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grandpa Love

grandpa Love

Well-known Member
I have this cub for sale, guy asked about a trade. He has a running, driving, '73 Bug. I can't for the life of me think why I want that bug so bad! Lol Strangely our 17 and 19 year old boys both want the bug, too. Even Renee is liking it.....
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Haven't owned a bug in 30+ years....
 
A McPherson strut Super Beetle = NO WAY!

Take that bug out on a looong, smooth road and get it up above 40 mph. Feel that front end lift and shimmy? Notice the tenious connection between the steering wheel and your front tires? Youll need to replace the spare with 3-4 cement bags to ''cure'' it. If you want really a bug, hold out for a standard beetle with a torsion-bar front axle, youll be MUCH happier with the ride.

On the plus side, both of those vehicles are about the same in horsepower to the rear wheels- Nebraska U. and SAE ratings be damned...
 

I'd ask for some cash in the deal. First car my mom bought new--yellow '73 bug. We kids ran it into the ground. Be sure to check the floorpan. Gerrit
 
You would probably be surprised how much you can soup-up a VW engine. I remember in the late sixties a family bought an old farm on a dead end mountain road and started a commune. For a while they had a VW bug painted like a ladybug with rods with toilet bowl floats on the end sticking out the front for antenna.
 
Back when I was 17-18 I had 4 or 5 bugs and 2 VW vans. When my parents left Mississippi they left them all behind. That was when I was in the Navy. Wish I had them today
 
Looks like its pretty much rotted out on the underside. Had a couple of those wheels I was younger. Dont have to use the clutch much if driven properly by their shifting points on the speedometer.

Vito
 
A cub for a bug? Kind of has a ring to it, don't it.

I've only riden in a bug one time. And I felt like I was ridding around inside a small bubble. Never personally had a desire to have one, after I had ridden in one.

I remember the fad when people would use parts from a beattle bug to make a dune bug. And that always interested me. Always wanted to have me a dune bug. I checked into doing that, or finding a dune bug a few years ago. But, ... if I was going to mess around with a dune bug, I wanted it to be street legal. And the street legal part sounded like a big pain in the A to me. So, I just scrapped the whole idea. Kind of kept me from persuing that dream.
 
When I was growing up the local pharmacist had 13 kids, good catholic people. His family came to church every week in 2 vw bugs, he drove one and his wife the other.
 
Only mean to be helpful here but I would pass. We owned a bunch and drove them a lot back in the day. Fun novelty but today I wouldn't drive one. Way underpowered for today's roads and zero modern safety upgrades. Its missing the running boards usually the first to rot off.
 
I was looking at some prices online, unrestored and incomplete they have little value, maybe $1000.

Unless you're willing to put a lot of work and money for a professional paint job, don't expect to turn a profit on it!

For a beat around novelty toy... Maybe. Parts used to be cheap on them when they were plentiful, but though still available, they are expensive!
 
(quoted from post at 15:35:05 11/11/22)
(quoted from post at 10:34:57 11/11/22) That is a Super Beetle not a beetle.
Click to expand...

How can you tell? They all look the same to me.
Gerrit
Click to expand...

1971 & 72 are hard to tell until you open the hood. It will have a lot of room for luggage vs the standard bug.
1973+ had the curved windshield vs flat.
All supers had coils on struts for front suspension.
 
(quoted from post at 14:54:11 11/11/22)
(quoted from post at 15:35:05 11/11/22)
(quoted from post at 10:34:57 11/11/22) That is a Super Beetle not a beetle.
Click to expand...

How can you tell? They all look the same to me.
Gerrit
Click to expand...

1971 & 72 are hard to tell until you open the hood. It will have a lot of room for luggage vs the standard bug.
1973+ had the curved windshield vs flat.
All supers had coils on struts for front suspension.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I remember our '73 had the flat windshield, I actually prefer that look. The rounded one starts looking a little too bubble-like.

Gerrit
 
I have built 3 sand buggies and own numerous bugs. I hauled home every bug i could find. Almost every engine needs line board.Almost every used engine has a cracked head and almost every engine needs the heads flycut as they leak between the head and cylinder. Almost every engine has a pile of leaves stacked on top of the cooling fins causing them to over heat the head. There is NO head gasket. Grab the end of the belt pully and push in and pull out checking for end play. There should be only about .008 thousandths of end play. Ill bet it has a quarter to 38ths end play in it. I say leave it there.
 
The quickest way to tell a super is the louvers,or slots in the middle under the front bumper.We have no low priced
Beetles here.They are made of gold.I only like the pre-67's,so I never look at these too seriously.I did sell one a
couple of years ago,it had some rust underneath it.I thought $2500.was a lot,but I had a couple dozen calls on it
the first day.Not run in years,interior eaten by mice,but it had been under cover all it's life.Is there a picture
I'm missing? Somebody said the underneath was rotted,I can't tell that from the picture.When you see those nerf bars
on the front,you can pretty much count on the runningboards being removed too.I've done a lot of heater channels
and floor pans in those years ago,now I they need them I want nothing to do with them.The only exception is under
the battery in the back seat,that rot hole has a VW part number.
 
The quickest way to tell a super is the louvers,or slots in the middle under the front bumper.We have no low priced
Beetles here.They are made of gold.I only like the pre-67's,so I never look at these too seriously.I did sell one a
couple of years ago,it had some rust underneath it.I thought $2500.was a lot,but I had a couple dozen calls on it
the first day.Not run in years,interior eaten by mice,but it had been under cover all it's life.Is there a picture
I'm missing? Somebody said the underneath was rotted,I can't tell that from the picture.When you see those nerf bars
on the front,you can pretty much count on the runningboards being removed too.I've done a lot of heater channels
and floor pans in those years ago,now if they need them I want nothing to do with them.The only exception is under
the battery in the back seat,that rot hole has a VW part number.
 
Reminds me of a college story a friend of mine told about his buddy with a bug. Seems his buddy was bragging about his great gas mileage. So his friends started adding gas to his car, giving him unbelievable MPG. He bragged to everyone about his near 100 MPG. Then his friend started to remove gas until he was in the single digit MPG.
 
I had 3 bugs.
Valves are the biggest issue.
Mine had no oil filter and it was recommended to change oil every 1500 miles and adjust the valves the same time.

A trip back from Florida one valve broke off and put a big dent in the piston, locked the engine about 250 miles from Terre Haute.

I sold the car after I got it fixed.

Hitler lost the war, but he even by sending the VW to the USA.

Sorry, you couldn't give me a bug.

The heater and defroster sucked.

Great car for driving on snow covered roads.

Only 25 mpg. One of my cars had the gas tank behind the spare tire. A tin can for a front bumper. Avoid a front end collision.
The spare tire is in the front trunk and so is the gas tank.

I know a young girl that had a bug. Went over elevated RR tracks too fast. The car went airborne, the rear wheels acted like a sling shot when the car landed it flipped and rolled.

I wouldn't buy a bug for a young kid.
Kids are prone to having accidents and I don't think VWs are safe. No frame for the bumper to attach to and you could bend the bumper very easily. My late wife had a VW with auto stick shift. She forgot to set the parking brake. Opened the door to get out. A gust of wind blew her car into a telephone pole and beat the front bumper.

I hate to be a downer. I just tell it like I see it..
 
Add to that list the stretched or burnt #3 exhaust valve! Its less of a problem on the later 1600s with the offset oil cooler, but it still happens.
 
I had 1 in Germany. It ranked right up there with the 7 ford pickups I've owned as being the biggest pieces of junk ever built. I could change the motor in it in about an hour and a half. The fords took quite a while longer.
 
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