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mikec4193
Samba Member
Joined: July 15, 2014
Posts: 287
Location: Mechanicville NY (Upstate)
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 Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:22 pm Post subject: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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Hi Samba folks...my son and my dad bought this 1974 VW super Beetle back in the late 1990's, then my dad died in 2001 and my son moved to Kansas in 2003 and left me with it to store...we talked and in 2012 he agreed we should sell it...it is a upstate NY Beetle...she was rough from day one....
I might have found it about 1 1/2 hours South of me...been thinking about trying to get it back and when I am gone gift it back to my son sorta as a way for him to remember his grandpa and himself when he was just teenager ...the whole bottom end was very crunchy even back then...and there was no heat either...
My son is not really a car guy...so I was thinking...should I just find another (rust free) blue 1974 Super Beetle from the South West and gift that to him???...or do I try to buy this one back and fix it up for him?? I remember the frame head on it in 2012 was pretty rotted even then...
Any thoughts from you folks on here???
MikeC
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Dad bought his first Beetle on Dec 17, 1953. |
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joey1320
Samba Member
Joined: September 12, 2006
Posts: 2325
Location: Cleveland, OH
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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Unless you have plenty, and I mean plenty, of spare money to pay someone to do the work, or spare time and skills to do it yourself, I would buy another one.
Can I ask, do you think your son even cares for a bug? I understand that he and his grandpa bought it, but that really doesn't translate to being a bug person.
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**1971 Super Project
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0 |
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Tim Donahoe
Samba Member
Joined: December 08, 2012
Posts: 11740
Location: Redding, CA
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:19 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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X’s 2 with Joey. It seems as though a lot of labor and money will be involved. Your son may be okay with just keeping the memories without actually owning the car once again.
Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!
Richard O'Brien |
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[email protected]
Samba Member
Joined: May 17, 2003
Posts: 4863
Location: Harmony, PA
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:20 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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| See if you can find out a little more about the attachment to the vehicle. I know of quite a few people that have tried a "recreation" with another car, and for 100%, it ruined the entire experience since it wasn't "that car". If there is no attachment, sell the one you have. If there is attachment, like Joey mentioned, be prepared to possibly spend 10, 15, even $20k or more to get the car back into shape. With the exception of the rear inner fender shock tower mounts, I installed every repair panel available for a Super in 1992 to save my first car in my avatar. |
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Tom K.
Samba Member
Joined: March 10, 2005
Posts: 1606
Location: Central Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 4:25 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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Another idea: you and your son restore it together! And talk about your father as you do the work together. That car looks complete. If you and your son are willing to do the work and learn a few new skills such as welding, then your restored SB might only cost you a few thousand for some replacement metal and a spray, maybe a new interior. My experience has been that a lukewarm bug person (like yourself?) becomes addicted once time and effort are extended.
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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= |
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Dwayne1m
Samba Member
Joined: December 31, 2011
Posts: 3538
Location: Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:03 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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| You're gonna get a whole lot more invested in that car then what it's worth. You will never recover what you'd have to invest in it, and if you plan on doing it yourself, it will be a multi year project. A 74SB is not a sought after Beetle. |
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[email protected]
Samba Member
Joined: May 17, 2003
Posts: 4863
Location: Harmony, PA
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:24 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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| Dwayne1m wrote: |
| You're gonna get a whole lot more invested in that car then what it's worth. You will never recover what you'd have to invest in it, and if you plan on doing it yourself, it will be a multi year project. A 74SB is not a sought after Beetle. |
If the work is being done by a shop, then 90% of classic cars on the road will have more money in the restoration than what they are worth. If doing the work yourself, it's not as if you will be spending $50k on a $5k car. If you have to recoop the money, drop the whole thing.
Sentimental value goes along way. I know of two individuals that spent at least 5 times the value of the car to get it back on the road. After they were able to give the person that gave them the car a ride in it, they would have spent ten times that. |
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hitest
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2008
Posts: 10296
Location: Prime Meridian, ID
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| Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 10:29 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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As hinted at earlier, but enhanced:
Find out if it was THE car or just the nostalgic experience of A car with Grandpa. Seldom must it be the Exact car that you rebuild.
But, you say your son is not a car guy. Is he up to the responsibility of 40 year old car ownership? Will you supply him with tools and knowledge with a car you mail him? Should he have a 1/24 scale die-cast model of a blue beetle instead?
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| EverettB wrote: |
I wonder what the nut looks like.
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'62 L390 151, '62 L469 117, '63 L380 113, '64 L87 311, '65 L512 265, '65 L31 SO-42, '66 L360 251, '68 L30k 141, '71 L12 113, '74 ORG 181
FU#5 |
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VW_Jimbo 
Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2016
Posts: 9969
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 1:37 am Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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Just my two cents. If you have no skills or tools and are planning to “restore” this car or any other one, plan on spending around 5000 - 7000 to get it in off the floor shape. If you go further add dollars to that amount. Also, add dollars for anything found during the restoration that will need to be repaired which is not in plane sight. That’s the one that costs the big bucks!
I restore about 1 Bug every 2 years or so, depends on the damages found during the process. I have been doing this for 30 years with time off during those years for other more money hungry items. I have never restored one of these little cars and made money. The price I sell them for BARELY covers the labor, which I invest.
I had a 70 Bug restoration up in the restoration thread but the site, I think, has lost it or I am not seeing it. That project was a giant money pit. But the current 70 is too!
Good luck if you move forward! Make a sound decision based off of the family needs. That kind of money, invested properly could yield a decent college fund for the kid later in life.
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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!
| TDCTDI wrote: |
| Basically, a whole bunch of fuckery to achieve a look. |
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!  |
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mikec4193
Samba Member
Joined: July 15, 2014
Posts: 287
Location: Mechanicville NY (Upstate)
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 5:23 am Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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| VW_Jimbo wrote: |
Just my two cents. If you have no skills or tools and are planning to “restore” this car or any other one, plan on spending around 5000 - 7000 to get it in off the floor shape. If you go further add dollars to that amount. Also, add dollars for anything found during the restoration that will need to be repaired which is not in plane sight. That’s the one that costs the big bucks!
I restore about 1 Bug every 2 years or so, depends on the damages found during the process. I have been doing this for 30 years with time off during those years for other more money hungry items. I have never restored one of these little cars and made money. The price I sell them for BARELY covers the labor, which I invest.
I had a 70 Bug restoration up in the restoration thread but the site, I think, has lost it or I am not seeing it. That project was a giant money pit. But the current 70 is too!
Good luck if you move forward! Make a sound decision based off of the family needs. That kind of money, invested properly could yield a decent college fund for the kid later in life. |
Thanks guys...you just made me rethink this whole scenario for sure....I am more into cars than him....I have had 20 plus projects come and go thru my garage since 2002 that I either rebuilt or bought for parts or just tried to flip....(the only one I even came close to breaking even on was the 1968 VW I had in 2016)...that is why I was thinking about getting him something from his teenage years that he had shared with his grandpa....they were "thick as thief's" as my mother would say...."two peas in a pod" was another saying she would say...
I will have to talk to him about it....
Time to do some chin scratching on this one for sure...
MikeC
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Dad bought his first Beetle on Dec 17, 1953. |
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volksworld
Samba Member
Joined: November 26, 2011
Posts: 2529
Location: formerly NY currently NC
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:42 am Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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| x2 on jimbo's advice....and he's doing it in california !....my shop was in new york and 5 yr old cars needed heater channels and floorpans....and plenty of frame heads and the bottom of the tunnel and even the fork that supported the engine and trans....and lots of stuff got butchered back together to make it driveable for people that didnt want to spend any money....so a total evaluation of rust issues is step one....end result where its still "his " car may be his body with new heater channels on another pan...but then you have the issue of finding a good donor car in your area...been going nuts trying to find a good pan for a guys kit car (at a price hes willing to pay) down here for over a year |
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Dwayne1m
Samba Member
Joined: December 31, 2011
Posts: 3538
Location: Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 9:03 am Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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| [email protected] wrote: |
| Dwayne1m wrote: |
| You're gonna get a whole lot more invested in that car then what it's worth. You will never recover what you'd have to invest in it, and if you plan on doing it yourself, it will be a multi year project. A 74SB is not a sought after Beetle. |
If the work is being done by a shop, then 90% of classic cars on the road will have more money in the restoration than what they are worth. If doing the work yourself, it's not as if you will be spending $50k on a $5k car. If you have to recoop the money, drop the whole thing.
Sentimental value goes along way. I know of two individuals that spent at least 5 times the value of the car to get it back on the road. After they were able to give the person that gave them the car a ride in it, they would have spent ten times that. |
Agreed. I'm almost done restoring my 74SB. It's been a 5 year project. New quarter panels, heater channels, death foam rust, all rusted metal cut out and replaced, rebuilt engine, rechromed bumpers, new brake system, new interior headliner to carpet, new chrome and running boards, & a new paint job. I did everything myself and still spent a ton of $$$. This was the first car I ever painted so I had to buy the tools & supplies needed for that job as well. Making just about every possible mistake painting only added to the cost and time of the project. Will I ever recoup that $$? Not a chance. But It's my car and I can look at it and say "I did that", and it gave me experience to restore my 78 & 61. Lessons I learned? I now see why paint jobs are so expensive. Black is the WORST color to paint for 1st time paint job, especially if you're anal like me. You won't get a $10,000 finish if you use a $15 Harbor Freight spray gun in your garage. Don't buy the "airless paint system"  . Learn to settle for "not perfect". Expect the job to take 3 times longer & cost 3 times more then you think. |
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Buggeee
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2016
Posts: 4421
Location: Stuck in Ohio
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mikec4193
Samba Member
Joined: July 15, 2014
Posts: 287
Location: Mechanicville NY (Upstate)
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| Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 3:01 pm Post subject: Re: 1974 Super Beetle opinions needed |
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| Buggeee wrote: |
Sounds like fun to me. If this rusty super thread does not scare you away, nothing will
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...;start=300
Why not kill a half a day and go check it out? Either its better than you rememer and you bring it home, or its a hopeless wreck allowing you some closure.
Take a bunch of pictures and youll have something to share with your son right there.
Then... look for a bug project for yourself. You know you want to and... You are worth it!  |
Hey Buggee
I think I will do just what said...I already have one in the garage now...just trying to leave a legacy for my kids....
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=690677&postorder=desc
MikeC
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Dad bought his first Beetle on Dec 17, 1953. |
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Buggeee
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Joined: December 22, 2016
Posts: 4421
Location: Stuck in Ohio
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