'74 standard beetle barn find

[KAmes]

Last Thursday a man came into the office where I work, looking for the guy who has VWs. It turns out the guy I bought tires from for the Thing told him about me. He explained he has a farm property he's working on cleaning up, and he has several VWs he needs to get rid of. Would I be interested? My reflex answer was that's interesting, but I guess not. After all what business do I have buying any more cars, I still have the '78 vert and the Thing, garage full. We talked a while and he left, nice guy. Well, the problem was he left his phone number "in case I change my mind" and my work was taking me near his place the next day. So I called (predictable, my wife knew it the whole time) and he met me there.

Here's the barn:

And here's the find:

1974 standard, repainted original color sometime in the past, painted around the rubber. Rust hole in the driver side footwell, rusted out shock towers on the beam, rust starting inside the front wheel wells in the usual spot. That's it, near as I can see. I know I'll find something else, but there isn't much. Heater channels look good, nothing behind the vents, nothing on the lower quarters. If there's bodywork under the paint it has to be old and it's holding up well. The story is the starter was doing the intermittent thing, and the bad shock towers were making him nervous so the car sat. It has a 2013 tag on it but he says the car hasn't been started in maybe eight years, his wife's been putting the sticker on it every year (it was her car). Engine turns easily by hand, can't feel any end play.

$800 cash and away we go.

He also has these, a flat screen super and a curved screen super. He said one is an autostick, I don't know which one. He let me take the bumpers off the yellow one and the turn signals off the red one.

If anyone is interested, I'm sure he would give these two to anyone with the means to haul them away. They're very rusty, but they are complete cars, engine, trans, seats dash etc. good parts cars sitting on their wheels.

He also has this 1985 vanagon:

I was really tempted by this one but I left it. Last licensed 2007 or 2009 I don't remember which. Story is it's sitting because of brake problems, hasn't been started since. He's asking $1000. He gave me permission to give his phone number, so if any one wants to pursue it or the parts cars PM me. It's a few miles south of Decatur, Illinois, about center of the state.

This is the only rust I could see, and only in this spot:

It's covered in dirt but it looks really good, not a mark on it, almost impossible in Illinois. The interior is not so good, the mice have been in it, although the seats look ok.

99000 miles:

Seats:

Mice:

The blue bug will need to wait until I finish a couple other projects, I might just clean it up, fix the floor and use it for a driver, we'll see.

[wcfvw69]

Wow.. $800?

That's a smoking good deal. It's too bad they had Earl Schieb paint it. I loved the way they didn't bother taping off the vents in the engine bay before spraying it.

It looks amazingly original in the engine bay which I love. Hopefully, it won't require much to get back on the road.
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
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[KAmes]

[wcfvw69]

[gt1953]

WoW and nice. Never could I get a deal like that. I would have taken the other to VW and for sure left the Vanagon. Not to fond of automatic.
Keep us posted with the updates on the car.
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[KAmes]

[KAmes]

[danfromsyr]

congrats on saving the blue bug.
if that van we're within 5hrs of me I'd be all over it.. with a finders fee/bonus for you.
find them a good VW home before they get crushed. that's the duty here.
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[chrisfreemanca]

Wow, great finds! Even at an 8 hour drive it's tempting to go get that Vanagon as I've been close to pulling the trigger on one. There'd be something about knowing where my $10k+ went as it got up and going again as opposed to hoping the $17k one was done correctly.

Hmmmm...

Can you PM me his contact information?

[KAmes]

[KAmes]

OK, it's been exactly one year since I bought this, I know this because I just renewed the license plate that's still on my desk. The time has arrived, so I picked it up from storage at work, trailered it through the car wash and brought it home.

Here's some glamour pics in it's new habitat.

I found a full carpet set new in the box in the back.

I found these horrible license plate frames in the trunk. I'm absolutely putting these back on the car.

The dash is pretty good, seats are shot, headliner is intact but dirty. I've caught three mice in here in since Sunday. They must've been hiding in the heater channels, I looked everywhere else, stacked in there like shotgun shells.

I have a new starter and a box of tune up parts, I'll probably get started this weekend figuring out what I have.

[andk5591]

Since I have worked on more than a few legit barn finds, you NEED to pull the engine before trying to start it. The last one had a massive mouse nest in the shroud. The others have had some rodent housing, but this one was a freaking 5 star resort.......
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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...

[KAmes]

[heimlich]

Oil the pistons if you can. My first Beetle blew a hole through the piston because it was rusted in the cylinder. it had been sitting in a field.

[KAmes]

[Rome]

Undented rear bumper which is still mounted level to the ground/not tilted-

Good going to pursue this sweetie.

Once you have the gas tank out, replacing the front beam is a day's work even if you transfer the torsion bars, spindles, steering box, etc. to the new/good used unit. Plan on buying a good quality rubber steering box coupler disc while you are replacing the beam, also a mounting kit (clamps, rubber blocks) for the front swaybar.

Looking forward to updates.

[KAmes]

[joey1320]

Man what a find. Paint looks decent/good.
As posted above, drop the engine and go through it. Maybe not a full on rebuild but an overall clean/refresh.

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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[KAmes]

Yesterday it was new points, condenser, rotor, cap, spark plugs, oil, and a fresh carburetor. I static timed it to the vague and little understood by me timing mark, did not move any of the carb settings out of the box. Had to rig a wire off the starter, needs a hard start relay. Cranked up the oil pressure, discovered the low oil warning has been connected to the brake warning light in the middle of the dash. Supplied gas from an auxiliary electric pump and a gas can. It fired up easily, but ran a little rough. I shut it off and advanced the timing a hair, restarted and it idled pretty smooth, no bad noises, not even any smoke. Yayyyyy! (waves arms like a muppet) The light went out, leading me to believe the alternator is working. Ran it a minute or so and shut it off. Time permitting, it comes out of the car this afternoon. I'm going to try to just clean it up, replace some seals (pushrod tubes look plenty oily), maybe a little paint on the tins and fix the number 3 spark plug hole that I'm pretty sure I just cross threaded. It needs a new intake manifold, the left heat riser is rusted completely in half, and I'll replace the muffler, hopefully without breaking studs.

I've been researching time-serts on their website and amazon, I know I could rent it but I rarely pass up an excuse to buy more tools.

[andk5591]

Do this - grab the crank pulley and yank and push in on it. You are trying to get a feel for crankshaft end play. Spec is a few thousandths. If you think you felt it move, but couldnt see it move, life is good. BUT have seen it move 1/8" or more, which is not a good thing.
_________________
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...