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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... ************************* 55 Beetle Sedan (restoration in progress) 66 Beetle Sedan (cal) 73 Camper *************************


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