Date: Fri, 05 May 95 11:34:02 PDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Stuart Foley <foley@radstone.co.uk>
Subject: Re: buying a type 1
hi,
As regards to bodywork - Get under the car and see if the floorpan and =
body are
welded together with some sort of sill closing panel (it is flat and look=
s very
home brew). If they are, you can assume that the heater channels are shot=
, even
if the door sections look good. Also, dig around the framehead area. Rust=
here
tends to be supported by underseal.
Check for paint bubbling especially around the wing area's - this sort =
of thing
points towards large holes. Check the front inner wing areas especially =
around
the floor pan area. At the rear, take the seat out and have a dig in the =
corners, check the battery pan area for thin metal. The spare wheel well =
is
also a favorite place for rust. Check to see how the front wings are bolt=
ed on,
and by how many bolts from the inside of the bonnet - large washers and =
nuts
are usually an indicator of thin metal.
If the bug is a 1302 or a 1303 then the whole front must be regarded as =
suspect. These tend to deteriorate very quickly once the worm sets in.
Look at the wiring loom, if it looks like spagetti junction be supicious.=
If
its the same colour as the car you'll have fun finding out what goes wher=
e if
you buy it. Also look for any burnt out wiring.
If you know someone who works on them, get them to go along with you to =
go over
the car.
IMHO avoid the AA & RAC checks. There expensive and not geared up for =
older
cars.
I check out bugs every so often for people and I turn up in overalls wiel=
ding
my favorite rust finding cold chisel (none of this screwdriver stuff!). =
The
golden rule as far as I'm concerned is leave no panel untouched! If your =
going
to part with your money make sure you know what your getting. Even if =
you buy a
shed, at least you'll KNOW its a shed.
Hope this helps some...
Stuart,
Stu's Inventory...
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55 Beetle Sedan (restoration in progress)
66 Beetle Sedan (cal)
73 Camper
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