Our 1303S beetle project - VZi, Europe's largest VW forum, community and sales

Roller Girl · 19-04-2009, 09:14 PM

Hi Everyone

, some of you may recognise me from way back, many may not ... it's been a while!!!! life, work and family meant we have been away a while ...... but you always come back, and wehad a certain vintage element of our family missing

We have recently been put in touch with a family locally who owned a beetle that they cherished until an number of years ago & in 2003 it was retired to the garage and hasn't been out since.
They offered it to us free of charge and explained that it was a desperate project in a number of pieces, and the only condition of them allowing it to go was that it be brought back to see the road once more and enjoyed. Not choppedup and sold for parts!

We agreed blindly without seeing the car expecting the worst.

Yesterday evening we collected it ...............

And this was it after it was fastened together this morning ......

I returned home from work at 3 this afternoon took at look at it in daylight after Phil had bolted it together this morning. We realised that this is no bag of crap and well worth some time & effort .... so I got busy with some t-cut and autosol.

3 hours later .........

Roller Girl · 19-04-2009, 09:27 PM

We have had a good look round her and are very impressed with how she is - there are a fewholes in the floor but this is from where someone has bolted a pair of front non vw seats straight through the floor!

The body mounts, heater channels and framehead are all rock solid as are the strut tops, and every bolt hole.

The engine turns by hand and via starter motor,but will not fire at the minute, think its fuel related. This is the first thing we are going to look at next weekend.

The body work is quite scratched, but the paint job is actually excellent bar this. Its had a good respray at some point as originally blue.

I am really impressed how the paint and original bumpers have come up after a bit of elbow grease! As are the neighbours, as it looked like a right SHED when it arrived yesterday!

The plan is to get it on the road and use it as a daily driver. Then at some point later look towards a change of colour ..... something along the lines of our first beetle (pictured below). Which we have always missed but I guess everyone misses their first vw.

TwoToneAlex · 19-04-2009, 09:31 PM

When I was reading the section about 'They offered it to us free of charge and explained that it was a desperate project in a number of pieces' I was expecting to see the body rotted itself off the floorpan

Looks pretty good nick, and not modded besides the seats!
Well done on the find.
Good luck.
Alex

Roller Girl · 19-04-2009, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoToneAlex

I was expecting to see the body rotted itself off the floorpan

We were pleasantly suprised too

Total spend to date = £20 (to pick it up!)

Scott b · 19-04-2009, 10:00 PM

When phil said it was in good nick I had no idea it would be that good.
Looking forward to seeing her on the road soon.

beetleragtop · 20-04-2009, 06:23 AM

Excellent find, good luck getting it back on the road, shouldnt take much

cheers james

Roller Girl · 20-04-2009, 06:43 PM

Well today an old friend popped by out of the blue in their splitty to see the new addition.

After 2 mins of men looking and poking at the engine, and a bit of pipe sucking (containing 6 year old petrol!) this was the result

cjdriver · 20-04-2009, 07:18 PM

Hi there,

Does the dashboard have the wooden inserts? if so I think you have got yourself a special edition 'Big Beetle'.

Please see my Big Beetle website for more info:

http://www.thedriverfamily.co.uk

Chris.

Roller Girl · 20-04-2009, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjdriver

Hi there,

Does the dashboard have the wooden inserts? if so I think you have got yourself a special edition 'Big Beetle'.

Please see my Big Beetle website for more info:

http://www.thedriverfamily.co.uk

Chris.

Hi Chris,

Yes, it does have the 'wood' inserts though our old blue 74 had them also. I never realised this was a special edition trim level I thought they all had this. I learn something new every day! This one also has what I think is a GT gear stick, wooden top with a kind of cheese grater effect shaft! So to speak!!!!

cjdriver · 20-04-2009, 08:25 PM

If it is a Big Beetle it would have been one of the four Big Beetle colours originally:
- Ontario Blue Metallic
- Moss Green Metallic
- Hellas Beige Metallic
- Diamond Silver Metallic (1974 model)

Is there any sign of the original colour, maybe behind the carpets, or under the bonnet/engine lid?

What was the Registration number of your Blue 1303S?

I'm trying to record as many Big Beetles as possible in the Big Beetle Register:

http://www.thedriverfamily.co.uk/Big...owRegister.php

Looks like yours is a new addition!!