My First Beetle...

[davetapson]

Bought for R800 in '81... '71 1300. Seems I had time to paint the chrome black before I took the pic...

[davetapson]

Clutch change in '86...

[davetapson]

It got driven all over the place - we lived in the E. Cape and I was studying at Maritzburg - must have gone on every road there is in the T'kei that will get you from E. Cape to PMB. This looks like St. Lucia tho'... sailboard an' all.

[davetapson]

Beetles like snow...
Drankensberg - mid 80's.

[davetapson]

Beetles also like bush. This was the campsite just outside Kariba - we were the only people there and the capsite was full of game.

[davetapson]

Let no one say you can't camp out of a Beetle...

[davetapson]

Beetles also like desert. Venturing where only 4x4's are alleged to venture. Had the paint on, but it seems not the door handles or second bonnet latch yet...!! Painted it myself with red 2K and it came out beautifully. This was without even buffing it - just as is, sprayed.

[davetapson]

This pic out of order. This is Sanyati Gorge, which is on the track between Kariba and Milibizi. Stopped at Bumi Hills to try and cadge some fuel (it was something like 197km - took us 13 hrs) and the guy looked around for our boat. When I told him we'd come by road he said that he didn't do that any more as it was b*ggering up his Land Cruiser!

Just as I took this pic some eejit with an AK jumped out of the bush at the other end of the bridge and shouting and waving about us photographing Zimbabwean infrastructure. We just jumped in the car and took off. Like we had room for a bomb.

This was quite funny - i heard later that we'd become a legend in Kariba and some of Harare as 'the couple that went into the valley in a beetle and never came back again.' Of course we never came back - we went through and came out the other side... Beetles are just fantastic. The only real problem we had was the middle-mannetjie in the road - when it got too high - the dub just skated along on it's belly pan on the round gravel they have there.

[davetapson]

Don't have any more pics to hand. Eventually sold the completed Baja Bug to a German mate in Oshakati (Namibia) and bought an old Land Rover, as I thought that might be a better plan. It wasn't...

[Chris]

Fantastic pics and a great history on that Bug.

[davetapson]

Found another one.

Beetles don't like war. Land mine crater on a road somewhere around Ruacana. There was still diesel and ripped clothing lying around. Not so lekker. I always hoped a beetle wouldn't be heavy enough to set off a land mine... maybe it wasn't.

This may or may not have been in Angola - the border was a bit flexible in those days.

[Blitzkrieg]

Fantastic pics and a great history on that Bug.

+1

[Edmond]

nice thread

[dsan]

This is a brilliant thread, thanks!

[davetapson]

Edmond - seems like you've got the same baja kit - from Beamish? I actually cut the car up and put the kit on in a garage in a block of flats in Rondebosch. Had all the tannies up in arms 'cos I was 'starting a panel beaters' out of my garage

I see one of my headlights looks up and the other down - it obviously didn't bother me at the time. Must have been too busy enjoying what a baja has to offer to be bothered by details...

Beamish told me I should use 14" wheels with AFAIKR 245/70 tyres. I needed a vehicle that could deal with Kalahari sand (it's windblown, so has no edges and gives no traction) so went for the bigger tyres 15 x 215 but they were just too big to be driven well by a 1300. Not that it stopped me much.

I really hanker after building another one.