finished. Here is a list of the good things about the car:

1. It's mine. (LOL)
2. No rot...just surface rust
3. All new electrical, professionally installed.
4. Good, straight body, pans, heater channels
5. Running engine
6. Brand new interior, never been installed.
7. Brand new brakes and master cylinder.
8. After market Monza exhaust.
9. Strut towers are SOLID...no rust, no rot.

Those are some of the good points...now on to the bad stuff:

1. Surface rust.
2. Rear apron needs replaced (I'll post pics to show why).
3. Fuel filter in engine compartment.
4. Needs new paint job.
5. Needs new rims.
6. Needs new tires.

Those are some of the bad points.

He originally was asking $3000 for the car but after some serious negotiations we talked him down to $1600. I am in the process of getting some help from friends to help me tow it to my house this weekend. It has the original title from 1973 and some pictures of when the body of resto was being performed.

I think we did very well for ourselves and hopefully all the expert Samba members agree. I do have a couple of pictures that I need to upload and I will get to doing that within the hour. They are crappy, nighttime pics so please excuse the crappy photography.

I am just pleased to death that I finally found a good, solid project that my son and I can start on.

Now we just need to come up with a name for her.

Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:23 am

Some pics:

Sat Jan 12, 2013 4:46 am

Looks like a good buy to me. good luck to you and your son,can't wait to watch your progress . My nephew and I are about to start restoration of a 73 super as well

B.

Sat Jan 12, 2013 6:58 am

OK, you now have your bug. Have fun!

Sat Jan 12, 2013 6:38 pm

Rented a U-Haul trailer and went to Massachusetts and returned the car back to home.

Now tomorrow we start tearing into it. :lol:

Sat Jan 12, 2013 7:15 pm

Retired_CPO wrote:
Here is a list of the good things about the car:

8. After market Monza exhaust.

You can move that to the bad things list :wink:
They are a terrible muffler.

Sound nice when they are new but fall apart quick, the weight of those huge tail pipes unsupported usually snaps them off with a few bottom outs and they flow worse than a stock muffler.

Aside from that excellent score.
Has it been stored outside?
I see a bit of death foam rust starting on the RHS

Sat Jan 12, 2013 8:51 pm

I have a bunch of 73/74/75 parts, let me know if there is something you need.

Do you have the interior, or is it all missing?

I had a Monza on my old 1972 and I always loved the way it sounded. I ran it several years and it did not fail. Sure there may be better exhaust out there but it is not going to explode or anything :)

Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:08 pm

Sorry for the lack of updates but I just got out of the hospital. I will start working on it tomorrow.

Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:01 pm

Here are some pictures of the rust that I have to deal with...other than this pictures, the car is straight.

Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:01 pm

For a New England car, I dont see any rust. That's some minor stuff.
Good Luck with the project!
I sent you a PM

Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:02 pm

I think that once you start poking around the rear quarter panels by the jack points, you will find you have rust through.

Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:43 pm

Retired_CPO wrote: Here are some pictures of the rust that I have to deal with...other than this pictures, the car is straight.

I think you will find more rust in the first pic here, here is mine

this is caused by the vent-or more precisely the foam in that area

as for the second pick it actually doesn't look that bad-but when you strip for paint you may find some issues

and lastly, take a good look at the rear luggage area-especially near where the heater Y is, looks a little rotted there and in the fender well corners

you did look at the framehead/napoleans hat area good right? I have a cousin selling his car because he didn't look at that area good enough-turns out it was rotted pretty bad

Fri Jan 25, 2013 3:39 pm

Yeah..once I get the car soda blasted, I am anticipating more rust issues than what appears but for being in New England this is considered a rust free car. I know it's not 100% rust free but out of all the cars I looked at...this one was in the best shape.

Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:51 am

Hey, I remember seeing this car on Craigslist, glad it got a good home. Yeah, for a New England car, that is pretty solid. My 72 is gunna wind up being mostly filler rod than original material. Hooray for another Connecticut super build, I'll be following this one. What part of CT are you from?

Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:12 am

We live in the small town of Sprague (Baltic).

Sat Jan 26, 2013 3:20 pm

I loves me some 73 Superbeetle. Be sure and keep us updated with any progress as you go.

Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:47 pm

Work is progressing slowly but it is progressing. In the last couple of days we have removed the the fenders and the trunk lid. Tomorrow we will tackle removing the engine cover, the windows and the trashed headliner.

She also got a name....from this point on she shall be known as Daisy.

Pictures will be posted of the progress tomorrow.

Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:26 pm

Glad to see you guys finally got the one you wanted, good luck getting her the way you want. I will definitely be checking out your progress!

Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:31 pm

Enjoy the journey it's well worth it in the end. NIce project there. I have the same year

Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:16 pm

I have a separated left shoulder at the moment so not much is getting done right now.

After I get healed, the work on the car will be moving along quickly. I gotta make up for lost time while I'm down.