Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Jun 20, 2012 20:19:49 GMT
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This ones going to be bit of a story, I hope it reads well... Well guys, the Porsche 944 went, everytime I drove it I got a massive smile, everytime I looked at it, it made me smile.. everytime I went to do something I got worried, almost to the point of being of scared that I'd break something or mess it up, it started to scare me and I fell out of friends with it!! So enough was enough, Wendy, bless her has had enough so I sat and thought about my true passion, its where my heart lies and what I've been skirting round for ages - I've kept toying with the idea and then putting it off for one reason or another.. Speedman Steve even offered me the opportunity to use his beetle for a few weeks to see if the love was right, but timing and other things didnt work out.. Sadly this post will be a slight fail, as I don't have many pictures to back up my story as they were all lost in the floods of 2007.. To set the scene As a child I fell in love with the beetle shape and the campers too, I used to read volksworld every month, much to my dads annoyance as he is a football nut.. My bedroom walls were covered, 3 walls in pictures of beetles/campers, basically anything cool and air cooled, I loved them.. Mixed up with some streetmachine american rods etc, but mainly aircooled veedubs Fast forward a few years, I had the opportunity to buy a van, it was a 69 Panel Van, it was low, it was kind of cal look themed and I loved it, a deal was done and it was mine, this was in 2001, for the sum of £1600 I picked up Daizy, my camper! She was great, I loved her, her engine was very tired so splashed out and had one of volkspares recon units fitted in 1641 flavour, she loved this, she flew.. Went through a couple of mot's without too much hassle.. Sadly these are the only pics I have..   I had the van for about 12 months when I bought a 72 Beetle, it was an orange 1200, with empi 8 spokes, bucket seats, towel rail bumpers etc etc, for £400 as an MOT failiure... But alas I never got round to fixing up the beetle.. I then went out and took my motorbike test.. Passed and bought a ZX6R Ninja, the bike got used lots and the camper/beetle were taking up space, I only had space for one of them.. My plan at the time, put them both up for sale and whichever sells first keep the other, I had offers on both and let the van go sorted for 3k and the beetle for £300.. If only I knew that a less than a year on they'd start roaring up in value, both now being worth 3-4 times what I sold them for.. |
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Last Edit: Aug 27, 2012 17:44:35 GMT by Lawsy
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Jun 20, 2012 20:37:38 GMT
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Anyway, bikes were sold off in 2006, we finished up on the biking front by signing off with a trip across america along route 66 on a Harley
since then, we moved into our own house, got flooded and played around with cheaper dubs, building some nice motors along the way - but I couldnt get 'into' any of them (no this isnt because i'm a chunk) they included several mk1 golfs, couple of mk2 golfs, the Santana, B3 and 4 passats etc etc etc - then a year changed and I had a play at offroading in a hilux..
A few changes have happened recently and we got rid of the financed daily, sold the hilux and
bought a cheaper diesel daily - the knd you don't want to mod - cue a vectra estate, and I fancied the 99, so we got that..
I was still dreaming of the beetle/van combo and I realised I was never going to be happy with anything but.. So the Porsche went up for sale..
We have narrowed down our wants now, a bay window van would be awesome but it will be a while before we can afford one, but I;ve always liked the early T25's too, and a late model beetle, I've always been a fan of the 67-73 style ones with the larger windows etc, as long as thye still had the longer style nose and flat screens with the non plasticy dash's I knew I;d be happy..
So we set aside a budget and started looking, prices all over, I wanted something that looked ok, an older show car maybe that was now tired needing to revamped etc..
We realised for a good T25 we'd need some more funds so attention turned to the beetle, a few popped up on ebay, but a lot were going slightly out of our reach, I knew what I could get my hands on if the porsche sold, my boss at work offered to loan me 50% of the Porsches asking price provided I sold it quicker so that was me, sorted.. serious search began..
Then all of a sudden I spot an overlooked advert on ebay, no bids, coupel of hours to go..
My heart pounded.. but then I realised, we were short to the tune of about £250..
I watched the advert finish praying that it wouldnt sell.. I'd seen a photo album of the car with over 40 pictures of the underneath.. I had read all about, I knew it was what I wanted..
The auction ended, it handed sold.. yet tattier - rattier style cars all around were fetching more and more.. maybe it was the fact it was a 73 and the tax was putting people off.. not me..
Anyway, I sent him an offer, a cheeky one - £250 less than the ebay start price and £750 less than his buy it now option...
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Last Edit: Jun 20, 2012 20:39:51 GMT by Lawsy
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Jun 20, 2012 20:50:34 GMT
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A few texts went back n forth, a few emails..
I had interest in the porsche, I was getting more n more excited..
Porsche guy didnt take it there n then, heart sank..
Finally on saturday night a price was agreed, we had to raid £100 from our copper/small change jar - which luckily we had - just..
I was so excited at this point, the deal was done on the proviso that i had to fetch it that weekend.. it was fathers day and it was 120 miles away..
Saturday night i couldnt sleep, i had planned the trip there and i was praying it would be good..
Sunday am early start, out of the house, 20 mile drive to work, opened up the warehouse and left the car there, changed my coppers/small change for £100 and then walked to the bus station..
Bus to Reading train station seemed to take hours to arrive, then i got the first of 3 trains.. it was the slow train, every stop, 1hour, 30 minutes all in.. with hundreds of pushbikes getting on it too, turns out it was also the London-Brighton cycle ride.. what a day i had picked for travelling..
2 more train journeys and 6 hours later i was greeted at the final train station by Roger..
Roger and his wife are such a lovely couple and make a great brew - had a look round the car, i was happy... I was brimming with excitement..
Test drive done, couple of little faults sorted and paperwork signed.. I was there for a good hour n half chatting.. but knew i had to be on way home... It was then Roger suggested we go the garage where he proceeded to load me up with spares too..
I eventually set off home after being taken to the petrol station and then i was lead to the motorway, a couple of toots and a wave and I was heading home..
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Jun 20, 2012 20:54:56 GMT
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It was at this point - I suddenly realised a major fail in my story - I hadnt taken a single picture - not one! I had forgotten the camera, all I had was my iphone which was doubling up as sat nav and music too.. I reached for it and took the first picture!!  Buggar - the battery was low.. I turned off the sat nav side and unplugged the headphones and set off west for home.. the engine note making me smile like a chesire cat.. I was in love again.. the smell, the noise - everything... a coupel of hours later the 3 cups of tea and fruit juice had enough of being bounced around, i dove off the motorway and ran to the loo - walking back out i was greeted by this site  |
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Last Edit: Jun 20, 2012 20:56:27 GMT by Lawsy
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Jun 20, 2012 21:11:41 GMT
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So the beetle - whats it story.. Well i wish i knew.. If anyone knows anything, then I;d love to hear it My assumption would be the cal look makeover was done late 80's early 90's when it was popular so around 20 years ago, I;m guessing this as its showing signs of needing doing again.. Roger tells The underside is solid, The Beetle had also been lowered, it looked great but the ride was really bumpy, so I raised it a couple of inches (couple of hours work as it has an adjustable front beam) He also says So i was very very happy with my purchase.. the 1641cc purred beautifully all the way home, never missing a single beat.. I emptied the spares and sat down and watched the Moto GP race with a brew.. - But excitement came over me and Wendy and we had to go for a quick spin.. I grabbed a few more shots whilst out..   and here is a link to some of the pictures Roger had supplied |
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Jun 20, 2012 21:17:53 GMT
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So that took me to Sunday night.. This week we've used him every day for the commute to see how he goes, Wendy always names our vehicles so please meet Oscar.. Named after Oscar the grouch from Sesame Street as he's cute but rough round the edges and very green too.. Plans moving forward, well there isnt any yet, I;m going to go with the flow.. there is 6 months MOT left so I;m going to enjoy where i can, and any updates will be added.. We've set up a 'like' facebook page for Oscar and will be using that as a story too, so if anyone does use facebook and wants to follow then here it is - Oscar the BeetleI've had a lot of cars over the past few years, none have made me this happy - I'm not scared of doing things, (except welding) and am now in a better place to keep things.. this ones a keeper, so much so, that Wendy's in charge of all paperwork and I'm not going to be allowed to know where it is.. Anyway, as always, thought and opinions welcomed (they may be ignored tho.. lol) |
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Bookmarked  Nice story, and that Beetle looks very very good in the pics! |
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Great story Steve and a pretty cool looking car too. I know you've been in a bit of a 'retro limbo' for the past few years and dabbled in some other marques/makes (Santana, Hilux, Cavalier, 944 etc...) but none have really hit the spot for you. This car, from the outset, seems to settle the score and looks like it's going to be right up your street.
It's a fine looking car and I reckon there aren't enough Cal Look beetles left anymore. It's one of my favourite eras of Beetle modifying and I certainly prefer it to a lot of the later trends like (dare I say it!) rat-look etc...
Good call on the plans, go with the flow and let things happen naturally all the meanwhile enjoying the car. After all, that's what it's all about.
I cannot express how happy I am that you & Wendy are finally back behind the wheel of something that really makes you happy. I can tell just by the way that you've written your story that this is the right car for you. I look forward to further updates and tales of cool trips and adventures. ;D
Oh, and say Hi to Wendy for me.
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Jun 21, 2012 17:08:55 GMT
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Looking good mate. Welcome back to the air-cooled fold  We need to have a meet up and a Beetle off ;D |
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Jun 25, 2012 14:43:18 GMT
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So Yesterday, Took Wendy to her first ever air cooled show in an air cooled car.. Was great We went to the Dorset Dubbing day.. had a great day out, Oscar drove great all the way there and back, averaging about 35 mpg too so well happy with that.. Just need to sort out some tunes now, the air cooled flat 4 does sound nice, but not that nice.. Anyway, here is a couple of pics..   will stick up a thread later with some show pics in it.. We then headed home via the New forest..    Next up, trip to Stanford hall show on the 1st July, then full service and look to tidy up the wiring and get some tunes in there |
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,840
Club RR Member Number: 174
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'73 Beetle stealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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Jun 25, 2012 15:04:48 GMT
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I pass a Beetle that's identical to that every day, I agree with Bruce the UK-cal style has never been beaten, they look fantastic.
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,962
Club RR Member Number: 29
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'73 Beetle MiataMark
@garra
Club Retro Rides Member 29
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Jun 25, 2012 15:50:04 GMT
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I don't like Beetles but I've always loved the look of cal look ones! I've got the Colin Burnham book "Air cooled Volkswagons" which is great for inspiration and I kept all of his build features from Street Machine for the red one he built.  Mark |
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,328
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Jun 25, 2012 16:03:11 GMT
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Congrats on buying a cool Bug. I owned and drove VW's for years, going through MK1 and 2 Golfs, Corrados, Jettas and a 67 Peppermint Green Bug along the way. I'm coming back to the idea of going back to my roots a little like you, and am pleasantly surprised at the love on here for Cal lookers. When I was buying Veedub mags in the 90's they were chocka with sorted mk2 Golfs and Cal look Beetles. Keep your bug as it is - it has a story and it needs to stay with it!
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Jun 25, 2012 17:24:01 GMT
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Great story man and I love that Beetle especially in that colour!
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Jun 25, 2012 17:29:12 GMT
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Love it |
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Cheers all.. not sure how long its going to stay in 'that' particular style, the colours great, but i have no idea what it is and it needs some patches painting/blending in - got a few scabs appearing and already a lot have been touched in brush on red primer so they need rubbing back.. I'm also not a huge fan of the single piece windows - so they are going.. will be up for sale soon if anyone wants them.. Sunday we had a trek up to the Stanford Hall VW show in the tat hauler Vectra.. Picked up a few bits to start a few jobs.. Pics of stanford hall show hereI literally picked up these doors and carried them about a mile back to the car - started off quite light, but got heavier and heavier at about 28kgs each - had themover my shoulders and now have bruised and sore shoulders  The colours not right, but the condition is ok, so will strip them of their parts (door cards were included too) and transfer them into my doors - then will store the doors themselves as they arent in bad shape really.. Also picked up a complete decklid with the proper light unit so that will be going on soon As to paint, anyone know of a good place for colour matching from panels - gonna need a couple of rattle cans making up to blend over the red oxide - but i do have a colour in mind for the whole car in time, green will be staying, but not as bright, wont be to everyones tastes, but i don't care.. Next up - oil service and try to get the positive camber on the front rectified.. But wont be for a coupel of weeks yet.. Have just been using it almost daily without any issues (yet) |
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craig1010cc
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,993
Club RR Member Number: 35
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'73 Beetle craig1010cc
@craig1010cc
Club Retro Rides Member 35
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He's looking great Steve I never realised that 35 MPG was possible from them, perhaps I should move them up the list of possibles |
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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He's looking great Steve I never realised that 35 MPG was possible from them, perhaps I should move them up the list of possibles Cheers craig - there's a few threads about on VZI etc for mpg - some guys are getting closer to 40mpg Ok, my speedo is miles (about15%) out cos of the smaller front wheels, but the 35mpg is an educated guess.. so far I've noticed I get 170 miles (indicated) to about 20 litres so if that's about 150 actual miles its about 34.5 mpg I can live with that, only downside is the fuel gauge reads full or empty so i just fill up till it clicks off.. and have been topping up between 150 - 200 miles since last fill up, but with it not havinga tripometer that i can reset its all a memory thing.. I should just get a working fuel guage i guess, but where is the fun in that Am very tempted to get a more stock looking one for daily duties and get rid of the vectra |
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Lawsy
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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I don't like Beetles but I've always loved the look of cal look ones! I've got the Colin Burnham book "Air cooled Volkswagons" which is great for inspiration and I kept all of his build features from Street Machine for the red one he built. Mark Cheers Mark - going to have to look out for that one |
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,962
Club RR Member Number: 29
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'73 Beetle MiataMark
@garra
Club Retro Rides Member 29
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I don't like Beetles but I've always loved the look of cal look ones! I've got the Colin Burnham book "Air cooled Volkswagons" which is great for inspiration and I kept all of his build features from Street Machine for the red one he built. Mark Cheers Mark - going to have to look out for that one Amazon, used from £1.13... If you're interested in scans of the magazine articles let me know. Mark |
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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Nice story, and that Beetle looks very very good in the pics!
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We need to have a meet up and a Beetle off ;D
