1965 custom bug

[jackq]

For the long week-end my wife and I reserved a room foe afew nites in Ruidodo NM. Beautiful place and we go there often, usually in or motorhome but with fuel prices...oh well. Driving into town early friday in the wifes Mustang GT vert...top down and enjoying the scenery, my wife spots a beautiful two tone old beetle going the other way. Kind of a cranberry color on top with the lower panels a cranbeery tinted silver. Then she says "theres a sign in the rear window" Uh-oh...We checked in and thenwent bug hunting. Found it..looked at it and talked to the owner. Left...a few minutes later the wife says"go buy it..its cute". Mkae a long story short, today when we left the mountains...she drove the Mustang...I drove this...got a solid 37mpg ant 65-70 mph. It has a window shattering young persons stereo, pop-out rear windows, adjustable dropped front end, custom lock-out shifter, VW stock rims that are chromed and baby moons. Lots of other stuff plus a brand new 1600 dual port crate engine..slightly modified merged exhaust.

 

[tony barnhill]

Yep, it is cute in a teenager's sort of way...here's mine the day we brought it out of the body shop after a quick refurbishing; 75,000 original, verifiable miles:

<span style="color: #FF0000"> <span style="font-size: 14pt"> <span style="font-weight: bold">LET'S SEE A PHOTO OF EVERYBODY'S BUG!</span></span></span>

 

[kennypinkerton]

I came this close to buying one about a week ago. Good looking black 69 with the original 1500 new black carpet and white seats. He only wanted $1500, but I wanted to fix up the MGB. Wound up needing the money for other things though. I still want it.

Love the 2 tone, and considered doing it to the one I was going to get. Silver on the bottom and black on top.

 

[drooartz]

Cute little bug, not a bad souvenir from your trip.

 

[Silverghost]

We had an '03 Turbo. Was a fun car but had more than it's fair share of problems. Blew threw vacuum hoses like crazy. And then the fit and finish on many of the interior pieces deteriorated badly. The finishing touch was the turbo self-destructed despite regular oil changes and servicing. The dealer covered it under warranty. And then 6 months later it blew again. Also warrantied. Still, was a fun car!

 

[Banjo]

I watched a bit of Herbie Fully Loaded today. Does that count?
hehehe. Nice lookin bug. I love air cooled V-dubs I had a 73 VW thing once upon a time. I've always wanted a classic Beetle. I like the older ones with the extra chrome bars on the bumpers, and the smaller taillights (pre- Naderized)
Like the 2-tone on that one. Looks sharp

 

[jackq]

Cute in a teen-ager kind of way?? Two tones are the craze and still can make more money doing the retro look than the stock. I've done probaly 300 bugs and people still prefer the custom look...and very few are teen-agers...they can't afford me.

 

[Team_Sprite]

Tony, is that a stock VW blue? In cross referencing the light blue that our 57 Isetta Cabriolet came clothed in, the BMW supplied Dupont numbers popped up with a VW color (also a Chrysler?). Looks quite close, at least on my Apple monitor.

Brian
www.teamisetta.com
www.teamsprite.com

p.s Close to forty years ago I had a yellow 56 VW convertible that I loved, enough time has passed that my aging brain has forgotten all the valve adjusts (watch that #3) etc., and all I remember is how much fun it was. I think I still have my copy of The Idiot's Guide" somewhere. As I recall, we could pull the engine (onto three garbage can lids) in under four minutes with two kids working.

 

[tony barnhill]

Yep, we used the factory code & mixed the paint exactly like it was mixed - using the same type paint...what I wanted to achieve was a 'factory' paint job.

 

[jackq]

Tony...when my daughter turned fifteen..she is now 37...we bought a bug idenical to yours except one year newer. Same color...it was sold and left the state, ended up in Idaho. Owner got out of the miliatry, sold it to a guy who enlisted and he ended up here at Cannon AFB. We bought it back and suprised my daughter with her first car...again..Heres what it looks like now.

 

[tony barnhill]

My now 35 year-old daughter's 1st car was a '71 Karmann Ghia - we presented it to her at her Sweet 16 birthday party after I spent a year totally restoring it...when she got to college, she convinced me to let her drive my Euro 323i BMW by staying on the President's List her entire time in college....she took her Ghia to her grandmother's and completely covered it with a blue tarp trying to protect it (she & her grandmother even went all around the car laying bricks end-to-end)....well, we all know what happened over the next few years!

Since then, we've gone through the body correcting all the rust....this Fall/Winter we're taking the body off the pan to do a complete restoration.

When we got it, it was its original Orange...she wanted it Corvette Red.....it even had the optional gas heater which I took out but kept each piece....has a Webasto sunroof....we'll take it back to Orange when we redo it (it has an appointment in the body shop for Aug-Jan which means it'll probably be finished by her 36th birthday in May!).

Here's what it looks like after sitting a few years to make sure I've got all the rust:

Oh, its stored inside now. I built a "German room" onto my garage for the Ghia, Bug & my 380SL. And, the '73 Bug w/75,000 miles: I drove my mother-in-law to the VW dealer to pick it up new the day she bought it - she & I are the only people to ever drive it!

Brian: Beautifull little Isetta!

 

[jackq]

Wish I had known you had a Ghia....I recently sold all four Ghias and literally two truck and trailer load of parts...bumpers, new body panels, engines, trans, tons of glass and other stuff. Alot of it was still in boxes....basically gave it away.

 

[tony barnhill]

Oh well....but it is shown on my web site's MG Museum.

 

[Silverghost]

Tony, great site you have there!!

One thing has me a tiny bit confused...which of your cars are for sale?!!

<RUNS AND HIDES IN AN UNDERGROUND BUNKER!!> :laugh: LOL

Really though, very nice site!

 

[tony barnhill]

<span style="font-weight: bold">NO! - NO! - NO!

NONE OF MY CARS ARE FOR SALE!

NOT TODAY!

NOT TOMORROW!

NOT UNTIL I'M 6 FEET UNDER GROUND!

&, THEN MAYBE NEVER*!</span>

(*especially as I have a grandson to whom I can leave them.)

<span style="font-weight: bold">NO! - NO! - NO!</span>

 

[kennypinkerton]

:lol:

 

[Silverghost]

Then I'll just have the Spam..... :laugh: (points to those who get that obscure reference!)

 

[kennypinkerton]

Spamity spam, Wonderful Spam.

 

[Darwin]

Quit waffling Tony. Will you sell one of your cars or not. Be specific. I hate it when people can make up their minds.
:laugh: :laugh:
:laugh:

 

[70herald]

Tony that looks exactly like one of my fathers Bug back in the day. I think it was the only one he bought new.

Nice seeing an UNMODIFIED beetle in a great period color. Rather nicer than the daily driver '70 beetle I have been running around with lately while waiting for more parts for the Herald.