In '78 my dad started looking around for a second car. It was the year before I would go to school and one car would not cut it. My grandfather was the workshop manager for Hornby Motors, the then VW dealers in Springs. They had a spotless 69 1500 Beetle standing on their 2nd hand-floor.
Now seeing that grandpa worked for a VW dealer it was kind of logical that most of the kids drove VW's. I grew up with Beetles, Busses and one or two Audi's around. Dad bought that '69 1500 for the grand sum of R800.
For the next 15 odd years the Beetle duty fully served as Dad's transport to work in Jo'burg, general run around and eventually as student transport for me. We had regular arguments about who would sit in the dogbox at the back, till we just became to big......
I learned to drive with the Beetle. I was caught driving it before I had my drivers when dad sent me to the hardware store.
In '87 or '88 somewhere the Beetle was in an accident with a Scania lorry that decided it would rather ignore a red traffic light. It was hit on the left front wheel. The boot lid, front apron, bumper, fender and light was torn to shreds. We towed her home, replaced the damaged parts and she was on the road again. From there however the left k&l pins would wear out fast and eventually wheel alignment would be impossible to set and we would need to have the k&l's replaced.
In 1991 I started studying and dad bought himself a Jetta CLX. The Beetle became my daily driver and transport at Technikon.
Then one morning in 1993 we took my brother for his induction in to the SAPS. Just outside Nigel I went over a traffic light that was out of order.
Beetles and taxi's do not share the same piece of tar...... The taxi hit me on the drivers door. I took a serious whack on the forehead, requiring 20+ stitches to put it all together again. The Beetle was towed home and we started making plans to fix it. I have photos of the damage and buggy being built, just need to scan them in.
The b-pillar was torn out of the shell and rolled up. The roof had a huge dent and split on the rain gutter. The cost of a repair was just to high. We started looking around for Beetle shells, but those available where either butchered badly or had serious rust. Dad decided to go the buggy way. We bought a Salamander kit from KCC and by middle '93 the buggy was on the road. I was handed the keys to the buggy as my 21st birthday gift.
I drove the buggy during the rest of my studies and when I started working. Eventually I was able to buy myself a Jetta and the buggy started doing duty as my youngest brother's student car. My dad and brother then built him a buggy with a 1500cc Nissan motor. My buggy was parked in dad's yard and was used very infrequently. The buggy's condition started to deteriorate.
I brought it home (after I got married and bought a house) and the buggy was parked in the yard. I used it for a few off-road play sessions till the tank started leaking after it rusted through. Again the buggy was left standing.....
The kids have played in it, the dog decided he wants to make a kennel of it (no matter how many times I tried explaining to the contrary!) The dog also liked the flavor of the left front seat. To say the least I was more than a little annoyed!
Until now. Last night I started pulling the buggy apart. Below is some pictures I took. Slow progress but that is more than anything that has happened in the last 5 years.
Starting out:
A very dusty motor:
Topless:
Another Aircooled Fan in the making. My son helping to strip the buggy down:
Side panel and nerfbar off, seat belts removed, wiper arms removed:
Side panel and nerfbar going to be stored for the rebuild
I knew the pan would require some reworking because of the rust in the normal places at the back.
While removing the screws that hold the nose in place, I spotted rust on the front section of the pan,
right behind the front beam. This is a worry to me. I will pull the bug apart and then see if the situation can be fixed.
What do you guys think?
Some people live in Golf Estates, I drive one.
