VW opinion, please:

[Gogar]

Is this car awesome, or a grenade? Or is it an awesome grenade?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=300520

[Cornpanzer]

It looks like a really nice car.
The list of mechanicals are impressive. All the best parts. This car with a set of slicks and depending on gearing would easily run deep in the 12s.

The guy selling the car has been around a long time as a racer, so it probably is well built. I dont know him personally, but he has a good reputation.

The copper paint, chrome 5-spokes and ribbed running boards/bumpers are a bit faddish IMO and will go out of syle pretty quickly, but you could easily change bumpers, running boards and wheels to suit your preference. I personally am a traditionalist and would prefer to see black running boards and either Euro bumpers or T-bars.

It should not be a grenade if treated right and maintained. This is not a car that you are going to drive long distances. It is built for cruising and scaring the piss out of passengers. It will be very loud and the gearing, while not too agressive will be shorter than you are used to in yoru Porsche. Looks like a fun car. Probably less than 1800 lbs and easily 200hp.....there wont be much that can touch you on the street.

Maintenance isnt too bad. You will need to adjust the valves regularly (1 hour job) and keep the oil changed. It will require at least 94 ocatane and perhaps a blend of race fuel. The seller can give you a better idea of that as I dont know what kind of fuel you can get in Colorado.

Gearboxes at that level are the weak link. The only way that car will hook up is with slicks and you can expect 50 passes on slicks before the gearbox goes Chernoble. If you just want to play on the street, the radials will be easy on the gearbox as long as you dont get wheel hop.

The money is right if the paint is as good as he says. You certainly couldnt build it for that price, but Cal-look VWs are a buyers market, so make sure you check out all your options.

If you have any more questions, feel free to email me
Cornpanzer@sbcglobal.net

[Gogar]

That was a great post. Thank you.

[carambola]

i came too

[Hugh R]

Not to get off subject... Gogar, Jeremy, I ordered your CD from your website and it debited my credit card. That was about 3 weeks ago. How long should I expect for delivery.

[Gogar]

I sent you a PM, there, Hugh. You should have got it in less than a week.

[Jeff Higgins]

Wow; awesome Bug. I must admit some surprise at the asking price, though. I guess I've been out of the loop. I wouldn't of thought there was anything you could do to a Bug to make it worth that much, short of seating Kiera Knightly in the front seat or something.

[Gogar]

I kind of agree, but if you look at it, that car is done.

Of course, maybe that's why it wouldn't be much fun.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Gogar

I kind of agree, but if you look at it, that car is done.

Of course, maybe that's why it wouldn't be much fun.

oh it would be plenty of fun. It has pretty much everything, would depend on the number of hours on that motor, but it is probably worth it.

[djmcmath]

Car like that would be a blast to drive. I mean, really. Imagine a 911, except ... not. The steering will be sloppier (unless they've replaced the OEM design steering rack with a proper rack-and-pinion setup), the front suspension will always be wrong, and the alignment will never do what you want. Parts will be impossible to find, and you'll never be able to get a mechanic to work on it.

But aside from that, it'd be a blast. I mean, it'd be light, and powerful, and rear-engine. I built a car like that, except not quite so much so. The handling dynamic was very similar to a 911, with the major exception of the steering rack being sloppy.

Dan

[Cornpanzer]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

Parts will be impossible to find, and you'll never be able to get a mechanic to work on it.

Dan

Clearly you know nothing about VW's. There is probably no other car on planet earth with as great of parts availability. You can buy ANYTHING for those little cars. Not too hard to find people to work on them either, although one of the great things about the little cars is that they are so simple to work on yourself.


Oh, FWIW, Beetles dont have a steering rack. Just a good old fashioned steering box. Not exactly modern, but if in good shape and adjusted properly it does a good job in such a lightweight little car.

[Cornpanzer]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Wow; awesome Bug. I must admit some surprise at the asking price, though. I guess I've been out of the loop. I wouldn't of thought there was anything you could do to a Bug to make it worth that much, short of seating Kiera Knightly in the front seat or something.

Now dont be condecending Jeff

Its 16K. What else can you buy that would run a 12 sec quarter mile, drive on the street and look great at the local cruise night for 16K? High performance VW's arent for everyone, but they are pretty darn fun.

Oh, and I guess you wouldnt be interested in my buddy's $60k beetle?
http://www.oldbug.com/diablogris.htm

[widebody911]

It's overpriced - that's why it's been festering for almost 2 years.

[Normy]

That old car is beautiful.

I want to take this opportunity to tell you about my 1997 Volkswagen Jetta. This car has been a nightmare! I normally don't name my cars, but this one I have: I call it "Christine".

Homicidal car? Almost. This VR6 powered car is great fun to drive, but I've paid $2200 in maintenance fees in the past year.
I drove the car to Memphis in December 2006. The next day I tried to drive it to my first day at my new job....but it blew all of its oil out about a mile from the place I was staying. An oil seal at the oil cooler apparently failed. I was faced with a decision: Drive back to the crashpad without oil [a roommate was there, and he was planning to go to the same building as I was....but 10 minutes later], or sit there and take a cab that would get me to the training building on time, but for probably $75. I chose to go for it: I drove the Jetta back toward the house, and met my roomate [Peter; he had now known me for all of10 hours-!] a block from the crashpad. The Jetta's low-oil pressure warning horn was screaming the whole way, but apparently the engine wasn't hurt. Pete Lenio gave me a ride to my first day at Fedex.

A week later, while stuck in traffic on I-240 in Memphis...the heater core exploded. The cockpit filled with steam, and I pulled off and called my instructor and told him what was going on. It happened right next to the Walnut Grove exit, and I wound up parked among a bunch of expensive houses. I went to class about 90 minutes late.

Well, they fixed the heater core. I watched the water temperature gauge climb to its peak: The fan was dead. Did they fix it under warrantee? NO! They started hunting for excuses when this happened.......

N

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by Cornpanzer

Clearly you know nothing about VW's. There is probably no other car on planet earth with as great of parts availability. You can buy ANYTHING for those little cars. Not too hard to find people to work on them either, although one of the great things about the little cars is that they are so simple to work on yourself.

I agree. My high school car was a ridiculous Baja with a full roll cage, one piece fiberglass front end, and a 2180. Even at 16, with an attention span of about 30 seconds and 10 thumbs, I was able to do simple upgrades and maintenance to the car.

Of course, I destroyed the wiring by putting little lighted switches and VDO knockoff gauges and a JC whitney stereo into it. I'd like to formally apologize to whomever had to clean up that mess.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I vote awesome.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by Normy

That old car is beautiful.

I want to take this opportunity to tell you about my 1997 Volkswagen Jetta.

I thought the same thing when I saw this post. My 1999 beetle gave me fits. POS.


The bug is beautiful, but I doubt you would ever sell it for close $16k. $12k maybe. Its a shame, because in reality, I would bet the project cost more like $20k.

Beautiful car. Not sure how practical it would be though....

[id10t]

For $16k I'd wait for a driver grade 356 to come along... I've seen them for around that price in the past couple of years. At the moment in the 356registry.org classisfieds there is a B coupe that needs re-assembly for $13.5k and a B super for $18.5k ready to go... Best of all, these will only go up in value

[Tobra]

If it has been on the block that long, low ball him.

[GothingNC]

http://www.oldbug.com/sales.htm

This place makes me think we're not asking enough for out 74-89 911's.