The Bugshop FAQ pt6

www.geocities.com/MotorCity/4000/bsfqbyng.htm

The last of Bug Shop's guide to buying a Beetle (many of its parts apply to any aircooled, or indeed any car), is reproduced by kind permission of the author, John S. Henry of the Bugshop USA.

Summary of it all

Ok, so we covered a lot of stuff here. Many people who have read this article and gone and looked at a Beetle that they thought was perfect came back and e-mailed me and said "man, you really scared me!" What does it all mean? It is hard for me to say "don't buy that one", because I feel like I can fix anything. But it is always a trade-off. And it may be even more important for you to pass up a basket case give-away if you are unsure of your capabilities/resources. And don't under/over estimate the availability of missing or bad parts. Some stuff is damn hard to find. Scope out availability before you buy.

So to summarise the solid Beetle, let me group the candidates in to 4 general categories. This assumes that the selling price of the Beetle is fair. Yeah, if it is a giveaway, I might be inclined to buy more of a "project".

Beetles I would walk away from:

• Severe rust or rot anywhere along the heater channels (almost all years)
• Severe rust or rot in the front lower firewall area (almost all years)
• Severe rust or rot in the front bulkhead area where the front beam attaches (almost all years)
• Severe rust or rot in the lower "A" pillar (almost all years)
• Evidence of major front collision damage ('67 and older)
• A '67 with major rear end damage
• Any 3 or more of the things in the list below

Beetles I would only take if they were a real steal:

• Clutch tube detached
• Wheezing, drippy, useless engine
• Tranny popping out of any gear
• Evidence of major front collision damage ('68 and up)
• Both pans in need of total replacement
• Saggy, beat up looking doors
• Needs all front end components including steering box

Beetles I would take if the seller's initial asking price was fair and he "came down" when I pointed out these things:

• Loose, wobbly, clunky front end
• Poorly or non-operating brakes
• A high mileage engine that needed immediate work
• Missing significant pieces (65 and up; exception the '67 hard to get stuff)
• Beetles that would be tough to go home without:
• See "Mechanical Stuff- Vintage considerations, Other stuff" above.

There are of course exceptions everywhere. No, I wouldn't "walk" on an otherwise complete '51 for $1000 because the rear running board area was rusted through. But on the other hand, a '71 with a loose clutch cable tube and a wheezing engine might make me go looking' at the other four '71s that are in the paper that week. And it doesn't mean you shouldn't buy that '64 that needs a tranny, bumpers and has baja fibreglass fenders all the way around. It just means that you shouldn't pay top dollar for it.

Hopefully that all helps "scope" things for you. What I really hoped to offer in all of this are those "hidden" things that are a real pain, and those things that might look big to a newbie, but are really easy and inexpensive to fix.

And remember, you WILL be fixing stuff.

Assessing the "Ultimate" Beetle

So, you want to get really picky huh?

Perfect is indisputable. I have decided to add this for two reasons.

One, to give you the tools to break down those people who are asking WAY too much for their Beetles and to bring them back to reality.

And two, because if you ever go look a "completely restored" Beetle, you can get REALLY picky.

I had made a note to myself to add this stuff as earlier this year after I went to assess a '56 that was for sale in my town for two separate people who contacted me on the 'net looking for a special old Beetle.

The short story goes that I had found a '56 "fully and professionally" restored in the classifieds, in my town, for $4500. Now, a '56, really restored nicely, might be worth that. But "magnifying glass" inspection of this car revealed that is was poorly done. At a distance this car looked wonderful. Nice paint, no dings in the lower front hood, absolutely pristine interior done in all the right (expensive) fabrics. But closer inspection revealed peeling paint, a B pillar with a "wave" curvature in it, and a nose that was punched in a good inch and a half such that the hood line didn't match the front quarter panel lines.

I talked to the guy who had done the restoration work a couple years back, he was quite proud of his work. But it was an absolute shame to spend all of that time and money and paint on this car and not even TRY to pull the nose out. No one with good conscious could have painted over this B pillar and expected the discerning enthusiast not to notice. Interestingly enough, I was contacted via e-mail just last week by a guy looking for a wiper for his '56, found out he lives in the town next to mine. He called me and told me that he had bought this '56; for substantially less than the seller was asking. Months before, the seller had told me a dozen times about all the good money she spent on it (she did virtually none of the work). Sadly, she will never get it back.

So when you are inspecting that "concours" Beetle, what do you look for? Some of this stuff is obvious, I've already mentioned it (but I take it a step further), and some stuff you may never see perfect. And by the way, the car that passes all of these tests is NOT driven. Maybe across town to a show, where it is then wiped down for three hours. Here's my Beetle "final" exam:

Assessing the "Ultimate" Beetle: Become One With the Nose

That whole spare tire well area of the Beetle can't hide much. It in the "100%" Beetle, it should be totally dent and rust free, shiny and clean. Look closely at those well sides and the whole inner quarter in the front. If the car has not ever been undercoated and those quarters are clean (what!? DIRT under the fenders of this $8000 car!! Puh-leeeeaze!) you shouldn't be able to see any "straightened" metal or "clips". A "clip" is when somebody welds a whole nose, cut from another car, onto the project. Making a panel weld, with no overlap, undetectable is all but impossible (but I did it ;-). Look at all of the areas that I talked about "doomsday" rust. Look for welding and patching. Look close, from the sides of the car, at the line that the hood makes with the upper edge of the front quarters. It should be uniform (the same width gap) all the way from the windshield to the bottom edge of the hood.

Assessing the "Ultimate" Beetle: The Doors

Same for the doors, look at the uniformity of the gap that the rear edge of the doors make. Look at the molding line as it crosses from the door to the rear quarter. Look at the underside of the doors, there should be no rust, bubbling, peeling or scratched paint. Perfect is perfect.

Assessing the "Ultimate" Beetle: A Smooth Belly

We're way beyond rust-out here. A "perfect" car should have a perfect pan. Crawl under. The underside of the pan should be nicely painted and have no dents. Front to back, side to side. Everything should be clean.

The "Ultimate" Beetle: My Favourite, The seal retainer lips

This is the hardest one. The hood-to-body and rear decklid-to-body seals are held in place by a narrow strip of steel, spot welded to the body, with a thin, rolled edge in it. That rolled edge is pinched over the seals. I'm not sure I have ever seen a Beetle with a flawless hood seal retainer . Usually, the first person to replace the seal (long before anyone ever thought of restoring the car) just pounded down the lip with a screwdriver and hammer after the new seal was installed. This rolled lip is also along the upper hood edge of the body, just in front of the windshield (and an interesting piece of trivia: This retainer strip in front of the windshield is supposedly the only part on the Beetle that NEVER changed in all of it's years of production). Look at these edges closely. They will either have been ignored, some attempt made to dolly them out, or replaced (the rubber seal will hide the spot welds). And while you are inspecting, look at the edge that the very top of the front quarter panel makes as it turns inward; just inside of the hood seal. There should be nary a dent or bend on that "100%" car.

By the way, new retainer strips are available, but replacement requires you drill the spotwelds out of the old ones and weld the new ones on, carefully matching the correct bend without kinking anything. Then, of course, you have to grind everything down and paint it so it is undetectable.

The "Ultimate" Beetle: The Carpet "keeper" on the door sills

There is a right angle piece of sheet metal that runs the length of the door opening, it is spot welded to the upper side of the rocker panel (heater channel) and rolls over into the door sill. Its function is to hold the carpet that covers the heater channels inside the car. It is stepped on constantly, almost always beat up and often partially rusted away. This detail is a late entry in this article. I thought of this just a few minutes ago as I was doing some work on my '57. Like those hood seal retainers, this lip gets pounded down with whatever tool is handy when someone puts new carpet in the car.

There are some after-market "door sill moldings" that people may buy and screw in here, some are anodised aluminum. These just cover up a horrid looking sill strip. In the perfect Beetle, this strip will not be scratched, bent or dented and it most certainly is not covered up.

Assessing the "Ultimate" Beetle: The Rear Engine Vents

Here's another super picky thing to look at. Look into the cavity behind the engine air vent right under the back window. Is it painted? Is it dirty? Does it just look coated with overspray? And what about the exterior vent "fins"? Look close. Do you see old paint? Sander or scrape marks in between? Only the perfectionist (or VW factory) is going to take the time to make this area perfect.

Assessing the "Ultimate" Beetle: Other stuff

A perfect car should be clean. So clean that you if you drop you gum into the engine compartment while talking carelessly to the seller, you pick it up and pop it back into you mouth without thinking twice. EVERYTHING should be shiny clean. All of the engine parts, under the carpet/mats, under the hood, behind the dash. There should be no grease, grime or oil anywhere underneath. Perfect is perfect.

The paint should not have any key gouges or scratches around the door handles or around the ignition switch ('67 and earlier).

So now you know. When you go out to see that car that the seller told you on the phone is "immaculate" or "mint", pick him apart a piece at a time until he grovels and sells you his "perfect" $6000 car for $2500. And if you can't, even with these tips, find a single fault or failure, race home and give me a call and let me know where this car is. You really don't want it. Perfect is perfect.

That's it - the end - ed