TX-73 Bug Rebuild

[TX-73]

Thomas was virtually a part-owner! I could not have been as successful with the build without his expertise. That is no exaggeration, great guy.

Funny that I have always found a lot of relations between bug and 55-57 Chevy owners - each seems to like or have had experience with the other car. I think they are both classic styling.

I will beg the indulgence of the moderators here for the end of this bug build with some 57 info.....

I'll date myself lol but I build the 57 from 1985 to 1990. Long project, everything except interior done in my garage. Back before internet clicking to find info and similar interests!

I've posted some pics of it as it sits, as mentioned it's a refresh project but will include some work on engine mounts, transmission, exhaust, interior and fuel delivery. Thomas is in for the count on this one too! There won't be a posted build thread on a forum on this, it will just be done "silently".
Engine is a 454 with mild street build, th400, Ford 9 in the back.

Here are some pics and I hope it's ok to stray from the bug topic this one time.

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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
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[VW_Jimbo]

Beautiful!!

Hope the mods let it slide.

Agree with the connection between Bugs and old 55 - 57 Chevys. Something is there but I cannot put my finger on it. Maybe the rounded top. Or it is just basic!
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Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Tim Donahoe]

Actually, I’ve never known a person who didn’t like a ‘57 Chevy.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

[VW_Jimbo]

[TX-73]

We enjoyed getting to know the buyers of the bug and yes , it's clear they intend to keep it and enjoy it. We'll keep in touch, there will be many more questions as well, besides all the documentation they got.
My biased opinion is that bugs seems to be very lovable! Everywhere I went I always got a good response , a thumbs up driving, or a bug remembered story.
Truly a great experience for me.
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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[Tim Donahoe]

The was a reason why Herbie was called The Love Bug.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[vamram]

Hey Nick - hope you're well and whatever your current project may be is purring along!

I was hoping for a bit of advice on the headliner. Hopefully you're still on here occasionally! Basically, I'm stuck at this point of getting the C-pillars installed correctly - i.e., as nice and wrinkle free as you have. Can you give me a bit more detail as to how you proceeded to get it massaged in w/out the wrinkles? I've started by gluing the section along the glass edge of the rear and side windows, but am lost as to how I'm going to be able to get to look as smooth as yours. Do you apply heat to it before gluing edges? Glue one edge, then apply heat to shrink it, glue another edge, continue? I'm really afraid I'm going to mess this up. The driver side came out iffy and I had to remove it and reposition it after 24 hours because I just did not like how it looked. I'm also concerned w/melting the headliner by overheating it. Heat gun or hair dryer?

Well, thanks - hope to hear from you soon!

Víctor

[TX-73]

Dang Victor, I'm sorry. As you can see from my waaay late response, I'm on some other projects currently, mainly the 57.

But for the sake of info, I used a blend of glue to one edge (with clips), let it dry, then light use of heat and stretching to pull the material over to the opposite edge and installed the clips. Then the material was again lightly heated and pulled downward and glued to the wheel well. I used tape over that part to help keep it pulled downward. No contact adhesive on any foam, the material simply slides over it. Some additional foam to help puff out the material (within reason) sometimes also helps. You pretty much have to look at the foam to ensure it lets the material sit right against it, if there's a gap between foam and headliner that can end in a wrinkle.
You will see a bit of wrinkling at the rear window and at the top - rear window is covered so that's ok. You will also see a small tab (same material) that I had glued to the headliner. This allowed me to pull it upwards to get that wrinkle out and then the tab was glued to the roof framing and later all covered by the top headliner panel.

New bug owner has kept in touch and has been enjoying it (between snowstorms lol) so that makes me happy to know it's in good hands and on the road.

Please note
Most of the pics in this build are in Picturetrail - I'm trying to slowly migrate them to Samba but there may be a period where links will be broken. If you want to ensure you have a record of this build I suggest you save each page as a pdf to your computer. Takes about 15 min using Chrome, selecting print, and then saving as pdf. I'm sure there's other ways, but that is how I did it.
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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[vamram]

TX! Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I've already installed it and the results were not satisfying. At some point I'll be redoing it. I'm not sure why i struggled so much w/this one. I did my '72 Super and it came out quite well. My '64 came out great. This one, I'd get an edge looking good, then stretching to the opposite edge it would go to crap.
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Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
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Save the Supers!!

[TX-73]

It's been awhile since the last posts, I thought I'd share a pic that the current owner of the bug sent me.

We've kept in touch, a very nice gentleman who's kept it in perfect shape. As you can see the mighty 4-cylinder lives on lol.

Kidding of course
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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
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[Eric&Barb]

Nice to see it is doing well!!
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Tom K.]

Looks great, and I guess it's new job is to pull that camping trailer.
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'91 Vanagon Westfalia
'70 Beetle Convertible
'71 Super Beetle Semi-Automatic: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=714131&highlight=
'65 Ghia: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=762478&highlight=