My other off road car

[Sneaks]

I've been struggling with the flu for the last month so I haven't been able to work in the garage as much as I want. Today I felt good enough to at least work inside so we dragged the motor I had for my daughter's now-sold 73 Beetle and started to tear it down. It was supposedly locked up because of water down the intakes so I've been putting this off as long as I could. I pulled one side off and surprisingly, it doesn't look bad at all. Some very minor rust in the combustion chamber on one cylinder on one side and piston and cylinder are very clean with no noticeable corrosion. I'll pull the other head tomorrow and see what I've got on that side. If I can save most of it, that would be cool. It's a 1835 with 041 heads, balanced crank and 110 cam. I have intakes for dual Webers (no carbs yet) and a 010 for it. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow, batteries dead tonight.

I did get another vintage pic:

[namelesswonder]

Get better man! That's no way to be if you wanna work on your cars! heh as if you don't know...

When'd you sell the blue bug? It was so purty. =(

[Sneaks]

Get better man! That's no way to be if you wanna work on your cars! heh as if you don't know...

Yeh, running wires while whacked out on DayQuil just doesn't work too well.

When'd you sell the blue bug? It was so purty. =(

I liked that car. We sold it a couple of months ago, Chrissy really wants a truck instead of a VW so it went to a guy who wanted the body for to put on a Jeep chassis and the pan for his Bradley project. I kept the motor out of it. I wish I could have kept it but that's life.

Quick update: Went out yesterday for an hour or so, started stripping the dash down. Found some interesting stuff behind the glove box and fuse panel. Once I figure out they it go, I'll let you know.

Toggle hidden behind the fuse panel:



Knob under and behind the glove box...but accessible from the right seat if you know where to reach for it. Looks like it was pirated off an early Beetle.



I have no idea what this says or means but it is under the glove box opening on the bottom of the dash...behind the roll bar.



Little red light under the dash that is operated by a toggle in the glovebox, aimed down by the shifter.



One head off the engine I'm starting to rebuild for it. Looks worse than it is, that rust wipes right off and the valves look good.



Piston for that same cylinder. I couldn't get a good shot of the jug but it looks ok as well.



I also got contact by another co-driver of the car. He joined up at the rally forum just because he saw my thread there, pretty cool. He's going to be sending more stuff over to me as his schedule permits but here is the initial communication:

I have been reading the forums for a few years now but only occasionally checked out the Historic section, till I saw the cars picture in the heading. Never had the need to join the forum till I read your 8 pages so far. I navigated alot in the late 70's and 80's, had to give it up in the 90's to pay lawyer bills. Have gotten back into it in the last couple of years working events in the northeast, even got my HAM license (just worked Rally NY event this weekend). There is a guy that shows up to run course opening in a SAAB 96, I'm sure there's a pic of it in the photo section (so that's what you have to shoot for).
Have you been to NJ to pick up the rest of the parts yet? The one-car garage under the appartment is where he did all of the work on the car and it was like a time capsule, the first time I was there I spent an hour just looking at the posters from Europe on the wall. Despite the picture of the car on the trailer out of all the events I saw him at, that car was never on a trailer and was driven to and from the event. For both Missouri and Michigan he stuffed it full of rally tires, spare parts (no back seat) and luggage and we drove it out there. He would have another friend from Ohio who was a mechanic show up to work service and, we would put the spares in that car. Since he and his wife worked for airlines they would fly home (for free) and the navigator would drive the car back to NJ. In fact I think he used to take the car to work at Kennedy airport a lot.
As you can probably tell he stuck very much to VW and Porsche parts, and made frequent trips to Europe so I'm sure he picked up stuff over there. Bruno (his shop) was probably the only other people to work on that car. I saw Bruno at Rally NY a year ago, he was crewing for his son-in-law.
I just can't believe he left that car in NH for so long, talking to one of my old NH rally friends today he tells me that the guy whose house the car was at is a navigating genius. You can add Ed Rachner to the list of co-drivers, he was "Mr. Chronar" so the stickers you have are very appropriate.
To answer some of your questions I saw in the thread: Yes, the 2 posts in the trunk are to mount an extra spare tire / There was a CB radio in the car, driving back from MO. the stickers were still on the car and I could hear the truckers talking about me / In '82 there was a Halda Twinmaster and a Chronar "clock" (I didn't use watches on a clipboard).
Will write more Art

[Lotrat]

Babel Fish translates it to: "Front seat passenger! Stop muzzle"

[namelesswonder]

Babel Fish translates it to: "Front seat passenger! Stop muzzle"

I got "Front seat passenger! Hold mouth" from another site. Maybe about not being a driver from the passenger seat? hahaha

[Sneaks]

Heh. That makes sense. The person in the passenger seat is the co-driver\navigator. They tell the driver what is coming up in the course, a lot of 'right seaters' also drive and no one likes to be told how to drive.

The white knob is the trunk release, the one in the glove compartment is disconnected, maybe for ease of access?

[Sneaks]

The toggle on the backside of the fuse panel is a 3 position switch that, the best I can figure out by tracing the wires blindly with my hands, switched power between the Sapphire radio and a lead that most likely went to the CB radio.

I started working on the interior last night. I pulled the seats and brought them inside so the rodents wouldn't steal any more material for nests over the winter. I'm going to take them to the local auto upholstery shop for a quote this winter, the driver's side needs to be recovered. Is Scheel-Mann still in business? Lifting the cover where the back seat used to be, a little nose peeked out of the tunnel by the shift coupler then ducked quickly back in. Grrr, wonder if I can get a cat to live in this thing for the winter? Too bad that broad-shoulder hawk family has migrated for the winter...

The fire extinguisher was mounted to the front of the seat mount. Interestingly, it still shows as 'GOOD' with a full charge and in the green, the date on it says 1982. Not sure how helpful it would have been in a situation, the top strap holding it in released fine, but the bottom of the extinguisher was zip-tied to the mount

[Lotrat]

Once you remove the coconut hair, the authentic VW smell is gone forever. Is it really a VW then?

[Lotrat]

Funky apron cutout. It looks like it is factory, the edge is rolled and everything.

I knew I saw that before... must have had headers on it at one time.

[Sneaks]

I thought the same thing when I saw that pick in the other thread. We think alike. One of us should be very, very scared.

[Sneaks]

Sean Gallagher was nice enough to send me this pic from the late 70s at the NQP Rally:



He also ID's these two as from that event (or events over the years) because his dad is in the pictures as well:)





I've been playing phone tag with Ferdie, Al's widow, since the weekend. She did tell my son she has boxes of stuff that Al saved from his time rallying (Bill said Al kept all his notes and stuff) and that I'm welcome to them as well as anything that she has that goes with the car. I'm hoping to work out a time to retrieve these before snow flies.

[petew]

that last photo on the stand is interesting. the car is not that high off the ground.

btw, great that you can get more info on the car off previous crew and their families. and good on you for restoring it.

[Sneaks]

After some phone tag and illness, Ferdie and I finally got to speak on the phone last night. The conversation lasted close to an hour and I enjoyed every minute of it. She is a gem and full of spunk! She has seen the thread over on the rally site I frequent and approves (YAY), she recognizes many of the names and only had good things to say.

She shared several stories and I can't wait to sit with her in person to hear some more. She bought the car new in 1973. She did it on a whim, she wanted her own car and so she went to the dealer and told them she wanted a Beetle, it had to be red and she was paying for it that day. She got home and told Al she bought a car, he asked what kind and she told him a VW Beetle. He told her he'd be right back...and was gone for several hours. When he returned, he said he had them make some 'modifications' to her car:) She said the clutch was so stiff it took 2 feet to depress it. She pretty much resigned it to Al's rally car and 'got a Buick, that was much nicer!' So the car was originally red and not orange.

The Duck: the duck was given to all after one of the AlCan events. He suffered engine failure and was towed by the sweep for a rather long stage. They called him their 'lame duck' and gave him the decal to put on the car.

The FA seen on the car in many shots: those are Ferdie's initials, she sponsored the car as well as rode in the service vehicle. Since the car was supposed to be hers and her name is on the title, I guess she definitely was the main sponsor. She shared a few stories about riding with some Irish journalists as well as a couple of getting assistance from other drivers. I should have been taking notes but I was enjoying the conversation and didn't want to stop the flow to get something to write with. I know one had to do with John Buffum and a hemorrhaging engine (turns out it was the '85 Alcan featured below, they even used that language) in the VW and another was about Bruno but I lost the details already. I'll do better when we talk again.

The car was brought to NH in '94 because they had run out of room. Al was hoping to use the car again but never did. After Al passed, she asked Bill to try and get in touch with me about the car but he wasn't able to make a connection since so much time had passed. We agreed it was destined that I found that email this spring. Al was working on a Golf GTI he got from Bruno's place, it is still stripped down in the garage as he was going to make it into a rally car. It is going to another gentleman to help repair his wife's car.

Speaking of the garage: the motor is there (2.0l? That is what is mentioned in the article) as well as 'boxes of stuff scattered between 2 garages, storage units and places.' Anything that pertains to the VW 'belongs to the Beetle, because that is just the way it is.' She has the Cibie lights still as well as all the door number decals. From the sounds of it, Al kept a lot of stuff from when the car ran and she'd like it to stay with the car. Actually, she is pretty adamant that it stays with the car, I am so thrilled!

I'm very appreciative of the time she spent with me and look forward to going to visit, hopefully before winter hits hard. She is a wonderful, generous lady and I really enjoyed talking to her and hope to keep this new friendship going. She shared many great rally stories as well as some very touching personal stories. I know the loss of Al is crushing to her (and a correction, Al passed away in 2007, not 2008), but she still laughs and can hold those memories fondly. Like I mentioned, she has read the similar thread over on Special Stages and the memories, comments and support this project has already received from everyone not only is great for me, it really means a lot to Ferdie. She is very touched that something close to Al is going to live on and has generated such interest. This is just more incentive to do the job right.
Ferdie got me pointed in the right direction when she mentioned she has the original and I finally found the article I was looking for from Popular Mechanics, coverage of the '85 Alcan that has a pic of the Super Beetle in it, even mentions Al snagged it from his wife:) and the basics of the Schmit\Buffum oil hemorrhage story Ferdie was telling me about. Here it is in all its glory, I hope it reproduces big enough to read. If not, here is the link to the story directly on Google.

http://books.google.com/books?id=dOMDAA ... q=&f=false

[fusername]

this is the kind of stuff that gets me excited about off roading. 5000 miles thru alaska?! some people are nuts.

I am not sure if it works on images, but if you hold down ctrl and scroll up or down with the scroll wheel on your mouse it should make everything bigger and smaller so you can read. to go back to normal hit ctrl+0

[Sneaks]

According to Bill, they did this one 84, 85, 86 and 87. Did you see the part about the 'unscored side trip to the Arctic Circle????' Only 550miles. Can you imagine doing any of this, in the winter, in a VW with stock heat? And I know the heat is stock cuz I have the car! What about a 4x4 Rolls Royce or a 9000lb (4.5 ton!!) 'burban? And to think I got an adrenalin rush bombing down 1/4mile of mud puddles...

They still run the Alcan, www.alcan5000.com, even including dual purpose motorcycles now. Since it is a TSD rally, only basic safety equipment is required and the vehicle be street legal. I'm sure it is still crazy, but I just have to think that 20+ years ago it was more dangerous...

The entry fee is $2900, I guess I won't be attempting it any time soon.