Rossi Rifleman

Alright!
This really is off-topic to Rossi guns but here I go!

My buddy recently bought a '70 beetle ragtop in very good shape, minimal rust, etc. I was a bug family back as a kid - I know they only get more popular.

As the "mechanic" of this team, as my buddy is not at all mechanically inclined, I'm loving the chance to work on and perfect the car without having to pay for it!!

My question? Just wanted to hear if there are any folks here with early bugs that might lend an occasional ear via email about some help with a '70 air-cooled ragtop. It's a stock 1600 with ball joints, not king pins.

thanks Team Rossi for your patience!

Adam

Buddy of mine fixed up a '69 a few years back.
As you are aware there's a lot of them out there and several companies that specialize in parts.
When my bud purchased his it was full of speaker wire and electrical tape.
He ripped out all the upholstery, electrical tape, wiring and so forth, removed the glass.
Had it body prepped and repainted inside and out. 2 tone exterior.
Replaced the wiring with a GM quality harness with separate loops instead of the one chain loop they typically came with and blade fuses instead of the small round ones.
Basically coated the passenger compartment with dynamat.
Installed the glass with new seals. (Paid to have the rear window done as I recall since we were having a time with that one. Out of three local vendors one was reasonable while the other two were stupid expensive especially considering he had the glass and the seal already.)
New carpet throughout. New Headliner. New interior lights. New steering wheel. New shifter & emergency brake. Had the seats repaired by a welder and then upholstered.
He purchased the carpet kit, headliner and seat covers. As I recall the seat covers were custom combination of piping, vinyl and velour.
Refinished the roof rack wood with spar varnish and had the metal work sandblasted and powder coated.
Did some work on the engine, suspension. Has been talking about upgrading the engine but I don't think he's gotten around to it.

They are reasonably simple but can be a pain especially if you have to replace parts. Brazilian and Mexican parts tend to be of lower quality and fit.

My personal association is sitting next door right now. Neighbor has a mid 70's he wants to sell that would be a complete re-cycle. But it starts moves and has all those funny motor sounds of a VW.

In town here is a very old long established VW shop. There are always 5-10ritting out front his shop along the curb getting worked on. Several "split window" models still cruising the streets.
Mike in Peru

Thanks for your comments, guys.

At 53, I still easily recall my first experience driving any car and that was as a 12-year-old on my family farm in a doorless - topless '66 convertible beetle! My dad always bought used cars back then, and many of them with a big family and lots of driving. When my dad was stationed in Heidelberg serving in the Army, '64-'66, I was of course being transported about as a new baby in the back package tray behind the rear seat in both Beetles he purchased on the local economy. Somewhere I have photos mom took of those German bugs.

Back in the States, besides the battery of revolving Falcon and Fairlane wagons/AMC Ambassador wagons/Buick wagons, dad usually had a commuter Beetle he would use to carpool with guys he worked with at Belvoir's Night Vision Lab. This was at the same time he ran our family farm in Spotsylvania County, VA, a 40-acre subsistence farm that kept 4 growing kids fed and very busy!

So, what was the deal with the doorless ragtop and my 12-year-old driving test?

Dad was rebuilding a worn-out bug convertible he got cheap (as usual) and was stripping parts off to get straight and painted, even replaced the vinyl top with a JC Whitney top (this was in 1976) and he figured since I already was driving the old farm tractors to help out ( a 1940's Ford 8N and a Ford 901) I was ready to move the bug around from place to place as he fixed it up. We had a couple long, open pole sheds for the tractors and plows and bush-hogs and worked on cars in there, too.

Once we had mowed the back field above our pond, and had that all baled up, dad let me use that as a "test track" to learn how to drive in that car. Basically just drove circles and stuff, not much more than first gear since there's a speed limit driving in a field! At least I learned the trick of shifting a bug trans into and out of first and reverse pretty good!

OK that's probably far too much of an early-morning flashback for Team Rossi to hear, sorry about the ramble. Just got a little carried away, since that memory just came to me and I've been thinking about my dad lately he's not a spring chicken anymore!

Adam

That's a good set of memories thanks for sharing.