Baja bug as a first car? (Few questions)

[Konata Inoue]

Hello,

I have a few questions regarding Baja Bugs because I may be getting one in the coming months. (I've pretty much wanted one my entire life)

Would I be better off buying a pre-modified beetle or just buying a stock one and having it converted?

Do they make good daily drivers? (Repair costs, MPG, ETC.)

How much for a roll cage? (I'm looking to buy a convertible model)

And due to state to state vehicle regulations, Does anybody have experience with owning one in New York state?

[I Ride Sand]

first off, welcome to the samba!

so you want a vert baja as a daily huh? how old are you? if you're 16, do it! if older and less willing for the discomfort for a bitchin ride, you would probably want a more modern car.

i will say, a hard top is better for a daily driver IMO, less noise, more warm in the winter, and less to go wrong.

buy a car thats already a baja. there are too few solid stock cars, and lots of solid bajas.

and plan on making repairs. lots of them. i would not rely solely on this car unless it has been go through by a skilled vw mechanic. and even then i would be careful. it is a 50 year old car, they're all tired!

the cage you can plan for a couple thousand if done by a professional shop correctly. more if they know what they are doing. the kits you can buy are barely anything and they pose more of a risk than not having one if its not welded and properly anchored.

now, you might be much better off buying a car thats already what you want. let someone else spend the money and time making it awesome. no one ever gets what they have in it, out of it!
_________________
Just a dirty coyote playing in the desert.
now where'd that dirty badger run off to?

[Konata Inoue]

Thanks!

I'll certainly put all of that into consideration!

I never actually knew noise could be a factor in having a convertible.

[YDBD]

Also depends if you are going off-road as a daily driver. Many times I drove my baja back from playing around, just hoping it would make it home...once it didn't, other times it was done in about a week and needed major repairs. As a baja or VW driver, not only will you enjoy driving it, you need to enjoy (maybe even more) working on it.

Yes buy one that is already done, look for a rust free chassis (do they salt in NY?)

Roll cages are one of the most important items you will never use, get at least a 4 point installed.

Convertible chassis are also heavier as they don't have the roof supporting the chassis as in a standard bug, I've seen a few convertible baja's, but would rather have the lighter chassis and as stated before the "quiet" and weather resistance of a solid roof.
_________________
'56 pan Dune Buggy since '69
don't live in the past...but when I did:
'67 bug
'64 baja
'60 dune buggy
'73 Personenkraftwagen Type 182 "Thing"

[oldschool5er]

Absolutely buy it pre-modified and ship it out here from out West. Your here on the East coast so if you plan on driving it in weather a vert will be a pain to keep rust free unless you can garage it in bad weather and winter. I have been assisting some people out here that want Baja's by locating them, having them checked out, and shipping them out here from the West coast with a good title so you can look in ad's and find them for sure. Having full cage work already done along with at least the majority of the modifications done is a large cost savings right out of the box and you can find them used like this out West with high quality parts and cage work already on them. Any VW you have out here probably should be garaged over the winter or bad weather as they are just getting too rare now to let them get rusted out. If you end up garaging one over the winter or bad weather I see no reason not to have a built Vert with a cage etc. as an option, it would be unique as hell here on the East coast and a blast to drive. Whatever you do you would be wise to start out with as rust free as you can get. Rust free cars go for a premium but there is good reason for that.

[andk5591]

Echoing a couple things -

Buy one that is already built and a southern or west coast car is your best bet. Gonna pay at least a grand shipping, so factor that in to purchase. AND you will be buying a pig in a poke off the internet. Just looked at a car yesterday that a guy bought and had it shipped. Was supposedly solid and had a rebuilt engine. Had a rough front apron and the usual late model rot behind the rear windows. The guy paid around $3K for it. OK - so might have been OK. Once he got here, I didnt even bother having them get it out of the trailer. Floors were toast, rear package tray was gone (Always a problem on a vert), body had a BUNCH of rot. Engine had about 3/16" play in the crank. Honestly I wouldn't have paid $200 for it as a parts car.

First car - assuming you are fairly young...Would not suggest it from a safety stand point. But lets say you ignore that. Teenagers live forever anyway..

New York? Salt, cold and snow. A couple winters and your car will start rotting. Option is to undercoat the hell out of everything. Gonna be interesting when a snow plow comes the other way and dumps a lot of slush on your engine though.....

Heat is an issue - even with a properly operating system, you will be chilly quite a bit of the time. A vert is worse. You WILL need heat exchangers and all the thermostat, flaps, etc for winter driving.

On a good note - these cars are great in the snow....Just don't hit anything or get hit. So, yeah - do it...

One more thing - I am in central PA. Had pondered building a beater year round daily driver a couple years ago....Was going to use bedliner on the entire car, enhance the heating system, cage, etc. I could buy a used Honda as a winter beater for less than half of what I would have into the bug and be way more comfortable and safer.
_________________
D-Dubya Manx clone - 63 Short pan,1914.
Rosie 65 bug - My mostly stock daily driver.
Woodie 69 VW woodie (Hot VWs 7/12).
"John's car" 64 VW woodie - The first ever
Maxine 61 Cal-look bug - Cindy's daily driver.
Max - 73 standard Beetle hearse project - For sale
66 bug project - Real patina & Suby conversion
There's more, but not keeping them...

[bikesndbugs]

im 18 my bug was my first car

agreeing with others buy one already done.
mine was stock and its was more work than it should have been.

I agree on the hardtop over a vert.

they are cold and dont have much insulation so you will have to wear jackets a lot.

cage depends on what you want pre builts can work with some modification
find someone or learn to weld its very helpful. proper cages in a bug have a tube from front to rear suspension giving you something solid to mount the cage to. the bolt ins are just put through the floor and then you roll it punches through the floor.

[Bashr52]

Where in NY? I'm in NY and have a Baja, but it's a fair weather car only.

[HeyWatchThis]

I'm in South Dakota, just got my first baja bug. I would suggest something newer or at least with a heater for an only car year round.

It's a great joy ride car, and fun to go offroading with, but it is not airtight, so when it's below about 65 degrees out, you have full time AC blowing from somewhere (fuze box, dash, glove box, etc.). Otherwise, once it's in operable condition, they're reliable enough. Mine has only stranded me once with a carburetor issue (Don't know what, took it apart, put it back together and it worked). It gets about 27-28 miles to the gallon, but I only run 91 octane pure gas so it is a little more spendy. I'm not sure if I could get away with corn gas and lower octane?

I think with the exhaust I'm running, there's no room for the manifold heater that I've heard is anemic anyway.

Also, expect to spend the money for the car, and a good bit more for parts depending on the quality/condition it's in. Definitely get one that's already modified, and a hard top. They're classic cars... There's always something that needs worked on or replaced, or is about to need it unless you want to do the massive cash dump and just do a complete restoration from the get-go.

Edit to add: The plus side of the above statement is that they're typically pretty easy to work on yourself. There's youtube videos outlining pretty much every maintenance/modification process out there, and while all the different models/parts are overwhelming at first, once you nail down what you have you can channel your searches and get more pointed info. Honestly I think of it as a glorified go-kart.

[bikesndbugs]

[HeyWatchThis]

I was told by the guy that I bought it from that it has 88mm pistons in it, it was originally a 1600 DP that he rebuilt over the winter. IIRC, 88mm pistons make it a 1694. It sounds like not a stock cam, too, but I don't know what it is.

235/75 R15 Hercules all terrain tires @ 25-30psi in the rear, 205/75 R15 trailer tires up front at 30-35psi.

I'm unfortunately very ignorant about types of transmissions and have no idea what i have. Haven't looked too hard at it yet to be honest.

[weasel_ugs]

So when I was 17 my second and only car was a baja convertible. Fun car for Arizona being a vert. I used it for off road, going to school and work. I had to work on that car every weekend it seemed but I loved working on it.

My advice is get something more reliable if your only gonna have 1 car. I must say after a ground up rebuild it was much more reliable. Now that Im older my new to me baja convertible is a weekend toy with my GMC truck being the reliable get me to work and other places not worrying about it breaking down.

Just saw this on CG California,
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/cto/6190144226.html

[veeweeman]

A vw bug or baja bug, be it 45 or 50yrs old can be a reliable daily driver...I've owned more than a couple dozen acvw as a daily driver...the key here is knowledge and lucky for you the vw bug is the most basic form of mechanics that you will have a very short learning curve...buy the book How to keep your volkswagen alive by John muir...join a local acvw club and find a volunteer to help you purchase your first vw...starting with a solid foundation will avoid a lot of wasted money and frustration...make sure the seller has some sort of mechanical history or receipts of any previous repairs...try to steer away from those selling a car and only owned it a couple weeks or months, they usually have something to hide or something serious is mechanically wrong and they themselves don't want to invest time or money.

Basically, the bug will be fun and rewarding experience as these cars are going up in value...basic maintenance will involve a valve adjustment once a month or every 3,000 miles, replace the points and condenser with electronic pick up and you just made the vw 60% more reliable...always carry a spare fan belt and spark plugs, fuel filters and basic tools to service those parts and your set...in fact of all my daily drivers, I've only had one fan belt break on me while on the freeway and that fix took me 5 minutes to fix.

The basic parts for these cars are still way cheaper then modern car parts...you will never have to take your car to pay a mechanic to fix your car...you can do it yourself, money in your pocket!

I hope that this info was helpful to you...there is nothing wrong with having a acvw as a daily driver.