1968 Beetle

I picked this beetle up from Shaky over the weekend.  He had done a good bit of work to the car including brakes, drop spindles, tie rods, new tires......  Well he let it sit for a couple of years and finally decided to sell it.  I picked it up Sunday and started working on it this week.  I ended up rebuilding the carb and replacing the distributor and that got it running pretty good.  The oil pressure switch had to be replaced along with the brushes in the generator to get the warning lights off on the speedometer.  I also installed the decklid spring, tag light and wired it up, wired up the reverse lights and cleaned up the bulbs on the tail lights.   The car is pretty solid other than it has had an accident to the front left quarter and a little roof damage from a possible limb falling on it.  It also seems to run pretty good.   Not sure what the plan is for it at the moment.  I do think a wheel change will be in the near future!

These are the pics when I went and looked at it on Friday.

Me and Shaky washed it before I towed it home to knock some of the dirt off of it.  I haven't detailed it further but I will soon!  I did remove the chrome vent trim below the rear window and the finger guards so I could actually get my hands around the handles. I also re-keyed the door locks to match the ignition so one key works everything.   I should be picking up a front bumper for it soon and installing a set of pop outs when my seals come in....

First drive around the block!

I'm not getting the pics, just black box with x.

I can see clearly now....

sounds good but same on pics.

Yeah I will redo when I get home

Are the pictures working now?

Yep. Looks straight and solid.

vw57drvr wrote:Yep. Looks straight and solid.

Yeah it's a solid car other than the left front quarter and the roof has some limb damage. The paint looks better in the picture than it really is but ok for a driver.

My first "drivable" VW was a 68. I learned a lot with that car. I drove it for years, made a lot of mistakes, and ended up trading it for a 66. Are you going to do anything to it? Add the trim back? find a 68 decklid?

Yes it has brand new trim that came with the car. I am not sure on the deck lid though.  I might go to the stock lid but I do like the extra cooling vents I have a couple of two vent lids I might use instead of the later lid. I am definitely putting a front bumper on and probably a wheel change.

Yeah, if it has a doghouse fan and cooler, you may want to have the extra cooling. Cool car. I would like to find something like that for a good price that I could drive daily. I love my convertible, but it just isn't practical for daily use.

vw57drvr wrote:Yeah, if it has a doghouse fan and cooler, you may want to have the extra cooling. Cool car. I would like to find something like that for a good price that I could drive daily. I love my convertible, but it just isn't practical for daily use.

Yup it has a dog house cooler.

A few more things done.....Horn ring and button installed and the horn works but a little too good as it honks while turning lol.....I picked up a set of new visors and clips and installed them.  I found my trim clips and installed the new trim that came with the car.  

Looks good. I thought it would be fun to turn one into an empi gtv clone. Sprint stars and all. A friend of mine has a real 69 empi gtv but it has about returned to the earth.

Yeah that would be cool.....I am planning on using sprint stars

What was the original color?

Vw Blue

Yesterday I got the gas gauge working after replacing the fuel gauge, vibrator, the sending unit and running a ground wire off the sending unit.  Also since I had the speedometer out I cleaned the glass and reset the mileage back to zero.

When I was 16 and had my 68, my gas gauge was intermittent but mostly non operational. I was driving one day and my back seat caught on fire. Ever since that day my fuel gauge worked like new. Go figure.

I installed new seals in my popouts last night and installed them in the car today.  

I finally got my new lug bolts in and put on the front sprint stars.  The back wheels I still have to strip and re-paint.....

The front sits nice. Is it lowered?

pwmcguire wrote:The front sits nice. Is it lowered?

Just drop spindles

you need to update your signature huh?

zabo wrote:you need to update your signature huh?

Possibly if its a keeper....everything else I still have plus a 69 westy!