ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

Ok, a buddy of mine just bought a '72 KG against my advice (he asked mine because i drive a bug and everyone at the highschool knows I know my stuff with VW's). Anyways, here's what the condition is, i want to see what you woud have paid for it.

It has a 1600 DP a stock tranny and seems to run well, it did pass omissions, oops, i mean emissions

It could have possibly once been red, or rattle can grey, it's about 50/50 so i dunno what the original color is (j/k)

Both rocker panels under the doors could have possibly once been there, but have been replacd with a crumbling porous, red metallic like compound (rust)

The floor pans along the rockers and in about 2" have been replaced by the same mysterious material.

The bottom 6 inches of the front fender where it meets the door might have once been there (getting my drift)

The bottom 6 inches of the rear fender where it meets the door might once have been there too.

Interior, what interior? Oh, you mean the seat frames stuffed with foam rubber and covered with a bath towel? And the sheet metal black carpet, err, uh, sheet metal.

Then to top it all off he's a fellow high schooler (ie no money), can do only the most basic of repairs and cannot weld/do body work and has no interest to learn to do it. Yesterday he was showing me a picture of what he thinks his car is going to look like when he's done "in about 6 months" (so he says). it was a picture of a show winner out of hot VW's.

Allright, so with the above background, what would you have given for the car? I think he horribly overpaid and would have been better off waiting for something else to come along. I'll tell how much he gave in the next day or so.


Justin

Unfortunately it sounds like the car is worth more in Parts form. But for a high school kid it's the world. I remember my first car. This is only the starting faze of being bitten by the VW BUG. Once reality settles in and your friend realizes just how much cash is required to get a car to the point of being in a Magazine especially a car in rough shape, he might just decide to drive his ghia into the ground. From the sounds of it I wouldn't have paid more than $300.00 for it. Best of luck to your friend.
Empified................

Unfortuntately I have to agree, I just wouldn't have bought it, unless it had parts I needed and cost less than what those would (couple hundred bucks)

But yes, we all start out dreaming somewhere and then reality sets in.

Travis

Didn't you ask us about this before he bought it? Didn't most say "Don't"?
Obviously this is a case of enthusiasim overwhelming good judgement. But as stated above, good judgement is usually unavailable in a high schooler's first car purchase. It wasn't for mine!

So don't tell him he made a mistake, tell him he's learning the hard way.

Experience comes with age.

I just know I'm gonna gasp when you tell us the dollar amount.
Tell him he should keep the engine and transaxle, and part out the rest.
If he takes all the glass, wheels, electrical components and what useable trim there is to his nearest VW meet, he might break even and be able to try again with a solid car.
Better yet, e-mail him this post. We'll school him.

Well put ACH,
Yea, 300$ if I needed something major from it, I paid 250$ for a donor nose and drove across 3 states to get it (these big western states, not those tiny eastern ones ).
I just know your gonna say like 2k or something...
Give with the details!

OH well. You live you learn. I would say, when it comes to ghias, they need to be solid. Bugs are soooooooooooooooo easy to restore and get parts, unlike the ghia. I agree with some on here. I would part out the car and use those parts to restore another 72.

I never posted about this car before he bought it, but like I said, i told him not to buy it but he did anyway. He paid $900 for this basket case and no amount of sound advice could disuade him from it. He thinks it's going to be a throw it all together and it'll look great, he doesn't realize how much time is involved. I'm getting ready to paint my bug that i had to do some minor body work on on the rear fender wells and pass. side rocker (I can weld panels and form most pieces, so it's been cheap for me) and he didn't believe me when I told him I've been sanding on the car for 3 days and haven't left the front clip. Anyways, just wanting to make sure everyone else out there is with me on this one.

Justin

Thought i was logged in for that one.

Justin

Anonymous wrote:He paid $900 for this basket case

Justin

Ouch!
I see you're in St. Louie, where a nice, not rusted out VW is as common as the goose laying golden eggs. With the nice weather coming, I can almost understand your friends blind enthusiasim. I doubt he'll be able to recoup anywhere near $900 selling parts.
Now is the time for you to take this guy unders your wing, and school him. Let him help you w/ your Bug. Let him see what it takes to get an old VW really nice, so he won't make the same mistake again. Become his mentor. He may become your customer one day!

B.T.W. Is the local club participatin in StrassenFest this year? When is it?

I'm not member of the local VWclub, but every year there's the VW only show down at strassenfest, so i figure it'll be happening again. Last year my dad's car took 1st place stock pre-'67, it's a black '57. I don't know exactly when it is this year, but last year it was the hottest day of the year, 110 in the shade. I should know on easter (read on and you'll see why). We don't go down too often, but occaisonally, just to see what else is around. It's not exactly appealing to have 50,000 drunks walking around looking at your car and then the little kids with their hotdogs and ice cream. . . it makes me shudder just to think about it. If my car's done by then I might show, but i dunno yet. About the only show I go to on a regular basis is the Concours in forest park on easter sunday. So long as it's not raining i always show.

Justin

Need to remembr to login, grr. . .
Justin

hoxii
what part of stl you from
i have a ghia
i dont know anyone here with a vw
maybe we could get together and turn some wrenches

I'm in Webster Groves, where are you around here?

over on the hill
maybe at the most 5 miles
from webster groves
shoot me an email
[email protected]