
For the folks that may not know me, refer to previous threads: Vee Dub Nut's Buggy Build, and ... v2.0
As I mentioned to a few of yall back at the classic, I have been passively looking for a while for a pan with a clear title to start a new buggy build. Back since our last build attempt, Micah (hereforth referred to as wifey) has been patiently waiting for a buggy project to fill that empty space in the garage. And let me tell you, she's been VERY patient (read: three different engine builds and a new built trans for the '67. What can I say? I like to try new things LOL). Anyways, I haven't been trying to rush or force the project, just waiting for the right deal to come to me. Watched the samba, chased a few word of mouth leads, but mostly just kept an eye on Craigslist to watch for the local deals. Well fast forward to the week before last when I saw an ad posted for a 59 Beetle in Bandera Tx. Now from the pictures it didn't look like much. Completely stripped and rough, but had the magic words "have title, make offer". We'll I didn't immediately jump on it. Came home and told the wifey what I found, and she said "go for it". I shot off an email with what I considered a fair offer and then waited. Two days went buy with no response and I figured, oh well, not meant to be. Well a few days later, I finally got a response back. The owner answered my few questions and accepted my offer. I immediately shot back an email to make plans to go check it out in person a few days later. Last Tuesday I drove down after work to verify that the title was good/clean, matched the vin on the pan, and that the tunnel on the car was solid. The rest of the car wasn't important, as long as it met these few criteria. Overall all I can say is, MAN this car was beat! Its definitely seen better days. It had been hit front and back, had body filler all over the place, floors were rotted, and the inside was full of junk. I did my best to slide down between it and the trailer it was loaded on and inspected the tunnel, looked good over all. VIN checked out, and he had ALL the old paperwork on the car. Last registered in 83, and was last sold in 89. Well I hesitated for a bit, as the car was in rough shape and I wasn't sure what I would do with it immediately. I'm working on a sand rail for a friend, so my extra garage space is currently occupied until the end of the month, and this thing wasn't pretty enough to not attract attention from the neighbors. After thinking about it, and devising a plan, I went ahead and made the deal. The owner was nice enough to offer to deliver it to me the following Saturday, as there was no way that it was going to be towed. We made plans and I took off for home calling the wifey and filling her in on all the goods. Fast forward to today, Saturday, it was delivered and unloaded in my yard ready for me to tear into it.
My immediate plans were to strip the body off the car, cut the good metal I wanted off the body, then chop the rest of it up to load in the trailer and sell for scrap. This will let me quickly deal with the eye sore in the yard, and get the chassis ready to bring into the garage when the space comes open. I also wanted to make sure to scrape off the tar-board from the tunnel and ensure that the backbone was good and solid.
Here it is in all its glory (with the extra transmission he threw in for me, as the trans in the car is an early split case)

Wifey and little squirt checking out the new project

As I mentioned, it was full of junk. Oh well, more weight for the scrap man to measure.


It was hit front and back


First order of business was clearing out all the old junk. Got a couple of cool scores out of it. Had an old school set of nerf bar bumpers, OG oil bath air cleaner, and a few other odds and ends. But mostly just junk. As expected, floors are nearly gone.

Fortunately for me, the body was already unbolted and ready for removal. With just a few snips with the wire cutters, and knocking the steering column loose, me and my neighbor (the Harley mechanic) were able to pick off the body.

After that, I knocked down all of the old tar board on the tunnel and all is good and solid! Ready for some fun!

So now for the plans. Well first off, this is going to be a LONG term project, so don't expect to see lots of updates and action anytime soon. I'll build on it as time and money allows, always waiting for good deals to come along on things we need. Definitely staying long wheelbase so we have a family cruiser (our little family is gonna be +1 again early next year

Anyways.. glad to be "officially back" with a project in the works!