1974 'Barn find' beetle. Comments welcome!

[mcdonaldneal]

Ok.
A work colleague asked me for advice about a '70's beetle that her husband had sort of inherited, and he didn't really know what was the best thing to do with it. As I have a couple of VWs I gave some basic tips and said I would be happy to take a look if he wanted, and give a guide to its condition and maybe what the options were. Anyway, months (and months!) passed and nothing really happened and then last week she said the car was still sitting there and did I want to have a look?
Usually the back story comes with a massive pinch of salt, but this story actually totally checks out.
The guys aunt bought the beetle new in maybe March 1974 (he had the receipt!) Paid extra for seat belts, but not a radio! It was basically babied through the years, serviced and looked after very well. She didn't like to drive it in the rain and it lived in the garage next to the house. Being Scotland, that still exposed the car to some dampness in the atmosphere, but the car is very well preserved. It hasn't been driven (or even started) for at least 8 or 9 years and has sat, uncovered in the garage.
41,000 miles.
I'll attach the pics and then tell you what I could see:

The bad:
Surface rust and pitting of some of the chrome, especially hubcaps and bumpers. A little on the door handles too, but quite light.
Tail pipes, exhaust muffler, heat exchangers, all fairly rusted but, with the eye of faith, superficial and could maybe be sorted with a blast and paint.
Has sat with fuel and oil in, so we didn't make any attempt to start it. The flywheel has the tiniest 'click' on vigorous movement and the fanbelt looks perished.
The rubber seals are very very dry and brittle, especially the front trunk, but do seem virtually all original.
Wheels have been painted and are rusty under the paint, hubcaps are very pitted.
Battery totally flat, so couldn't assess the electrics!
Good:
Wow. For a Scottish car this seems super solid. The gold metallic paint is very good. A slight scrape on the front right fender.
Everything I could see was original; carb, distributor, fuel pump, air filter, vacuum hoses. Newer fuel lines and the dreaded filter in the engine bay. Surface rust on the tinware, but all seemed to be there.
Original tool roll and jack, trunk liner, washer hoses etc. Spare tyre looked like the original. Original mats and carpets.
Bodywork solid even in high risk areas; heater channels, headlight bowls, door edges, fender edges, battery tray.

This is a very nice find, and I would appreciate any comments from what folk can see, but particularly if anyone has advice on the balance between him trying to sell 'as is', versus getting the basic mechanical work done to make this a shiny, original, running 'survivor'. I can see that there is a potential rabbit hole of cosmetic work that could take this all the way to 'show car' material.
I've deliberately not said what my own thoughts are, I thought I'd see what TheSamba has to say!...
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Buggeee]

His plan is to sell it? Does he not recognize the divine mandate that issued when this was bestowed upon him? He is to drive it aimlessly and happily throughout the countryside on Sunday afternoons, telling all who will listen about his good fortune and newfound motivation to do good works and helpful acts. Have him send it to me, I'll handle it.
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1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[mcdonaldneal]

[TDCTDI]

What are their intentions? Do they want it as a driver, a show car, or a flip? Are they mechanically inclined or are they going to have to farm out the repairs?

If they're looking to flip, let it go as is. They'll make more in the long run by not investing time & money to make it "perfect", just to have potential buyers pick it apart.

BUT, if they have any mechanical aptitude, they could invest less than say, $800 in parts ($300ish for tires, $300 for all new brake master & wheel cylinders, hoses, & shoes, and then carb rebuild kit & other supplies) and have a decent little driver,
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[mcdonaldneal]

[TDCTDI]

Heck, I, like lots of others on here would love to get their paws on an original low mile beetle, especially a right hander, try posting it here in the classifieds.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[calvinater]

Mr McDonald couldn't you use another one? I know its not orange but...
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"Albatross"!

[mcdonaldneal]

[Tim Donahoe]

It’s odd that the heat risers appear to be 1974 California emissions, having two pipes instead of the single. Perhaps Scotland mandated this arrangement.

Was there a reason why the car sat for so many years? Was it inoperative? Or did the owner simply get another car and decided to drive that.

Getting the engine to run is an important step, but doing so might require a lot of internal cleanup of the fuel tank, flushing out fuel line, replacing the rubber ones, cleaning the carburetor, etc. But if I were to buy it, I’d like to know if the engine ran, the transmission shifted, etc.

Of course, there are those who’d buy it and take their chances, but the amount of money the seller received would be far less.

It seems the seller is not inclined to do any start-up work, so he should expect a lot less money unless he can get the car running.

The body looks sound, the interior in good shape, etc., and the engine and transmission may very well be in good shape, too. So, it’s a toss up.

Anyone who enjoys restoring old VW’s would be interested in the car, as is. But the price as is? Still a toss up.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[kevdonlon]

I would love to take that on, just coming to the end of a Karmann convertible resto and feeling the itch for a new project, i think it needs preserving as is and using rather than a full resto

[wcfvw69]

[hitest]

I agree with all who say to save and preserve it. That car is the stuff of dreams compared to the typical rusty heaps in the UK.

If it were mine I'd start detailing and just watching the value go up and up along with the corners of my smile!
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[mcdonaldneal]

[Tim Donahoe]

Macdonald, yes, my 1974 Super Beetle is a Sun Bug. It was repainted in the early 2000’s, and the color was a pretty close match to VW L 98 C Hellas Gold Metallic, but it’s not a perfect match. Also, the repaint was a 2-stage job with a clear coat.

However, the interior of my car was not repainted, and the color of your barn-find looks very much like my original interior Hellas Gold Metallic. It’s also possible, you could have Harvest Gold.

I’ve not seen a European gold-painted Beetle before, so maybe you’re correct and it was a special order. You could look for a paper sticker, or even a hand-written message in the trunk (front bonnet) of the car. The Sun Bugs had these clues, so maybe yours has something similar. Perhaps the receipt you mentioned has the color.

Very strange that the paint held up much better than the chrome. You’d think the paint would deteriorate first. Perhaps, like the wheels, it was repainted at some point. But, it could simply be a great original paint job.

Good luck with selling the car. I think you’ll get a lot of interest since there is no major rust—especially where you’re located. Here in California, rust is not such a big issue, but in Scotland ... hey, that’s another set of rules.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[Tom K.]

It seems complete. A 20 minute inspection could determine whether it's solid. If solid, it should bring the owner $5K to $8K as is. About $1K and a few months of evening and weekend work could make it a very nice car.
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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=

[hitest]

[Tim Donahoe]

I don’t know, hitest, the car looks pretty well preserved. If it runs, and if the mileage is correct, the lower price mentioned doesn’t seem out of line at all.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[DurocShark]

A whole bunch of that rust on the chrome will come off with chrome polish. I'd hit the chrome with that and see what comes out.

Engines are the easy part of a classic car. That body and interior look amazing.
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No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow.

[hitest]

[Tim Donahoe]

Hitest, I don’t have a currency converter, so let’s assume the car in question was located in the U.S. In Northern California, that car would be worth $1500 to $2000 less that if it were located in the rust belt or New England, or even Virginia. The exterior and interior of that car appear to be in pretty good shape. If the heating channels, pans, and underbody are in good shape, requiring no repairs, I’m assuming that in Scotland, that’s a big plus.

Here in Redding, there are many acvw’s that are in great condition. The dry climate, lack of rain, salt on the roads, etc. have a lot to do with this. Actually, we have a lot of vintage cars of all kinds of makes. It’s not uncommom for me to see Model T’s, ‘57 Chevy’s—all kinds of vintage cars on our streets, even when I am only taking a short trip to the grocery store. Today, in fact, on the way to Subway, I saw an old Morris Minor panel truck (and it looked brand new).

My point is that these vintage cars in fair to excellent shape are not that uncommon. So, the prices for them are less expensive, especially compared to back east where the snow, salt, humidity, and rain have destroyed so many other vintage cars.

How many decent old bugs are there in rainy Scotland? My guess would be not a lot. So the price goes up.

If the mileage on that gold bug is correct, five grand doesn’t seem unreasonable to me in, say, in New York State. Whatever that amount converts to in Scotland is relative.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien