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Mon Oct 13, 2025 2:18 am

Hello all,

Yesterday I accidentally stumbled across a Chinchilla (Beige or Grey??) 68 Bug and took it home 8)
It's my first aircooled VW after driving Golf Mk2's for about 20 years, but has been a life long dream to own and drive one one day... It was a loud but awesome 85 mile drive home, door and windowrubbers need replacement :lol: So does the interior, the seats are worn and I have the feeling I sit on the floorpan instead of a seat. Plus I'm not a fan of the red...
When I got home and shut off the engine a little smoke appeared coming out of the back: The oilcap went missing and oil is spilled all over the passenger side of the engine :roll: Any recommendations on how to clean it up?
New oilcap and gascap have been ordered (Gascap didn't fit properly and don't have the key for it either)

The horn doesn't work, neither does the radio (Looks like a previous owner had a soundsystem in it) and a little blue(?) light is on on the speedometer. Minor things to be done so far, besides the interior.

Also the DMV overhere in the Netherlands says the car is dated 06-1968, but according to the chassis- and enginenumbers on this site the chassis is build 10-1967 and the engine 04-1967. Have to check that again when I get home from work I guess :?

Mon Oct 13, 2025 2:30 am

Welcome!

Let me state the obvious: Please post some pictures!

Mon Oct 13, 2025 3:11 am

scarabee wrote: Welcome!

Let me state the obvious: Please post some pictures!

Sorry... Too busy at work suddenly and I missed that :lol:

Mon Oct 13, 2025 6:27 am

Welcome nice car you found there good luck with it. Get some latex gloves and a bunch of rags and dive into all the nooks and crannies to mop up the oil. Wd 40 may help as a cleaner that will not hurt anything. The blue light on the dash is the high beam indicator, pulling the directional arm towards you should click it off or the button on the left side of the floor if your car has it that way. According to dmw numbers, that still makes it a 68 model so I would not worry about that.

Mon Oct 13, 2025 9:55 am

Blue shop rags stuffed all around to pick up the majority of the oil then mineral spirits or brake clean to do a final clean. Honestly, it would not hurt to go over the entire engine or even the entire car and give it a good cleaning. Not only is this almost a right of passage for new cars to the Pez collection, but also a way for me to inspect and find pending issues.

Regardless, congratulations on the dream come true!

Mon Oct 13, 2025 2:52 pm

VDubz13 wrote:
New oilcap and gascap have been ordered (Gascap didn't fit properly and don't have the key for it either)

You probably already know but the oil filler and therefore the cap are not the original ones. If you ordered a new oil filler cap, is it for THAT particular aftermarket oil filler?

Mon Oct 13, 2025 10:20 pm

viiking wrote: You probably already know but the oil filler and therefore the cap are not the original ones. If you ordered a new oil filler cap, is it for THAT particular aftermarket oil filler?
Yeah I noticed and ordered the right filler cap. Found which one in the receipts which came with the car and ordered the cap at the same company (Paruzzi overhere in the Netherlands)
Might switch back to original though, but atleast I can drive it again later today when the parts arrive!
The receipts which came with the car date back to 1978 as far as I have gotten through them untill now.

I figured the blue light would be the high beam, but it doesn't change when I put the high beams on or off so I hoped someone would know if it was a common problem. It doesn't hurt driving, so I will figure it out some day :)

Cleaning the entire car (and polishing) will be done in a few weeks when I finished the garage which doesn"t even have any electricity (and lights) in it at the moment. Came across the add for the car and couldn't let it slip while I planned to buy one after finishing the garage initially :lol:

Sat Oct 18, 2025 4:17 am

The blue light on the speedometer I refered to isn't the high beam indicator, te high beam indicator is on the right side and the blue(ish) light I mean is on the left. According to the owners manual on this site (Cause mine is in Swedish, can't read that one :lol: ) it supposed to be a red light and is for the "Temperature Automatic Stickshift"... I don't have an automatic... :roll: Any idea's??

Time to rip out the electrical mess behind the dahs I suppose, cause also found 2 switches and a button underneath the dahsboard. The button sounds the horn, 1 of the switches operates the speed of the fan and the other switch didn't do anything as far as I could notice. There was some sort of light fitted on the rear bumper though, not connected to anything but maybe that's what the switch was for one time. (I'll add a pic when logged in via phone)

Also got me some new numberplates since the old ones had the (faided) letters and numbers painted on and were bend pretty bad. Second thing I added yesterday was a Blaze Cut system underneath the decklid, just to be sure... Relocated the fuel-filter underneath the car behind the left rear wheel.

Sat Oct 18, 2025 3:02 pm

VDubz13 wrote: The blue light on the speedometer I refered to isn't the high beam indicator, te high beam indicator is on the right side and the blue(ish) light I mean is on the left. According to the owners manual on this site (Cause mine is in Swedish, can't read that one :lol: ) it supposed to be a red light and is for the "Temperature Automatic Stickshift"... I don't have an automatic... :roll: Any idea's??

It is remotely possible that the car may have been an automatic and has had a manual transmission added.

One giveaway may be that there are some additional holes in the engine bay which used to hold some of the ancillaries. From memory there may have been a large round hole and a "V" shaped section on the left hand side of the engine bay at the inner wheel well.

Edit: Also a large round hole on the right side and possibly another on the bottom right of the firewall. But I note there isn't one of the last one in the picture you posted.

I wouldn't start touching the wiring yet until you verify this possibility as the "blue" light might just have been left in place when the work was done.

Maybe.