Sorry no photo...
73' VW Super beetle.
I was 17-18. I bought it from my cousins friends Mom for 400 bucks. It was barely running.
I was determined to prove a point to my dad that I didn't need his help to accomplish anything.
I was working at Costco at the time so I was making decent cash (for a kid in the 90s). So I bought a Chilton's guide and a bunch of tools from my job.
Pulled the thing in the garage and went to work. Between my Chilton's guide and VW Magazine, I was able to pull the engine and disassemble every thing. Scrubbed and cleaned every part I could touch.
But after opening the engine and realizing that I needed big boy tools for boring out cylinders and resurfacing stuff, I figured I would take it to some pros. I bought all new stuff from JC Whitney. Chrome everything.
Took it to a machine shop in LA some where. I lived in San Clemente at the time so it was a journey. Driving my buddy's car (91' Honda Prelude) with the back seat and trunk full of the engine and innards of my love bug. They took a month to do nothing. I found out that they had not even touched my engine. I went back to pick it all up and ended up at a shop in my neighborhood. Shadetree Automotive was awesome. They dialed it in and got it right.
I had them paint the block and all the odd parts Ford Blue. Looked great to me with all the chrome. Got it home and manged to put it all back in with out dying. There is no way to describe the feeling I got when it actually started up.
Moved on to the interior. Went back to JC Whitney and bought all new molded flooring and carpets. Floor mats, OEM Seat covers, Dash and gauges, one piece side
windows, chrome exhaust tips, the whole nine (even a blaupunkt stereo). At this point my dad was fuming. I think A) because I did all of this with out his permission. I didn't think I needed his permission to spend my hard earned cash. and B) the VW was in the garage blocking access to his stuff. The stuff the he had not touched since the early 80s with the ecosystem of spiders and wildlife living in it....
Once the inside was done I had to take it for a spin. Found out the hard way that the emergency brake cable was not tight... On the hills of the back roads of San Clemente... But I managed to survive and get it back home safe.
So. Now that the thing is running. I wanted to make the outside look as pretty as the engine and inside. Registration and all the legal mumbo jumbo could wait. Bought a tub of Bondo and went to work. The end result was some where between a case of the mumps or lupus. But I did it. And it was mine.
I went to see the guys at a near by body shop with the hopes of getting this high quality $99 paint job I has been hearing so much about on the radio... Figured since I did and the proper "prep work" I was sure to get this deal. The guy takes a look at my car and believe it or not was able to keep from laughing at my bondo job. So after some inspection the guy come back and hands me this crusty reddish brown pancake shaped thing. He informed me that this was from near my gas tank. He proceeded to point out that the body was so rusty that the metal work/fixing of the bondo would cost a few times more than what the car was worth and pretty much not worth it. I was destroyed. Now imagine that feeling I had when it started up reversed and an amplified a thousand times over. yeah, I was ruined.
So not wanting to admit failure. I sold the engine to a buddy of mine for a grand! Bought my second first car. A Mitsubishi Precis (aka Hyundai Excel). I cant write what I did with the VWs carcass. It might get me in trouble. So I still succeeded where everyone thought I would fail (success in my own mind at least.) Soooo sooo many good times in that car. WOW I could write a novel on the adventures in that car. But that would probably get me in trouble too. Glad I grew out of those years. Whew...
There is my story. Its late. Why am I still at the shop?
which also explains the broken transmisson. I still remember the day I was racing down the highway with a v6 mustang doing 115 and a cop pulled out behind us and I slowed down when I noticed, was probably still doing 85 when the cop went by and pulled over the mustang. Got her stuck in a field so bad one time one truck couldn't pull it out so we chained another truck to the truck pulling to get it unstuck. And I lost my ... nevermind. Wish i still had it sold it for $1100.
Cheers to the ford Escort.
