Gina's new (old) yellow 1967 Beetle

[GINA]

Exterior
- Front and rear chrome bumpers
- Drivers side chrome mirror
- Chrome headlight rings and seals
- New front sway bar
- Air suspension

Interior
- Short shifter kit
- Replaced seatbelts
- New electrical system
- New white headliner

In the works
- Upholstery
- Replace front fenders with original 67s (needs sanding, primer and paint)
- Pea shooter exhaust

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I am pleased to intruduce the newest member of the family

I found this little guy on Craiglist, he's a 1967 Beetle, a "classic year" so I'm told. He originally came from Palm Beach FL, eventually moved up to Baltimore MD, and is now in my hands. Exterior is yellow, interior is a mix of black, cream, and crap. He's already lowered a good bit and is sporting some Empi wheels with new rubber. Front fenders are swapped out with an older bug, but the rear is still original.

We drove him home - all 45 miles - but he decided that was enough and refuses to start now. Aside from the first mechanical problem, he does need a little work and has a nice list of accessories forming. First thing on the list is a new headliner and any other interior pieces we can find. We'll also get some new chrome bumpers, and eventually a pea-shooter exhaust. We might have to raise him up a little, I don't think I can get it in the driveway without scraping.

I did find one treasure today: while digging around in the back, I saw the seat was ripped. When I lifted it up, I realized that what was on there were seat covers! It was really cool to look underneath and see the original seats as they were meant to be.

Here are pics from day one. He's still dirty, still filled with stuff from the previous owner, and still unnamed (although my Mom's been calling him "Lemon" ) I plan to give him a good thorough washing tomorrow. Enjoy and have fun watching the progress

[Breez]

oh Gina! What a sweet!!!

Congratulations!!!

[phantom302]

congrats on the new addition!! If you need some links for parts suppliers let me know.

[AmyJane]

WOOOOOOOOOO!!!! You lucky girl!!! He should be lots of fun!!
Congrats!!

[GINA]

Thanks, I really love him so far, even if he's taken a hiatus on life. He'll get my attention for a few days, but the weekend belongs to Pepper. It'll be interesting juggling 2 beetles now

He's gonna be loaded up on a flatbed trailer tomorrow and driven over to the shop that works on my car, hopefully the whole not starting thing is an easy fix. I'll also have them look everything over and point out problematic areas. Maybe get an oil change, top off the fluids, put some band-aids on some spots. It's been a long day for the new guy.

[iScott]

F to the yeah. Engine looks good. Can't wait to see it in person and see the progress.
More like; can't wait to get my hands on it!

[warren]

nice find, Gina!

[Lnzbug]

SWEEEEET!!!!!!
It looks great. The nice thing about the air cooled bugs is that when something goes wrong it's usually easy to fix. Keep the pics coming!

[bugsy98nb]

* Is UBER Jealous Sweet Ride Gina

[GINA]

Originally Posted by Lnzbug

SWEEEEET!!!!!!
It looks great. The nice thing about the air cooled bugs is that when something goes wrong it's usually easy to fix. Keep the pics coming!

haha yeah, except if you're me. I'm a total noob at air cooled anything. I did buy a Haynes and that "How to keep your VW alive if you're a total idiot" book. I have a feeling that'll be my light reading for the next 5 years.

I'm really excited to get started though, and I'm even more excited for him to be running again so I can practice that crazy stick shift.

It's wild to look outside and see a little yellow bug!


edit: Anyone know what the deal is with the headlights? See how its got those funky brackets or whatever they are? Do they serve a purpose?

[Lnzbug]

You're a quick learner Gina. I have confidence in you That bug will be cruising in no time!

[dnyed]

I just know, he's gonna be great! Keep us up to date on the progress, Gina!

[Evanrude]

OOOoo... so how much did that little beauty cost??

[Fowvay]

Damn it!!!!! I wanted to buy him!

Hehehehehe Congrats, Gina. Let me know if you guys need any help. I seem to have this bizarre addiction to working on those things.

[GINA]

Originally Posted by Evanrude

OOOoo... so how much did that little beauty cost??

Originally asked for $3000, but after pointing out some rusty spots and problematic areas we haggled it down to $2600 cash

[deeceedub]

Oooooh, I love your OB!!!!


This makes me miss our '73. But it looks like your engine is in good shape- I bet it won't take much to get him going. You may be surprised-- if you park him where passers-by can see him- you may have some old guy knock on your door wanting to know if he can play with your bug . We found several guys around here who love air-cooleds and they were all very happy to tinker around on ours- we just had to supply refreshments

Also, you'll be pleasantly surprised how affordable the parts are for your OB- at least, relative to the NB! The only drawback is that you'll just want to buy more & more stuff for him- and it will eventually add up. Looks like you got a good deal on him though. And.... we replaced the headliner in ours- and it was a HUGE p.i.t.a.... don't believe the "it's a 3-4 hour project" line. At least, it wasn't for us, although the final product did look good- it was really hard to do. And I'm pretty handy like that. We also replaced all the padding etc. in the seats and had new seat covers made- Jbugs is a great supplier for stuff like that- they know their Vdubs.

Congrats! Keep us updated!

[pdoel]

Congrats Gina!!! Looks great!!!

[angelworks]

W0OoTTTT!!!!!

Very coolio Gina..... ........we have a yellow OB vert on 17K and I sooooo want it.

[GINA]

Even yesterday while I was starting to clean him out, I had 2 people (one a complete stranger) come up and talk to me about their OBs. It was really cool I'm loving it so far. I already have a huge list of little parts I'm going to buy, I can see how it can become dangerously expensive. Thanks for the headsup about the headliner. What exactly is difficult about it? I've never tackled anything like that before.

[deeceedub]

Originally Posted by GINA

Thanks for the headsup about the headliner. What exactly is difficult about it? I've never tackled anything like that before.

What's difficult? Pretty much everything. It IS easy to tear the old one out, but that's already been done on yours. Do you have the 'ribs' that hold the headliner up? If not, you'll have to buy those too. We just used the old ones.

The hardest parts were where the headliner fits into the door and window openings- you want it to be tight with no wrinkles- a saggy wrinkly headliner will look crappy. Also, where the door pillars are- the door panels are curved so you'll have trouble keeping that neat there as well. It's been several years since we did this, so I've forgotten lots of the specifics- I just remember the general overall trauma . I did have a video that showed it done... but that guy has probably put in about a million of them, so I guess it IS easy for him! If I had it to do over, I'd definitely pay to have it done.

I'll try to remember to look at home and see if I still have that video (I may have given it to the girl that bought my '73, I can't remember). If I still have it, I'll send it to ya. It shows interior restoration (seats, headliner, carpet)as well as how to replace the window seals and glass. The carpet was easy to do, if that makes you feel any better I'll look for it tonight.