1966 VW Beetle
Discussion
ash73 said:
If I had one of these I'd take it to Chesil.
ahhh the Porka 356 kit? My father in law has two of these - one below is on air ride (all self built) it is pretty cool! He has a thread on VZI...got loads of photos of it, but found it on google imageshttps://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GCEB_enGB78...
BigMon said:
I love how you are just using it 'as nature intended' rather than faffing around with it or storing it as an investment.
Much kudos to you for keeping it going and looking after it. Makes it much more special in my eyes.
Cheers BigMon - I will put it away for little bit over winter (now I have proper storage) its my wedding car on Saturday Much kudos to you for keeping it going and looking after it. Makes it much more special in my eyes.
so rather excited to be using it. (will post some pics hopefully)Few things to fix over the winter months (gonna need to take off exhaust to clean it up abit, also got original peashooter exhaust I am restoring, new dampers and fix few oily bits on engine), but yes I use it as much as I can, good solid cars mechanically - they were designed to be used every day foreeeevver!
I had a '65 for a while, maybe two years, and I loved and hated it in not equal measure. It really is a very handsome car that gets a lot of compliments, but f
k me, they are slow, noisy, bad handling, uncomfortable, cold in winter, unreliable, uneconomical, not that easy to work on, and rust like a bd.
k me, they are slow, noisy, bad handling, uncomfortable, cold in winter, unreliable, uneconomical, not that easy to work on, and rust like a bd.drjdog said:
I had a '65 for a while, maybe two years, and I loved and hated it in not equal measure. It really is a very handsome car that gets a lot of compliments, but fk me, they are slow, noisy, bad handling, uncomfortable, cold in winter, unreliable, uneconomical, not that easy to work on, and rust like a bd.
k me, they are slow, noisy, bad handling, uncomfortable, cold in winter, unreliable, uneconomical, not that easy to work on, and rust like a bd. good honest review tbh, completely understand the "love/hate" relationship with them - pretty much like every classic car of that era then - luckily mine is never outside long enough to rust too much Although I disagree with the mechanical side, they are a joy to work on in comparison to other cars, unless you have rusted out bolts
+1 to that. After years of having to remove everything in the stupidly crowded engine bay to get to one (grotesquely expensive) component on Japanese cars, my '71 Beetle is the easiest thing I've ever worked on. And more importantly, unless you want to pay scene tax on original knick-knacks, parts are refreshingly inexpensive and wonderfully available. There's a lot to be said for having a car they built 21 million of.... tend to be a bit of stuff around for them
Well the wedding has gone and my bug performed great! So many people asking questions about it, I was more happy that it started outside the church with all them eyes watching 
It's back on the ramps now at my barn and will be removing the exhaust for some stock vintage speed'ness to come..
It's back on the ramps now at my barn and will be removing the exhaust for some stock vintage speed'ness to come..
Edited by DailyHack on Thursday 15th November 10:19
I loved my 67 Beetle in pale blue which I bought in 1985.
It was cheap because the previous owner had hand painted it with a brush in Hammerite, it took me weeks to sand it down to bare metal. The first MOT in my ownership listed it as blue/red/brown/grey under 'colour'.
I used to commute weekly to college, 120 mile round trip and got it up to 95mph a few times.
I bought it because my other cars of that era were rustbuckets and the Beetle felt much more solid, it's hard to put into words but it almost felt unbreakable.
As it turned out I managed to break it in fairly spectacular style.
Having got the bodywork up to scratch I set about trying to improve the engine, the details are hazy but I recall something about a .009 distributor and I had the engine out to replace the clutch one Sunday afternoon and ran out of time before needing to leave for college. I hastily put it back in and didn't bother joining all the tinware back together, can't be that important can it?
Well, yes it can as I found out hammering up the M4 marvelling at how much faster it was with the new dizzy and non-slipping clutch. Bang, clatter, overheated no3 cylinder/piston.
Oh well, it was time for a 1600 anyway.
It was cheap because the previous owner had hand painted it with a brush in Hammerite, it took me weeks to sand it down to bare metal. The first MOT in my ownership listed it as blue/red/brown/grey under 'colour'.
I used to commute weekly to college, 120 mile round trip and got it up to 95mph a few times.
I bought it because my other cars of that era were rustbuckets and the Beetle felt much more solid, it's hard to put into words but it almost felt unbreakable.
As it turned out I managed to break it in fairly spectacular style.
Having got the bodywork up to scratch I set about trying to improve the engine, the details are hazy but I recall something about a .009 distributor and I had the engine out to replace the clutch one Sunday afternoon and ran out of time before needing to leave for college. I hastily put it back in and didn't bother joining all the tinware back together, can't be that important can it?
Well, yes it can as I found out hammering up the M4 marvelling at how much faster it was with the new dizzy and non-slipping clutch. Bang, clatter, overheated no3 cylinder/piston.
Oh well, it was time for a 1600 anyway.
Stella Tortoise said:
I loved my 67 Beetle in pale blue which I bought in 1985.
It was cheap because the previous owner had hand painted it with a brush in Hammerite, it took me weeks to sand it down to bare metal. The first MOT in my ownership listed it as blue/red/brown/grey under 'colour'.
I used to commute weekly to college, 120 mile round trip and got it up to 95mph a few times.
I bought it because my other cars of that era were rustbuckets and the Beetle felt much more solid, it's hard to put into words but it almost felt unbreakable.
As it turned out I managed to break it in fairly spectacular style.
Having got the bodywork up to scratch I set about trying to improve the engine, the details are hazy but I recall something about a .009 distributor and I had the engine out to replace the clutch one Sunday afternoon and ran out of time before needing to leave for college. I hastily put it back in and didn't bother joining all the tinware back together, can't be that important can it?
Well, yes it can as I found out hammering up the M4 marvelling at how much faster it was with the new dizzy and non-slipping clutch. Bang, clatter, overheated no3 cylinder/piston.
Oh well, it was time for a 1600 anyway.
Cool story, yes tinware plays a massive part of keeping them running cool and dissipating heat away, also keeping it black "...chrome doesn't get you home.." I couldn't drive one daily no matter how much I love driving it, if i worked closer to home I could maybe once a week, quite happy in my diesel BMW for 30k annual mileage It was cheap because the previous owner had hand painted it with a brush in Hammerite, it took me weeks to sand it down to bare metal. The first MOT in my ownership listed it as blue/red/brown/grey under 'colour'.
I used to commute weekly to college, 120 mile round trip and got it up to 95mph a few times.
I bought it because my other cars of that era were rustbuckets and the Beetle felt much more solid, it's hard to put into words but it almost felt unbreakable.
As it turned out I managed to break it in fairly spectacular style.
Having got the bodywork up to scratch I set about trying to improve the engine, the details are hazy but I recall something about a .009 distributor and I had the engine out to replace the clutch one Sunday afternoon and ran out of time before needing to leave for college. I hastily put it back in and didn't bother joining all the tinware back together, can't be that important can it?
Well, yes it can as I found out hammering up the M4 marvelling at how much faster it was with the new dizzy and non-slipping clutch. Bang, clatter, overheated no3 cylinder/piston.
Oh well, it was time for a 1600 anyway.
Greendubber said:
Brilliant, congratulations on your wedding. The bug looks great!
Cheers mate! That was 4 coats of polish and the classic Brasso silver cleaner on the hubcaps and all the chrome fittings Wedding ribbon whipped the bonnet abit in the wind and made superficial marks on there - sure it will t-cut out DailyHack said:
Cheers mate! That was 4 coats of polish and the classic Brasso silver cleaner on the hubcaps and all the chrome fittings Wedding ribbon whipped the bonnet abit in the wind and made superficial marks on there - sure it will t-cut out
If not, leave them be. All part of the (hi)story of the car and what makes it yours Wedding ribbon whipped the bonnet abit in the wind and made superficial marks on there - sure it will t-cut out MrBig said:
If not, leave them be. All part of the (hi)story of the car and what makes it yours
Yeah, good point - I have put a few dents and dings in it, just from storage over the years by accident, not too fussed on superficial bodywork marks, like you say part of its history - the bonnet is starting to come up in places, and the roof is starting to react or peel also - but not wanting to respray it.Lovely. My first car was a '73 1300 Beetle, which of course I ruined with a red, black and orange paint job, massive chrome Skorpion wheels (with very cheap tyres) and a kadron 'sports' exhaust. Loved it though. Wrote that one off on a roundabout.
That was followed by a beautiful totally original grey ish/blue '68 1500 with disc brakes. That was unfortunately stolen by some scroat in Birmingham in 1991. I still have the key, in the vain hope that I come across TAL161G again and she will once again be mine.
Two friends of mine are heavily into VW restoration so I'm always poking around them and have a very strong hankering of getting another. I loved working on mine when I was young and learnt so much. Engine out in 30 mins. Try doing that on anything much else.
Fantastic little cars and yours looks an absolute beaut!
That was followed by a beautiful totally original grey ish/blue '68 1500 with disc brakes. That was unfortunately stolen by some scroat in Birmingham in 1991. I still have the key, in the vain hope that I come across TAL161G again and she will once again be mine.
Two friends of mine are heavily into VW restoration so I'm always poking around them and have a very strong hankering of getting another. I loved working on mine when I was young and learnt so much. Engine out in 30 mins. Try doing that on anything much else.
Fantastic little cars and yours looks an absolute beaut!
Edited by alfabeat on Thursday 15th November 21:35
Lovely. My first car was a '73 1300 Beetle, which of course I ruined with a red, black and orange paint job, chrome Skorpion wheels and a kadron 'sports' exhaust. Loved it though. Wrote that one off on a roundabout.
That was followed by a beautiful totally original grey ish/blue '68 1500 with disc brakes. That was unfortunately stolen by some scroat in Birmingham in 1991. I still have the key, in the vain hope that I come across TAL161G again and she will once again be mine.
Two friends of mine are heavily into VW restoration so I'm always poking around them and have a very strong hankering of getting another. I loved working on mine when I was young and learnt so much. Engine out in 30 mins. Try doing that on anything much else.
Fantastic little cars and yours looks an absolute beaut!
That was followed by a beautiful totally original grey ish/blue '68 1500 with disc brakes. That was unfortunately stolen by some scroat in Birmingham in 1991. I still have the key, in the vain hope that I come across TAL161G again and she will once again be mine.
Two friends of mine are heavily into VW restoration so I'm always poking around them and have a very strong hankering of getting another. I loved working on mine when I was young and learnt so much. Engine out in 30 mins. Try doing that on anything much else.
Fantastic little cars and yours looks an absolute beaut!
Edited by alfabeat on Thursday 15th November 21:36
Right, back at the shed. Exhaust is off and needing a repair, managed to source a new stock exhaust system, this will just fit alot better.
As much as I like the 4-tip repro abarth it just never fitted correctly...this came off easy with only one snapped bolt plenty of WD40 and all was good.
Gonna replace my ugly black J-tubes with stainless steel ones, look the bees knees these should be getting delivered today
As much as I like the 4-tip repro abarth it just never fitted correctly...this came off easy with only one snapped bolt
plenty of WD40 and all was good.Gonna replace my ugly black J-tubes with stainless steel ones, look the bees knees these should be getting delivered today
Stainless steels fitted they look good, after a ball ache of a fitment with my newly bought stock muffler, it's back on with the abarth 4 tip (vwheritage muffler didn't fit at all, hoping for a refund)
Going to give the abarth a paint and mild repair and be good to go on again, will match the vintage speed look I wanted anyway.
Gonna leave bug for while now in hibernation busy few weeks coming up doing other things...it's up on the axles stands to avoid vermin getting in, now it's getting colder.
Going to give the abarth a paint and mild repair and be good to go on again, will match the vintage speed look I wanted anyway.
Gonna leave bug for while now in hibernation
busy few weeks coming up doing other things...it's up on the axles stands to avoid vermin getting in, now it's getting colder.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff