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My first beetle,from Arizona to Anchorage
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Busted-bolt
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Joined: April 14, 2018
Posts: 514
Location: minnesoota
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:07 pm    Post subject: My first beetle,from Arizona to Anchorage Reply with quote

When I was 18 years old I lived in Sunsites Arizona ,where I met an elderly woman from my church .She drove a 68 dart gt that needed front suspension work ,She also had a 69 beetle that was broke down [bad valve]. She needed her dodge fixed and we agreed that I would get the bug for doing the work and buying the parts to fix her dodge. She bought the bug brand new when she lived in Cali from Vista Volkswagen in Goleta valley. I did the work on her dodge and got the beetle. I was living with my parents at the time and we were in the process of moving back to Tucson ,I always had a job fixing cars ,so I was able to save up some money for parts .In Tucson I was in high school one year prior to moving to Sunsites .At the time I had completed my sophmore year at Cholla high in Tucson. A guy by the name of Bob Meyers was my auto shop teacher,and he loved a/c vw's .I than started working on them to. Best vw parts over by the airport was my go-to for parts,There was this gal there ,she was kinda heavy set and drove an old commercial split window. That gal knew her VW,s though ,I had them do all my machine work . I was out of school for a year while I was at Sunsites Az. And now I was back in Tucson again and living with my sister ,and I had to source a new job ,that job was at Discount Import supply of of Speedway ,I think my bosses name was Mike,I really liked working there with all those vw parts I was in my element . While I was fixing my bug I was driving a 78 Pontiac Phoenix. I than took a job at AutoZone because the pay was higher ,I left Discount Import on good terms though ,My boss said I could have my old job back any time. In the meantime My mother who lived in Anchorage at the time offered to let me live there to complete my high school education. By that time I had the fresh line bored 1600 single port engine in my bug so I was ready. I sold my Pontiac to help fund the trip. I drove that bug all the way from Tucson to Anchorage Alaska and it that without flaw. The trip was interesting though I met some really interesting people along the way. Around the time I was in Canada coming up the first leg of the Cassier highway [Very wide gravel road at the time 1989] I met up with some young Canadians driving an old dodge van that appeared to be broken down so I stopped .After conversing with them for awhile I found out there water pump was leaking and they had to stop for water every once in a while so I began to tag along with them. There was this girl from the van who wanted to ride with me for awhile ,I kinda scared her by telling her that my car had NO WATER in the engine! She was so convinced we were seconds from a breakdown ,but the bug ran flawlessly . She was so excited to tell her friends from the van that my car needed no water ,when we stopped to top the van up with water again ,lol Those Canadians are some nice people for sure ,They make great company! I arived in Anchorage from around 5 days of driving really tired . I resumed my high school education ,Winter set in and I found the Beetle did not want to stop on the icy roads. It had no problem starting in the cold though. It did however have a problem of over pressurizing the oil filter though.I installed one of those aftermarket oil filter adapters on the pump. When I went to license It and I got a personalized plate TRIK VW . I ran the car about half way through the winter.In that time I rear ended an old ford thunderbird and bent the apron [about 1/2"] and pushed the headlight surround back into the fender about 1/4". Sadley I sold the bug for $1000.00 and replaced it with an old 80 Scirocco. Get this my bug was bought by an elderly couple that lived about a block from where I lived for $5000.00 and the guy I sold it to originally did not even fix the damage. Boy I felt like a sucker! lol Well that was long story, but it continues with the Scirocco that I drove back to Az with,you guessed it a yours truly rebuilt 1.7, I sourced from an 81 Rabbit on the crush pile at A.M.R.[Anchorage Metal Recycling].
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AKdude
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Joined: May 16, 2016
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Location: The Far North
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:42 pm    Post subject: Re: My first beetle,from Arizona to Anchorage Reply with quote

Good story, Busted, I've done the same trip a couple times, and it brought back some good memories. Will probably head down there again in the HiBearN8R, my '58 camper bus.
The old split case tranny's running great since your tips on de-rusting the froze up gears and guts. Thanks again
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