TheSamba.com :: View topic - Buggeee's '61 Turkis Pile (from scrapyard to show in 21 days)

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:02 am

Ever find a penny on the ground and couldn't help but pick it up?

The as found... and tucked away for that rainy day:

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:33 am

There it sat, housing cats in outdoor storage for a year or so, until a confluence of events required its call to duty.

My Super Beetle rat had been taken out of rotation as my summer cruiser so it could get some much needed bodywork. This, it turns out, takes much longer to accomplish than reading about it might suggest. Winter came and went, spring sprung, and I was still sanding a shell on jacks. No bug for Buggeee.

Camping season occupied the bulk of the summer and my universally hated Air-Cooled Westy served me well for that. We pulled into town from the last family camp late at night, and early the next morning I drove my tent-topped girl to meet my friends for a cruise to the German fest, with all day car-show festivities to re-network my adult friends after a good summer of Dadding.

My friends mostly drive slammed earlies. Bugs, splitties, whatever. Early and low. More patina the better. That's the program.

I'm out of uniform. I was well recieved, mind you, and shown all of the customary pleasantries that should be shared among air-cooled siblings. But I'm out of uniform. "Your Vanagon Sucks" is a splitty sticker that seared a bit when the social media pictures failed to reflect my girl's presence at the dance. "Oh, no Buggeee... It's not like that. Why look here she is right here." Looking to the back far corner of background in ONE picture shared from the event you could almost see her nose sticking into the shot.

Something had to be done for the fall cruising season. It was 21 days to the big Geneva on the Lake cruise. Hundreds of dubs on the Lake. Then it hit me. I have a "patina" bug housing cats in off-site storage. I may be slow on the body work thing but I can slam together a quick Frankenstein's Bride and be in the fold in no time at all!

Pulled out of storage and the inventory shots:

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:36 am

Some relics reflecting her 6 month only color scheme, which is one of the reasons I stashed this girl when she winked at me from across the room.

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:37 am

Cool

Gonna need a torch

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:41 am

First, we live outdoors here.

So were gonna need some window rubber and a bling trim kit for the windows and body. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Oh, and because we have priorities... a new hat. (All the girls are wearing them)

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:47 am

Now, about that baja scar.

Don't worry this is not the long-term solution. If my maker is willing and I live long enough to do the surgery, I have a set of NOS rear quarters, both driver and passenger sides, still with VW part numbers on them and of the appropriate year range, hanging in the garage.

But I don't have time. This has gotta happen now, and its gonna happen with a scrappy ol' bent up clip just slop welded on for the looks of it.

Yuck. Frankenstein's Bride and a rolling Coffin all in one here in my driveway.

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:52 am

Fred Flintstone had stronger feet than me, so I won't be needing his access hatch.

Pans and channels, on the list for second coming of this bug.

Until then, this battlefield surgery and about three series of interior soakings in phosphoric acid and power washing to etch away the, um, "Patina" before sealing her up in epoxy.

Safe for the night.

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:56 am

Why my neighbors love me.

Living the John Muir Fantasy

Tue Dec 03, 2019 11:59 am

Gonna need one of these to keep the dual-port cool. I'm stealing the engine from my Super, which won't be missing it for a while.

Check out the complimentary color underneath ----

Starting to come together:

Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:02 pm

Mechanicals. All brakes, wiring, shocks, gas tank, etc... Have to be legal, contain most of the oil for a reasonable period of time, and have to stop.

Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:03 pm

Late night grinding to mount the 12v 1600

Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:08 pm

Horn to say hello. (The blue wheel is hopelessly fused to the column)

Gas gauge hack, as I happened to have a tank with sending unit in the basement but really love the simple look of the gaugeless dash on this bug.

It had to happen and it is time. She will stay a long-legged girl but will have proper shoes.

Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:10 pm

Ready for a test ride!!!!

Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:15 pm

And for this test ride, I drove her to a half-day at work...

Followed by an hour long trip to the Geneva on the Lake Show where she was truly welcomed by her early-crew sisters.

After a long fun day she bombed another couple of hours into New York for some end-of-season camping and sight-seeing.

Tue Dec 03, 2019 12:21 pm

The Autumn passed enjoying local cruises...

But this build finally did the neighbors in and some of them lost their cool. The wife did not like dealing with city officials and their terse Zoning Violation notices... even though they were all withdrawn as a calm reading of the actual words in the books reminded the zealots that we were well within the bounds of decent American behavior. Nonetheless, we are lovers not fighters over here so it was time to find an outbuilding, that happened to also have a house on the same lot!

No more outdoor storage for this old gal.

Its time to winter in the stable among friends.

And that, my airhead siblings, is how I spent my summer.

:bug_blue: :bug_green:

Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:03 pm

Nice, I have the same model, turkis with all the fancy color interior. My grab handle turned to a mushy black long ago, the carpets worn out, green running boards replaced with black. Needs a headliner now.

I got my 61 over 40 years ago, Dad bought it new, it was my first car, still got it.has about 355K miles on it now, and it does sport a dual port 1600.

Thanks for sharing!

Bug On!

Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:33 pm

Buggeee wrote: Ever find a penny on the ground and couldn't help but pick it up?

Nice story, but.......Dude! How about s'more pics and a background on that teardrop?

Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:00 pm

Busstom wrote: Nice story, but.......Dude! How about s'more pics and a background on that teardrop?

Yeah, well, about that. Um... well...

Here is a link to some other pictures of the Phoenix I posted in the Accessories area of Samba. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=718806&highlight=phoenix

O.k. I'll spill the beans. You all can't educate me any more about this that what my local crew has already done to enlighten me to my own stupidity so here it is.

When I decided to build Ms. Turkis and bring her home, I had this idea that I was showing symptoms of hoarding and needed to cull the herd and shut down the outside storage lease. Out went the trailer, along with a rusty bus and a really cool thing/bug combo project and a dune buggy and probably some other stuff.

I kept the Turkis and brought her home. I would not let her go.

Everything else in storage got craiglisted for exactly what I had in it (as I think flippers are ruining this hobby for the kids coming up under us). So every thing was gone in a matter of days, including this Phoenix teardrop with original taillights, which I let go for...

Four hundred dollars.

There. It is said. But that is what I paid for it and I did not want to be that guy driving up the market. And that is how I did it, and why I did it, and I can't un-did it now. Despite all the cat-calling I have suffered from my local crew for this, I can't un-did it now. It was snatched up by a hoarder. He has it clammed up tight... We have tried to get it back. It is long gone for a generation. Might as well be in a time capsule with a bunch of other stuff that will never see the light of day now that it is in that dude's clutch. I really should have flipped it and it would have been in circulation behind some bug right now. Live and learn. In the year 2032 at some estate sale someone will see that thing again.

But I have the Turkis. And she is home with me.

Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:03 pm

Note to self: Be skeptical of ads proclaiming a car is rust-free because it came from California...

Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:06 pm

bluebus86 wrote: Nice, I have the same model, turkis with all the fancy color interior. My grab handle turned to a mushy black long ago, the carpets worn out, green running boards replaced with black. Needs a headliner now.

I got my 61 over 40 years ago, Dad bought it new, it was my first car, still got it.has about 355K miles on it now, and it does sport a dual port 1600.

Thanks for sharing!

Bug On!

That is an awesome love story :wink: