What $ amount are you looking to spend?
Volkswagen Beetle. A classic car on a budget?
- Thread starter Kurtatron
- Start date
Here is a good story about a lady who bought her beetle in 66 and still has it. VW totally restored it for her.
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a childhood friend’s summer job in high school was buying 2-3 junked vw beetles in the spring and making one good one to sell in august. way better than picking vegetables or washing dishes. he started doing so before he had a driving license.
the modern world needs more simple vehicles.
the modern world needs more simple vehicles.
The cost to keep them running is reasonable, mechanical parts are cheap, and many parts are still available at your corner auto parts stores. Furthermore, they tend to be very easy to work on with very few gotchas. Gas mileage won't be great, but I suspect that you won't be using it as an everyday driver, so this shouldn't be a budget-breaker.
Since you live in Florida, there are quite a few of these 60's and 70's vintage American cars still hidden away in old people's garages that the families just want to get rid of when they pass away or can't drive them anymore. Think Pontiac Catalina, Buick Le Sabre, Oldsmobile 88, Dodge Coronet, AMC Ambassador, or Ford Galaxy/LTD (etc, etc). Theses cars are not expensive to purchase and are often very well maintained by their highly particular older owners, some of them are even all-original one-owner cars! Just make sure that you get one that doesn't need a restoration because restoring one of these cars is a losing proposition.
This seems contradictory. If it is so difficult to restore, why would maintaining it be any less a headache? Are you referring to chassis rust?
They are not difficult to restore, you just won't be able to recover the expense of doing so. Have you priced a repaint lately?
Stay well away from a rusty car.
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Restoring a classic is a labor of love. Do not expect to make money on your project. The formula is simple: open the door, start shoveling money in and keep shoveling until you can barely close the door.
You will need tools and a place to work. The car will be down for months at a time; you will be frustrated and broke. Sometimes you have to leave it alone for a while. NEVER save your receipts of your wife will kill you. Your education on that car will be bought and paid for, many times over. Can you rebuild a carb?
The best advice is, buy the best car you can; you will be big bucks ahead. Get the car you want!
I have sooooo much $$ in this car. Paint alone like this is $20K or more.
You will need tools and a place to work. The car will be down for months at a time; you will be frustrated and broke. Sometimes you have to leave it alone for a while. NEVER save your receipts of your wife will kill you. Your education on that car will be bought and paid for, many times over. Can you rebuild a carb?
The best advice is, buy the best car you can; you will be big bucks ahead. Get the car you want!
I have sooooo much $$ in this car. Paint alone like this is $20K or more.
Beautiful! Which 427? I'll guess 390 horsepower?
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Go on Craigslist, autotrader, or whatever and limit the search to a specific year and see what there is and how much. The nice thing about today is patina is a thing so you don’t have to spend $20k on paint. Never did say how much $.
If OP thinks a Previa is sort of a classic car there have to be others out of the mainstream that would be interesting. Maybe a Pacer with wood grain?
If OP thinks a Previa is sort of a classic car there have to be others out of the mainstream that would be interesting. Maybe a Pacer with wood grain?
Yes, it's the base L36 427/390 with the Q-Jet. I call it my Plain Jane Corvette because it has few options. Muncie M20, 3:36 Rear. The only option is the AM-FM Stereo, pretty rare in 1968.
I am thinking no more than 10k. Running condition. Doesn’t need to look perfect.
I’d pick something you are interested in then search into it. If it’s old and DIY parts are similar . Have you driven a VW beetle , HS girlfriend had one and it was not my cup of tea compared to her dads then newish 84 VW GTI and rabbit truck.
$10k will get you a descent car if you stay away from muscle cars like JeffKeryk's Corvette. You should probably look to spend no more than $7k so you have some room to do the inevitable things that the car will likely need. Like I said, stay away from a restoration project and try to find something that doesn't need paint (figure that it will cost you at least $10k for a quality repaint, and that won't include body work). Take your time looking and don't jump on the first car you see.
I love the unique features of the '68. My folks bought a '68 427/390 coupe new. Yellow, manual steering and brakes, but it did have the AM/FM too!
One overlooked issue would be crash protection.
I almost bought an old VW Bus, but I found out that there was no protection for the driver and passenger leg/foot area and any frontal impact would crush your legs. I know that is the VW bus (not the bettle), but their lack of crash protection might be similar. Other concerns would be the anemic horse power (I think 60 bph), and at 60 MPH it might be straining to maintain speed.
The old Toyota Camry you mentioned could probably take you another 200k miles, and would be my choice.
You might want to look into '70s and '80s American pickups and related vehicles (for example, full-sized Blazer for Chevrolet). Parts tend to be cheap, they have plenty of aftermarket suppliers, they're easy to work on, and you'll find loads of support online.
One common, but seldom-mentioned, fault with Beetles is that with age the fuel line can disconnect or break at the carb, spewing gasoline all over the hot engine. The resulting fire can destroy the engine compartment, if not the whole car.
Plenty of people have warned about rust, but that is an issue for any older vehicle, not just Beetles. Whatever you get, look for one in the best condition possible, preferably running without needing crazy amounts of attention. Basket cases tend to remain basket cases because buyers discover they can't afford the time or money to fix them. That's why I never pursued the old-car hobby.
One common, but seldom-mentioned, fault with Beetles is that with age the fuel line can disconnect or break at the carb, spewing gasoline all over the hot engine. The resulting fire can destroy the engine compartment, if not the whole car.
Plenty of people have warned about rust, but that is an issue for any older vehicle, not just Beetles. Whatever you get, look for one in the best condition possible, preferably running without needing crazy amounts of attention. Basket cases tend to remain basket cases because buyers discover they can't afford the time or money to fix them. That's why I never pursued the old-car hobby.
Seems like the bugs were generally between 26-36 hp, and the super Beatles were upwards to 45? I had a 73 bus and it was fun for the time I had it - but I don’t think it was rated for more than 45 hp or so. And yeah, the safety was non-existent.
the square-bodied vanagons, however, were much more substantial. Air cooled were 65 hp and water boxes were maybe 82? All this is pre-airbag and there was no crumple zone, but generally if you hit something hard enough to crush the front end, the occupants were likely to be fatalities from the G-forces anyway. My parents had an 84, but couldn’t keep it running no matter how many times it went to the dealer. Fuel injection problems….if we had it back, I would keep it! So I’ll add that - 80s VW Vanagon.
Honda preludes were cool cars in any year??
olds delta 88 when they were RWD? Ford LTD? They made those in convertibles, even, but these were not the easiest to work on. Classic caprice or impala? Heck, theres a beautiful crown Vic at work which has been given mild sleeper hot rod treatment that is downright beautiful. ever so slightly lowered, nice wheels and brakes, good paint, super cleaned up … I have no idea what’s under the hood.
ram trucks from the 70’s…. Or jeep …. Get ready to go slow with a 318…
Redo an 80s conversion van??
I guess I’m kind of racking my brain here. Classic cars now include stuff I grew up with and drove. Most domestics in the 70s and 80s I wouldn’t want to touch. I have wrench time on a couple 50’s models (a 57 and a friends 53) and nowadays I don’t enjoy some of the crudeness, like dealing with hood springs that want to remove your left ear hole and nasty rust that you wouldn’t see on something newer. But get into the 90s and it’s harder to find that “classic vibe.” The “classic vibe” tends to have a metal or wooden dash, not vinyl?
hmm. Wooden dashes include triumph, perhaps some alpha romeo, MGB?
some of the 1980 benzes could be fun, but parts will either be Hard, or expensive. I hear rumors that Mercedes is extremely good about having parts…. but not cheaply.
original jeep ZJ would be fun to my eye. That’s around 93? Good parts support, and there are barely-runners out there which are dirt cheap. And you can build it from mild to wild?
mazda RX7, that was a cool car. Nissan Z cars…
land cruisers, 40, 60 or 80?
older Range Rover, back when they were tractors with cabins!
You should sign up for a daily feed at https://carsandbids.com . Doug DeMuro runs, or is associated with it.
Always several older desirable cars being listed. Meaning, their owners have already sunk thousands into them.
Always several older desirable cars being listed. Meaning, their owners have already sunk thousands into them.
Ragtops often hold their value better.
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