Hello all

Cubey · 17 May 2010, 03:17

Hi everyone!

I have been a VW Beetle fan since I was very young (in the 80's). I am hoping to buy a classic autostick Beetle before the year is out. I nearly bought a manual one last year but the seller was fishy about the title, kept changing his price and how much he wanted me to put down to hold it and the car had some frame damage of concern, so I decided against it. Just as well since I would much prefer an AS one.

I am also a Karmann Ghia fan but AS ones are a bit harder to come by unless you bother to do a conversion to AS which I don't have a desire to do. So my plan is to find a decent AS beetle for about $3500 or less. There is a decent looking one a few hours away for under $3000 (running and driving) but I don't have the dough right now. But I'm sure another good one will come up once I do.

hercdriver · 17 May 2010, 16:17

Cubey,

Welcome to the VW fringe. Like the real estate market, your location will dictate how much and what condition $3,000 will buy. Less than that on the west coast will buy you a nice car without rust. On the east coast you'll spend close to that for a car that will have some rust.

Take your time and do your homework. It'll pay off in negotiating a fair price as well as prepare you for the reality of owning a 30 year old plus car.

You'll find it's a fun hobby that seems to attract a friendly unpretentious group of folks.

I'd say your first bit of homework is to buy John Muir's "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive" and read chapter 3 How to buy a Volkswagen. Ask a bunch of questions and find a local club. As far as any Autostick specific questions, you couldn't have come to a better place.

Cheers,
Dave

Cubey · 17 May 2010, 17:54

Quote from: hercdriver on 17 May 2010, 16:17
Welcome to the VW fringe. Like the real estate market, your location will dictate how much and what condition $3,000 will buy. Less than that on the west coast will buy you a nice car without rust. On the east coast you'll spend close to that for a car that will have some rust.

I'm in the south central US so finding one without any/much rust is fairly easy I think.

Quote from: hercdriver on 17 May 2010, 16:17
Take your time and do your homework. It'll pay off in negotiating a fair price as well as prepare you for the reality of owning a 30 year old plus car.

The reality of it in some ways makes me unsure. They seem to be a full time job to keep going. On the plus side, I do have a large garage to house it in and work on it. In the case of any major engine failure, I'm not sure I'd have the patience to do a rebuild myself. I have been doing online reading of various VW sites about repair/rebuilds. I am pretty good with a wrench if I have good step by step instructions on how to do something though. I can do basic things on my old 91 corolla like an oil change, brake shoes installation, spark plug wires/rotor installation, etc. Although, I'll NOT be looking for a "project" car by any means. I want something that can run and drive when I buy it. I'm not so picky about appearance as I am lack of rust, good running/driving condition and decent interior condition.

I have done slightly more intense work on scooters and other things such as cleaning and rebuilding carburetors with new gaskets, installed a transmission cooler on a car I used to have, etc.

Quote from: hercdriver on 17 May 2010, 16:17
You'll find it's a fun hobby that seems to attract a friendly unpretentious group of folks.

I'm not so sure about that. Or maybe I've just had a bad experience on TS. I went in the chat room the other day, stated how I was desiring an autostick beetle and the other folks in the chat began hurling second-grade-playground insults at me over it and it seems I was kicked out after telling them to "grow up" because I was tired of being insulted in such an immature way for a simple statement. There seems to be a downright hatred of autostick VW owners somehow.

Quote from: hercdriver on 17 May 2010, 16:17
I'd say your first bit of homework is to buy John Muir's "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive" and read chapter 3 How to buy a Volkswagen. Ask a bunch of questions and find a local club. As far as any Autostick specific questions, you couldn't have come to a better place.

I do most of my research online. Gotta love the price: Free!

I will invest in books after I buy one though. There is a nearby VW club I already found the online forum for and registered on it a while ago. Although it's not very active.

There is a small, local classic VW salvage yard here. Could probably meet up with local aircooled owners through there.

volkenstein · 19 May 2010, 05:32

Cubey,
Autostick+TS+Chat = Going for a swim in a shark tank after being smeared with blood. There are a lot of uncouth types over there and moreso in chat....hope your skin is an inch thick.

I think a lot of the reliability factor is determined by previous owners' actions or lack thereof. VW's will be more maintainance intensive anyway (compared with modern beasts).

Good Luck with the search!

Regards
Volkenstein

Cubey · 02 June 2010, 18:13

Ugh... I had my first real taste of the summer heat this year yesterday. Funny how you forget over the Fall, Winter and Spring months.

I have a 91 corolla with moderately working AC and I was suffering until I drive about 5 miles for it to really be cold. I'm not sure I could survive these southern humid hot summers in a classic Beetle. Yeah, A/C is an option but rare and expensive to buy if it's not already equipped.

Bookwus · 04 June 2010, 04:18

Hiya Cube,

Quote from: Cubey on 02 June 2010, 18:13
Yeah, A/C is an option but rare and expensive to buy if it's not already equipped.

While this is true concerning expenses, the newer air conditioning compressors being installed in Bugs these days use just a fraction of the horsepower (and consequently gasoline) compressors did back in the 70s. Much more efficient today.

Cubey · 05 June 2010, 23:41

Yeah, that is true. But an A/C kit costs about $1500-1700 plus shipping and installation (unless you install it yourself) on top of whatever the cost of the car is.

It seems the alternator on my Corolla is on it's last leg (or toe..). Today the [parking] brake and battery lights came on both together. $:-\$ I hope they hurry up and give me my money. I am going to need something very soon unless I put even more money into this old car.

68autobug · 09 July 2010, 16:05

Quote from: Cubey on 17 May 2010, 03:17
Hi everyone!

I have been a VW Beetle fan since I was very young (in the 80's). I am hoping to buy a classic autostick Beetle before the year is out. I nearly bought a manual one last year but the seller was fishy about the title, kept changing his price and how much he wanted me to put down to hold it and the car had some frame damage of concern, so I decided against it. Just as well since I would much prefer an AS one.

I am also a Karmann Ghia fan but AS ones are a bit harder to come by unless you bother to do a conversion to AS which I don't have a desire to do. So my plan is to find a decent AS beetle for about $3500 or less. There is a decent looking one a few hours away for under $3000 (running and driving) but I don't have the dough right now. But I'm sure another good one will come up once I do.

HI AND WELCOME

THERE WERE LOTS OF KARMANN GHIAS MADE WITH AUTOSTICKS...
as they are Now imported into Australia as We didn't have the Karmann Ghias in Australia
except for a few in 1959-1960...

Just remember NOT to buy the first one you see... lol
unless its really great...

I can't pass up one... so I no longer look l... lol
last one I bought [not AS] looked great but the body had a lot of rust around the rear window..

Beetles take a lot of looking after...
but.. its not a difficult job.. they were designed to be fairly easy to maintain
just lots of oil changes... and tappet adjustments.. lol

cheers

LEE