I was recently sent some images of the beach buggy by a previous owner - what a time warp they are!

The buggy started off life on a different number plate and was originally orange with completely different wheels and 1200cc motor:








It was then sprayed yellow and had white wheels fitted in the early-mid eighties, and at this stage had some purple paint applied but the owner changed his mind & went full yellow - I found remnants of purple while doing some body work. Interestingly the buggy also featured an engine cage which is no longer fitted - presumably removed when the new 1600 engine was fitted:









It was then transformed again with nice shiny slot mags and a new registration number - notice the canopy which is still fitted today.









It's fascinating uncovering the history of this buggy - which is sixty years old next year.

Thanks @hugh - I did try with the seats in but there was no way I could get in! in hindsight I could've left the drivers seat in but it did make running the loom easier.

More entertainment rewiring my front lights 

https://youtu.be/hZp7zgd-4C0

 

I can imagine! Fashion before function...

Cool 

Now that hibernation is almost over, I've finally got round to finishing another video about my wiring saga - the previous picture post tells only a very small part of the story.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/G7Z_1bdoFoE

Hope the weather warms up soon!

Merry Christmas 

Thank you Hudge Buggy. I am looking forward to enjoying the buggy in the coming years warmer weather. Hoping to get a trailer to tow it behind the camper.

Forgot to post an update...

I've not been a fan of the stripes and buxom bumble bee as you may know.

Next to face eviction were the flaking stripes. They'd  been painted over the original black paint at some point - I'm guessing in the nineties or early noughties. I had a good chat to a previous owner who'd owned the buggy during the eighties - he'd painted the buggy yellow but not added the graphics.



I figured they come off with a good blast from the jet wash.



With the flakey stripes gone all that remained of the previous bumble bee was the smaller version on the left rear fender.




So out came the hair dryer and slowly removed all the sticker.
























I decided to try foamy glass cleaner to see how well that removed the residue, and I'm surprised to say it worked very well.






The fender will need buffing out, but then again so does the whole body!


I tried some time-lapse on this video  - quite satisfying to watch.https://youtu.be/4TSS20SLWck

Fuel lines next.

Another fix on the buggy - the pedals.

The accelerator pedal was completely loose and needed a new floor bracket and springs. After buying an incorrect part to start, I learned that this year beetle chassis needed a different floor bracket... any way, the pedals are all sorted now complete with new VW logo rubber covers, ready for sandy bare feet straight off the beach.













Im happy with the end result.



And another video for you to watch https://youtu.be/Zm9yKjJEows

Happy Days!

👍🏻

Thanks for the input guys. The hole cut in the tunnel looks like it's been there for a great many moons, no evidence of cracks or bends etc in that area. Getting in there to weld it up will be tricky. I'll have it taken care of once I've worked through the other issues like fuel lines.

Clearly my buggy had wiring issues after 58 years and not knowing air cooled vw's at all I needed some help.

Gauges not working. Warning lights not working. Dodgy connectors. Scrambled wires. Left front indicator not working and when I switched on the headlights all the lights on the left dimmed...You get the gist.




Someone recommended this book... and then I began to realise I had a lot of rewiring and fault checking ahead of me.




Got to say this book is filled with ace illustrations too!










I read in the book that there should be two warning lights appear on ignition - a red one and a green one. My '71 beetle owning friend agreed. I had the bulb holders but no illumination, I changed the bulbs but no lights.

That's when I decided to start ripping wires out and using an early wiring diagram and posts from this forum to find a way forward. Who the heck knew the wiring on early beetles (mines a 1962 base) changed so much!
















The wiring was a complete mish-mash of different colours and thicknesses. Clearly someone had a lot of yellow and blue wire laying about at some point in this buggies history, so figuring out what wires went where for what, was a big challenge. I'm no auto electrician but I could tell that was a problem!

Next step was ordering a lot of wire and connectors online then systematically replacing each wire and old connector with new. It took me a good few weekends and I kinda enjoyed the experience of learning new skills and getting this right.


Now it all works perfectly!





Happy days!

Cheers Dave and Paul. Thankfully, the buggy idles very well. Thanks for the link I'll investigate.

Dave are you saying that with twin carb setups it's better with a small filter?

After lockdown ended and we shot off to France, Spain and Portugal in the campervan without the buggy. Now the weather is getting pants and the cold makes me lazy but I'm getting stuck into fixes.

Firstly I needed to get that awful looking snarking bumble Bee off the bonnet so I could feel like I was accomplishing something on this 58 year old.





There was a good idea at the start but the execution was just, well how can I say politely, not my cup of tea. If the face had been more pleasant and not something that reminds you of a snarling mother-in-law then this graphic could've worked for me. Remember the Hornet on the Jordan's F1 cars? Those were very cool. No I don't think I'm going to do that!

Anyway pictures tell the story...













With buxom bumble bee gone from the bonnet it was time to try polish out that colour fade.




Out came the cutting paste and polisher.







Off for another drive!




Then I removed all the fake carbon vinyl sticker from the sides as well and made another video cos some people liked watching the first one: https://youtu.be/ZxJTBZhHUOI

Happy days!

Hi @Paul1953, thanks for pointing that out. My filters don't seem to have a place to connect a hose to. Can I use a crank case filter on the outlet - I've seen that done on other beetle motors?

Yes that's true Hugh. I may need one of those heaters from CBS!

Once I had a chance to start going over the buggy, I began identifying what I want to change, what needs sorting and dreaming a bit.

I don't know anything really about these flat four air-cooled engines so I'm looking forward to learning. What I do know is this thing sounds fab when it fires up!

I've got a massive history file and back in 2000, only about 2000 miles ago, this bug got a rebuilt 1600 motor with twin 36 Weber's and some other smart bits.














It starts on the turn of the key and idles smoothly with a raspy rumble through those trumpets. I figure I'll leave it well alone for now but start tidying bits up.

There's a good few other things that need sorting out first like the gear shift which I managed to 'break' leaving it stuck in gear. Turns out the coupler on the shaft came undone while I was trying to man-handle it into reverse - So that was my fix mechanical fix.

Thank you guys!  I appreciate you taking time to drop in and add feedback.

It's not going to become a show buggy like some of the beauties on here, I like the way you put it "essentially rough". It's got 58 years of history - I think I'd like to hold onto at least some of it while I add my chapter. How I don't know yet...I've got a fair bit to do in the mean time.