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Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:43 pm

Wednesday night...That would be the 19th of November, 2014, my wife and I were talking Volkswagens...yeah, yeah, yeah; a rare occurence in my house but it happens sometimes. So out of the blue she says, "You should buy a '64 Beetle!" Now we own a 1970 Sedan and I just picked up a 1958 DeLuxe Sedan November 4th, to restore. Well, I looked in the classifieds and found a bunch of '64's, like 75 of them. When all of a sudden I saw it; 1964 "Barnfind"....oh yeah and it was local to me. The pictures looked nice but like most classified pics they aren't hi-res so I sent the guy an email. Then another :D Then I called him on Thursday and we set up a time to come out for Friday to look her over.

The story went, "The prior owner was the second owner. He bought it in 1978 drove it for twenty years, had it repainted once and the motor rebuilt. In 1998, the prior owner, drained all the gas out of her and parked her in a wooden barn. This guy is part of a classic car auction place in Byron, and went to see the prior owners "Lot" of 16 cars. The Beetle was the only one that did not sell in the ensuing auction." So Friday it is, 10am. Thursday was a long night, and Friday morning came early.

Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:06 pm

You gonna leave us hanging?

Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:17 pm

Tune in next week! Same bat channel!

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:14 pm

Sorry...I was detained. So the pics of when it was pulled out of the Tennessee barn looked like this:

Later it was at the auction house:

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:15 pm

I thought, "Sure...It looks too straight. The pics are hard to see any real detail. His interior shots...

Looks nice enough, but how nice? And what about the headliner....floor mats....PANS???

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:20 pm

I drove to the auction house this morning. I walked through the door and this is a long building. Holds maybe 10 cars on each side at the far end. In the middle on the left is the auctioneers stage. To the right of middle is the audience/bidders chairs. To my immediate left is a bar :D and on my immediate right a snack bar :roll:

But at the far end was this vision...

Doors open and close like brand new. No sag in the hinges

Door cards are both there, no tears but screwed to the door (!)

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:25 pm

Seats are all covered in black basket weave vinyl. However, under that IS the original in really bad shape upholstery.

Headliner has 2 small tears and 1 longer tear

Pans are not rusted through and very solid

All the hubcaps are installed, but under the hood 4 more hubcaps PLUS one on the spare

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:30 pm

A walk around

The back left corner...right side similar

I asked the man, "Does it run any better with the carburetor cleaned?" (He had it rebuilt on Thursday)
He says, "Hit the key!" Brum!!!chit, chit, chit...etc. Runs like a top. Quiet, no tapping, no knocking, great compression...Awesome. Then he asks if I want to drive it? I'm like, "Hell YEAH!"

So, I drove around the parking lot. :D

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:35 pm

Now for the bad...

1. The clutch is shot.
2. Brakes aren't bad but should be flushed and checked at a minimum. 3. There is some oddball wire that comes from the battery directly to fuse 8 and its soldered on there!
4.There is a smaller red wire disconnected from the fuse block....hmmmm. Don't ask. I'm not sure yet, but I will be going through it and fixing these issues to make it road worthy.
5. Blinkers light up but no blinkey.

Thats the starter list

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:37 pm

So we agreed on a price, I hooked her up to my Jeep and away we went!

And now she's parked next to her younger sister in the driveway

Their older sister is in the garage in pieces. :wink:

Fri Nov 21, 2014 10:24 pm

Looks like a fun project

Think about a 67 dual master cylinder conversion
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604177&highlight=dual+master

Fri Nov 21, 2014 10:26 pm

That's a good idea, Grandpa. Tomorrow is cleaning day and a more in depth assessment of the car.

Sat Nov 22, 2014 7:12 am

Care to share the agreed price with us here on the Samba.

Nice 64.

Sat Nov 22, 2014 8:02 am

I believe the price was within NADA classic car guides values for a daily driver. How's that? No matter what, I am happy with what I paid. Some here might think I was robbed and some might think I stole it. I look at location (literally 20 minutes from my house), do I want the thing for me, or do I want it to turn (makes a difference). Since I don't have to drive to Chico, California or Miami, FL I am willing to absorb some of that cost if the car is nice enough and I want it bad enough.

Sat Nov 22, 2014 8:27 am

have fun with Blinkey. :D

Sat Nov 22, 2014 8:45 am

Cleanup has begun

Sat Nov 22, 2014 9:16 am

Nice find, I like it! Looks like the paint will clean up pretty nice.
Plans? Repaint the wheels the correct colors, with new bias plys? New seatcovers? Full tuneup? Full detail?
Ok, ok, sorry those would be my plans if I owned it. Lol :lol:

Sat Nov 22, 2014 9:55 am

Great that you pursued and could come to a reasonable purchase price for this solid car. Looks like you can get it running dependably easily over the winter. Would be wise to add lap/shoulder belts for driving safety. One like this would look great- http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=ZVW20AGY

The door panels would be from a '65, that being the first year where there is no longer the perimeter white edge beading. Why they were all screwed onto the doors?? Maybe the clips were lost? Maybe the clip holes are egged out/worn so that new clips would not hold in place?

"Blinkers light up but do not blink"- sounds like a poor ground of the blinker unit in the trunk wiring area. Rotate the blinker unit a few times in its holder to break any surface rust on the holding tabs, or try running a new wire (18ga. is enough) from the blinker unit housing to a freshly re-threaded bolt to ensure a clean ground. Also clean each turn signal bulb socket with a round wire brush like what plumbers use on pipes, to clean off any light corrosion. http://publicphoto.org/tool/plumbing-tool-twisted-in-wire-brushes-spiral-brushes/

Please give us occasional updates with photos at your convenience!

Sat Nov 22, 2014 10:09 am

Rome wrote:
The door panels would be from a '65, that being the first year where there is no longer the perimeter white edge beading. Why they were all screwed onto the doors?? Maybe the clips were lost? Maybe the clip holes are egged out/worn so that new clips would not hold in place?

I'm guessing this may have been a mid year change. My 64 has original door panels without the white edge beading, as well. Never researched it, though.

Screws may have been added due to warping door panels, as well. Not uncommon to see.

Great looking car, flyboy!

Sat Nov 22, 2014 12:16 pm

Paint is cleaning up really nice.

I'm hitting it with Meguiers ultimate compound, followed my wax.

I ran out of wax so I'm done for today.

Also swapped out the hubcaps :D
As for seat belts, you mean these?