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My name is Charlie. I have been into VWs since the mid to late 80s and have owned about 50 or so air-cooled and a few water pumpers. I have owned a 55, 56, 57 ragtop, 59 baja, 60 euro ragtop, 62, (2)63s, (3)64s, (3)65s, (3)66s, (4)67s, 68 (my first), 68 vert, 69 baja, (4)70s (2 bajas, a stock sunroof & a lowrider), (2)71 SBs, 72, 74, & 76 standards, 59 DCab, 60 SCab, 74 van, (3) sandrails, (4) 'glass buggies,a 74 baja, & 69 RHD suicide doored bug, plus an 85 jetta 2-door, 86 jetta, (2) 87 jettas, and a 91 golf GTi, not to mention the numerous parts cars, bodies, etc that I have had over the years. I have been kind of out of the active VW scene for a few years, but I am getting started again. Currently I have a 64 bug project and a 63 bug ragtop project that is going to be a volksrod. My semi-daily driver is a ratty 67 bug.

**edit**I've owned a few more since I wrote all this. My current projects are listed at the end of this thread.

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I'll post pics of a few of my most memorable VWs.
First, the "ZAP" bug, bought for $40 in 1988 because it had been hit front and rear. Cleaned the points, put fresh gas in her and drove the crap out of it. Through mudholes, sandpits, trails, over palmetto bushes...it didn't matter. Finally broke the bottom off the transaxle on a stump

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My first baja, a 70. It had a 1641, 4 pt. rollbar, Dino wheel. I put a lot of off road miles on this car.

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Another baja I had. I built this one, my first attempt to fix up a bug. :D It had a 1679, engle 110 cam, 041 heads w/3-angle valve job (not by me), weber progressive, 009, etc. Rode on KYBs all around and ghia discs and a raised beam in front. My brother and I did the bodywork (filled dash, molded fenders, etc) and he painted it using Imron in all Corvette colors. The stripes wrapped into the door jambs. It had a Dino wheel (out of other baja), scat shifter, etc. I sold it for $1650 in 93 when my first son was born

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My 2nd 67. Stock except lowered w/135s, Grant GT wheel, and 1641. This was one of the best driving bugs I've ever owned. I put many, many miles on this car and owned it twice.

Here it is with the Rocket "empi" 5-spokes. I never did find center caps to fit those wheels :angry:

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After I drove the 67 for about 3 years, I bought the "Splash" bug. It was my daily driver for about 4 years. It ended up in primer with Porsche 2-liter replicas on it. The guy I sold it to put it back mostly stock (doors and all!) and painted it an ugly green.

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My 65 w/ ragtop clip and the 67 again. The 65 had new pans, perfect body, sat on 125 temps, and would scrape the reflectors off the road with a full tank of gas I sold the pair full of parts for $1150 so I could hold onto a rental property I had that "family" had screwed me on

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There have been alot more less memorable VWs that I've owned, and some that I don't have pics of up anywhere. So that brings me to my current two bugs.
My 74 custom baja project has shaved trim, door handles, smooth dash, filled antenna, mirror, washer holes, 1 pc 'glass front end, Grant GT wheel, Scat shifter, poly gas tank, 31x10.50 tires all around, and a stock 1600. It could be a volksrod without much work


**edit**more pics on link in signature...old links deleted

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And finally, my '69 right-hand-drive, suicide-doored, custom bug. I bought this thing off thesamba and dragged it home from (near)Tampa, FL to (near) Jax, FL. What a trip!!!! Three flat tires and a lost wheel later, I made the 3-hour trip in about 7 hours Anyway, it has 914 rotors on type 3 hubs on the rear, ghia rotors on the front, a bit of rust, more body mods than I feel like listing right now, no interior, an engine that leaks around the pulley, etc. It has a Scat shifter in it, but I have an original Hurst that I'm putting in it. It had three Cosmic wheels on it when I got it, but they're gone now. I'm in no hurry on this thing (obviously), but I would like to get it on the road at least.

This is it now.

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Doors open...


and the dash with frenched 914 guages.

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BTW, there are alot of pics of the 69 on the link in my signature. I finally started working on it again and pulled the engine yesterday

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As luck would have it I sold all my parts cars with titles a few months back. Well. I just picked up a 72 standard bug that would make a neat little thrasher for me, but no title. It runs pretty good, has all new brakes, and even the lights and wipers work!! It's ugly, has some rust, no interior and needs pans. I'll throw up some pics later. Most likely going to pull the engine for the 69...we'll see.

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Here's a pic of the 72 I just got for the engine.

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...and the engine. It's a 1600 DP that is pretty clean except for some dust and a little oil on the bottom. But, I just bought it because it has a louvered air cleaner

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OK, that engine above is now in the 69. It runs but still has a few issues. I'm going to try to build an engine for the 69 eventually but wanted the car to be able to move under it's own power while I start the body work on it. Now, I've just got to stay off this damned computer and work on the bug instead!!...and stop buying toys and magazines

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I've got both bugs somewhat running . The baja will spin the 31x10.50s pretty easily, not bad for an old 1600. I've done a little more bodywork on the 69-hammered out the decklid damage around the frenched license plate area, still have to weld a couple spots. I'll post a pic as soon as it looks like I've done something. I've got another pair of rear fenders that I'm about to start working on. Little by little

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I went to the Jax Beach show here locally last weekend and decided I need to do something with my bugs. Of course this will change by next weekend

I took the 914 rotors and the type III hubs to work and had them shot blasted I'm going to get the hubs turned down a bit to fit in the rotors this week, hopefully. Then I have to cut of the nut on the axle...fun, fun.
Oh well, a little progress

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Dropped the hubs & rotors off today to get machined down to fit together

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I got the rotors and hubs back a couple weeks ago and painted them a bright cast gray.

I'll try to get my pics up at photobucket soon.

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I got my Scat bus shifter and a different shifter handle. I'm not sure I like the handle though. The Scat bus shifter is 1" longer below the mounting plate than the Scat bug shifter that was in the bug. It also had a 3/8" spacer tacked to the bottom making it 5/8" too long. I broke the 3/8' spacer off and built (overbuilt? :D ) a 1" spacer to take it's place. Then I had to get longer bolts and that was it. I did have to re-thread the insert on the "new" handle to fit the Scat. There are some pics on the link in my signature under RHD suicide 69. The handle is now about the bottom of the radio hole

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I finally cut off the welded axle nut and put in a new stub axle, hub, and rotor.

Old hub


New hub & rotor

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Not much happening here but I did buy two new tires for the front of the bug today. I got tired of it sitting on blocks since I took the 125 temps off so I bought some Kuhmo 195/50/15s. Only problem is that they rub like a SOB when going straight and the front end is a bit out of whack, too much toe in. I think I'm going to build a narrowed beam for it soon :D so I'll worry about fixing it then.

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Not much new and no pics, sorry.

I got a raised adj. front beam from one of the local guys for my 74 baja. It had numerous layers of paint with the last one being bright green So, I took it to work, had it shot blasted, then it rained all the way home so it had surface rust on it already. I used a 5" wire wheel to clean it again and spray bombed some primer on it. Today, I bought some gloss black Krylon and painted it.

I ripped/cut most of the old headliner out of the baja today

I got an aluminum sand sealed pulley from the same guy (all for free ) and put it on the baja today. It seems to have stopped the oil leak I drove the baja up and down the dirt road a couple of times and spun the 31x10.50s a few times , just to warm up the oil,ya know. The bug looks just like it did in the pics above, still with no glass in it I'm going to try to do some more stuff to the baja this weekend, depends on the weather DAMN HURRICANES!!!!
Nothing new on the 69.

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OK, I guess the 69 is officially on hold right now and I'm seriously thinking about selling it.

I cleaned up the drums on the baja with a wire wheel on my 4" grinder and sprayed rattle-can Krylon gloss black on them. I also did a quickie job of spraying the outsides of the wheels with rattle-can appliance white epoxy enamel. It's supposed to be more durable It flowed on nice and smooth but takes 5 hrs to cure to the touch and 24 to fully harden. I sprayed the rear ones with the tires on and the front ones before I had the 235/75/15 Dunlops mounted. They're not perfect but look good from ten feet. Now the front tires don't rub when I turn like the 31/10.50s did. It sits almost level now, maybe even has a little rake to it. I might post a pic of it tomorrow (try to hold back your excitement )

Plus, I mounted the wiper assembly and wipers but they still don't work. I had them out when I welded the dash. I also mounted the tach and hooked it back up. I was going to wait until I paint the baja but who knows when that will be. I stuck another headlight in the 1-pc frontend but I need to mount them more securely and wire them up. Then I mounted a 62-67 tail light on the left rear fender and cleaned up the bulb holder, ran a ground wire to the body since the fender is 'glass and got the tail light working. No brake light or turnsignals as of yet but I'll get there.

Anyway, I'm broke as a joke right now so I'm just tinkering around with what I've got. All this little crap needs to be done anyway so...

~Charlie

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I added a few pics of the baja to my photobucket page. Nothing major. Click the link in my signature to see.