TheSamba.com :: View topic - My wife's project, 1969 Squareback, named Rosie.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:25 am

My wife and I have been married over 14 years, and I introduced her to VW's when we met. After the first VW show I took her to she was dead set on an automatic squareback with patina. Throughout our time together she has watched a lot of VW projects come and go but never a squareback. So this year I decided to get her one for Christmas. After finding one an hour away and getting her approval my friend and I headed out to get it this weekend.

It's a very beat down 69 square, with auto, fuel injection, and air conditioning. From what I can gather from the salvage yard it sat in a pasture for years, and then was in the back corner of the salvage yard for years. The owner said they almost crushed it a few times. Some of you might think it should have been crushed, but my wife loves this one car in particular. They had to move multiple cars out of the way and the only way to get it out of the yard was on the loader.

This will be a long, long slow project, and will be well beyond my ability, but I'm going to give it my best shot. She is already on board with budgeting for it and working on it with me.

My two biggest hurdles right now, it doesn't have a key and the cable for the hood latch is not releasing the hood.
Will be posting pics with captions shortly.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:38 am

Pictures, please!

Good luck!

Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:39 am

This is the way I first saw the car. We had to bring wheels, and my friend came to the rescue with and extra set.

Blurry, but this cat was the sweetest thing, followed us everywhere. I was on the ground looking under the car, heard a meow, looked up and she was right in my face rubbing against my head. We couldn't take her, bummer.

The only way to get the car out was on the loader. I was feeling a little sick at this point, but the loader driver was nice and very cautious.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:45 am

Happily loaded on my friends trailer. It was a bit of a chore, the right rear wheel was locked up.

Had to switch pulling trucks, my buddy had to watch his kids, so I just dragged the car the rest of the way home with my trusty 6.9 idi diesel.

Gave Rosie her first bath, some guy walks up to tell me all about his 1962 notchback shell. He wasn't selling it, figures.

Out in front of the house, trying to free up the drum. I was on my own on the unloading so I sure was happy when it came free!

Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:50 am

Rats have chewed every wire on the engine, still haven't been able to see if it is free or locked up.

What a mess! You can see the dash unit for the a/c. I don't know much about a/c in volkswagens so it doesn't mean much to me at the moment.

Getting ready to start cleaning the rats nests out.

My wife working hard on her new car!

In it's final resting place for the cold part of winter, and so we can get some funds back up for parts.

Last but not least, by far the worst part of the whole project. I get sick just looking at this, but I will just have to figure out how to replace it. Already plan on doing both pan halves with Gerson pans, so I'll get this rocker and heater channel figured out.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:54 am

You have your hands full with that driver's A-pillar. The forklift didn't do the passenger side any favors, either!

Once those issues are resolved, the rest will follow. Panel alignment is hard on these cars unless the basic structure is spot-on. Take the time to get that right first. And any rust, of course.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:56 am

You're on your way! I see lots of build thread reading in your future. :)

Remove one of the door handles and there will be a key code stamped on it somewhere. With this you can have a key made for the ignition, assuming it's still original.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 12:03 pm

The passenger door already had a good dent in it, but the loader smashed the rear quarter a little more. The other way they wanted to get it out was going to do damage to the main structure so I figure this was the better option.
Thanks for the door handle advice, I think that's the way I'm going to go and I'm just hoping the ignition or door tumbler are original.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 12:14 pm

Also if anyone thinks old Datsun's are cool we found a late 60's early 70's Datsun 510 wagon out there. The weird thing is, my buddy with me has a 68 510 wagon project at home. So we will be going back to get it before it gets crushed.

Mon Dec 12, 2016 12:19 pm

I love my '69 FI/AT square & Tram is building another one for himself. He'd probably buy/trade the air conditioning components from you? Pull all 4 fenders and tag & bag the hardware as you remove stuff! 8)

Mon Dec 12, 2016 12:40 pm

Maybe this article from Motor Trend in 1969 will inspire you:

Mon Dec 12, 2016 8:21 pm

Great save!! Its awesome you kept her from going to the crusher! Looks like a big project, but stick with it. As we all know, we have seen a lot worse brought back to life

Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:20 pm

It's junk. I'll take it as long as you pay shipping.

But seriously... you can do it. It'll be a labor of love and hate but you'll either get it tip top or run screaming to the funny farm.

:D

Thu Dec 15, 2016 11:07 am

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I've been around and loved vw's my whole life. I had a 71 fastback that I struggled with and fought the fuel injection on. If it wasn't for Tram, KTphil and Jim Adney I would have lit that car on fire, or put a progressive on it. I never felt like I got the fuel injection right, but I keep hearing from people around town that they see it bombing around still. I swore I was going to rip the injection off this time and go dual carbs, but I see this car as an opportunity. If someone hasn't gotten in there and screwed with things much, I can get them set right and hopefully have a good setup. I will for sure need to find a new harness for the engine. We haven't made any progress yet, it's been way to cold in Wichita, but my wife did throw a blanket on her in the garage for some warmth.

Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:47 pm

A new harness can run you 4-5 bills by the time you are done, but will last another 40-50 years. Fighting the original wiring break by break will drive you nuts. But you have much more work to do until you are ready for that! Keep us posted!

Fri Dec 16, 2016 6:38 pm

You are going to large efforts to make your wife happy with Rosie! I wish you both perseverence to revive the car.

If you want some minor encouragement, here's a shot of my dad's new red '69 SB which also had A/T and A/C. He got a new '70 Fastback a year later.

Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:11 am

Nice find and great rescue from its impending demise. Don’t be discouraged by others comments. Have a vision and pursue it. You have an ally in your wife as she has a vested interest in seeing this thru as she’ll be rolling it. Take inventory of what you need and get the pieces little by little as getting the shell and pan sorted out is going to be the time consuming portion of it. You have some work to do so save everything, document how disassembled areas or parts for record so you can use it in putting them back together. I know it’s not your first type 3, but you’ll be digging in deep in this one just by the looks of the rockers and front foot-well. A rebuild of this car can be done and I suspect it’ll bond you two closer or drive a massive wedge (just kidding!) between you and your wife. Lastly, save what $$ you can and go for the items to get the rolling pan ready. Since you’re going patina on it, you just have work the dents out as much as possible so you’ll be saving on paint! Look forward to reading up on your posts.