Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Ro
I must have some where near 250k - 400k miles on VW bugs...never had a breakdown nor an accident...knock on wood, I guess.
I had an Empi Extractor & a Judson blower on one...never an issue.
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I'm sure that was a donkey's age ago though.
It would be ridiculous to expect that kind of reliability from a 40+ year old car, and to also expect the driver to keep up with the nit-picky little issues as they arise. Plus, sending her off in a car with weak heat, weaker defroster, slow wipers, hard brakes, and dubious parts availability would seem like punishment to a young lady of her position.
Sure, too, Hot VW's still has ads, upon ads, upon ads of parts houses selling their wares. However, the local FLAPS would be no help because those parts don't sell in high enough volumes to deserve some shelf space in their stores. She don't need a car that it takes 10 days, to a month to get something for.
Besides that, even if you can get the parts you need, the quality of what's available now is so bad that I turn away a lot of ACVW work because I can't guarantee the job due to the parts.
These cars aren't what they used to be, they're antiques now. As tough and dependable as they were, they must be treated with a delicate touch anymore, just like any other classic car requires.