kvariant

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Hey guys, I am new, but have been an avid fan of the site for quite a while now. Haven't had a VW for a while and didn't have anything to contribute. Anyway, I finally have a VW story worth sharing, as I just aquired a new project in the strangest way.
Yesterday I got a call from a landscaper friend of mine who was just hired for a rather strange job. He was asked to totally gut the house of a woman who had that "pack rat" illness. She was so bad that she had to be taken away and the health department deemed the house to be unfit of human inhabitation. There was about fourty years of junk packed into this house, it had holes in the roof that had caused the floors to rot compleatly through to the basement in many place. The garage was barely standing. When he opened the doors, he said it was filled all the way to the ceiling with all kinds of junk. They filled two dumpsters with garbage and when they finally worked there way to the back of the garage they litterly uncovered a 1968 squareback.
I guess the woman who lived there had the car before she became "ill." A relative who was dealing with the property wanted the thing towed to the junk yard as soon as possible. I think there were a couple of other cars that had already been taken away at that point. The Variant was as dirty as I think a car can get. My friend knew that I was into Volkswagons, and asked if he could have it as he knew someone (me) who might like to work on it. I guess the owner didn't care, as long as it was gone as soon as possible.
So I go over to look at the car, skeptical and pretty un-interested. I cannot possible hope to articulate how gross this car looked (and smelled). I open the door to find mildew of various colors growing in original carpets. But other than that, it was really clean. No junk in it or anything. It had the original rubber mat in the cargo area and it's 1979 registration in the perfect glove box. The floors were fine, but there was rot on the left fender where leaking water had been dripping on it for years. The paint was sound but dull everywhere else. Chinese water torture if you will.
"Wow, it's actually not that bad, just real dirty and smelly," I told him. "I can't take it's probably worth something."
"Doesn't matter, the owner wants nothing to do with it," my friend explained. " I had it signed to me in case you wanted it or any of the parts. If you don't take it away, it's going to the wrecking yard. If you don't want it, don't take it, but it has to be gone as soon as possible, the owners seriously want this place gutted as soon as possible."
"Alright then, why not," I said. I wasn't really looking for a project as I was still mourning the loss of my Ghia. It was actually crushed by a landscaping truck almost two years ago. My next car was a late model type three, and within weeks of getting it, a tree fell on it during a thunderstorm. I figured I was due for a little good karma, and seeing has how a landscaper destroyed my first VW, and a landscaper had to pull a tree off my second one, that it was that whole VW karma thing finally going my way, with a third landscaper giving me a new car.
While the car is not a driver by anymeans, it should be fun to work on.
I Just thought I would share my "VW found in a barn" story. While there was no nice little old lady, and the thing is a mess, it's still pretty much one of those classic finds. There was also an early ford truck, but it fell through the floor and was crushed by the garbage above it.......

Take care guys,

Will

[79SuperVert]

That's a different twist. More like an archaeological find than a barn find.

[j.pickens]

Photos would be appreciated...

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How? I'd love to......

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Never mind, figured it out. I'll just put them in the gallery......

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Ok, having trouble compressing to the size allowed. What I'll do is take new one and just change the setting on the camera. I love this car and want to show it off.......

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Ok guys, I put some up of the interior. I'll take some more this afternoon. Tell me what you think.

Will

[type877]

WOW, it's going to take you an hour to clean that windshield.

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I counted three different colors of mold. the carpets are not all that bad. The seats have stains I can't seem to get out. Do you guys think an steam cleaning would make the headliner andd seats look good again, other than stains, they are fine.......

I'll go take some pics while on lunch......

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Took the carpets out and will post pics of the pans if anyone is interested. I'll wait till it's sunny out though, as I don't have enough light.

[UncleBob]

Will, great pictures. Heck yeah, keep posting them. That's crazy. The rear cleaned up pretty nice, hope the rest of the car does as well. Can't beat the price!
Is it stinky? Does Febreeze make a gallon sprayer?

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Smells real bad. I pulled the carpets out in hopes that a little sun might help (if it ever comes back out). I've tried multiple cleaning products to no avail. Even the tar boards have stuff growing on them. Pleased to find no holes in the pans at all. Depating pulling out the boards and painting the inside of the pans. Probably a good idea. I have some surface rust here and there and damage to the driver side rocker, other than that, it's in pretty good shape.