My 1968 VW Beetle

growing up, i was always fond of the Volkswagen beetles mostly due to my grandfather being a big volkswagen fan. in fact, thats the only car he would drive on a daily basis. we always joked around about who will get his beetle when he passes and i would always tell him it had better be me. well, unfortunately the day came on April 29th 2012 and on may first i found out that he left the beetle to me. come to find out he didnt have a "proper will" and everything that had a title and was in his name went to the state and this brings me to the present. i bought this 1968 beetle to build in memory of him. i bought for $900 from a guy who has been hoarding them. it has no motor, interior, back glass, or wheels and has been sitting since 1990. he let me borrow wheels to tow it to the house which was nice of him considering that all the wheels i have are 4x100. i plan on putting all early model sheet metal on it cause i like the look of the early model cars over the late model ones. im going to take my time and do things the right way vs. rushing through it and not being happy with the end result.

here it is the day i got it at the hoarders place.



here it is at my buddy's house (where all the work will be done)



walk around after i started cleaning it up















started to tear it apart







started to drill out the spot welds that hold the front apron on and since i had never done that before it took forever. overall i think i did a good job for it being my first time.





got my new pre 67 apron. not welded on yet. just on there for picture purposes. not going to weld it on until i have an early model hood so i can get everything lined up properly.



i decided i wanted to lower it (a lot) so i took the front beam out to put some adjusters in it.





my friend welding in my adjusters for me



finished product



i kind of threw everything on it to get a feel of how its going to look









my friend picked up an early model hood for me so he bolted it up and sent me a picture of it.



tim welded the front apron on




got my rear window in (without defrost)




got my pan all trimmed up




put the pan in




started tearing down my cylinder heads for cleaning and porting




buffed the valves (before and after)





all of them buffed



before cleaning the chambers




after cleaning the chambers




ported




before lapping the valves




after lapping




all finished up




put my front fenders on




put my early model headlights in (hella fluted with removable h4 bulbs)



started to wash it and tried to get off all the spray paint. all the black is spray paint. the fenders were just moldy.




i bought new shoes, hardware, wheel cylinders, master cylinder, and stainless brake lines for the front and rear of the car



i got my flywheel resurfaced



i havnt had a lot of time to work on the beetle lately since my girlfriend is currently having some health issues, so tim put my motor together for me and put it in the car.







obviously i bought a new clutch, pressure plate, and throwout bearing. i also bought a rebuilt carb.

i ripped the dash pad out of it so i can get it to look like an early model dash.



bought an early model tank



just a picture of the rear brakes after i fought them for a while cause everything was seized up.



here are my wheels, i got all 5 at the raleigh show for $200. anyone know what theyre called?



here is my deck lid with the stand offs. and those arent my early model rear fenders... obviously lol



and a random pic i took a while back



a lot still needs to be done. the rear needs to be lowered, the gauges need to be put in, more welding needs to be done. should come together soon. i actually just got all the title work done today so now its tagged and good to go

and that is where the beetle stands. more updates to come in the future

I'm really liking this project! Since I wrecked my Rolla, I want a project to tinker on while I dd my lancer, something like this would be ace. Cars looking a lot better, and I like your choice going with the older flow, a lot of beetles local, and the best ones are the older styled ones.

i wanted to do the old wide 5 lug conversion to complete the look but if i was going to do all that i was going to go big or go home with disc brakes all around, drop spindles, and a 2" narrowed beam and then i saw the price and was all like i can do that later lol

and this is why the rolla isnt swapped in case anyone was wondering

thats just cool its going good so far best of luck for the future tho.....and sorry to hear about ur grandfather thou...may he rest in peace

thats an awesome car to restore, will be watching this thread for updates

I love old Beetles!

Can't wait to see this one finished!

Sick project Tyler! I love how much work you've put into it so far. There's a younger neighbor here with one as well, but yours seems to be further along. He's bagging his.

Will you be fixing all the rust and giving it fresh paint? I can't wait to see more.

no pictures as of right now, just been busy. ive finally gotten tires, wheel studs and lug nuts to replace those pain in the ass lug studs. so the wheels are now on it. with that being said i now how to narrow the beam cause the wheels sit too far out and rub fender. i also got an early model glove box door, early model fuel gauge, early model fuel sending unit, and some new window visors. ive also got some rock gaurds for the fenders as a joke cause my friend tim hates them with a passion. OH!!! i got a roof rack for it too =) now i need to save up for the BRM's that i want and some portawalls. my good friend stephen bought an app on his iphone called bug simulator so you can play with the ride height, wheels, paint, accessories, and all that good stuff so i built my beetle on it (what ive envisioned in my head this whole time) and ill post a pic of it after i send it to photobucket.

found a picture of my wheels (not a good one)



and here is what i see in my head. those arent the wheels i want, the ones i wanted werent on there so these were the closest ones

A huge project and a nice tribute to your grandfather Tyler always luv the beetle last one made here in NZ I think was 70-72 shipped in parts from Frankfurt was sad they stopped assembling here but carried on in Brazil and Mexico.

thanks dude, im always looking for cool accessories for it. keep an eye out for some stuff if you would please

That would look amazing! Kinda makes me thirsty looking at the Coca Cola theme.

Thanks dewd! I cant wait to get started on the bodywork. Im ready for this to go down. Hopefully ill be able to use it as my get away car next year

I like your plans for it, can't wait to see some pics of the progress!

I'm guessing this is now your priority over the rolla?

always been priority over the rolla lol, probably always will =) i just found some super rare Porsche 914 enkei 92's in gold!!! ill probably go snatch those up to refurbish and resell. not the look that im going for though. i want the brm's <3

Needs more Fuchs. Not a real old-skool VW/Porsche if it i doesn't have Fuchs...

fuck fuchs. theyre over rated.

alan, i totally agree.

Hence why I had the tongue-poke emoticon

Whilst they can look good in some setups, they are usually horribly over-rated and over-used (like TE37s on JDM cars)

yeah i know =) and you're sooooooo right. when they're used properly they look amazing but a lot of the times they dont. and the te37's lolololol right again

kickfli12 wrote:

yeah i know =) and you're sooooooo right. when they're used properly they look amazing but a lot of the times they dont. and the te37's lolololol right again

Then again I can hardly talk, as I had TE37 copies before I went to the 5-spoke. Although I got them because I liked the look of them on their own, had never heard of TE37s at the time.

again, not much going on with the vw at the moment but starting tomorrow its GO TIME! in the past few weeks here is whats happened. ive spray painted my rear late model fenders white (i no longer have earlys, long story) i put my early model tails on and painted them as well. i cleaned out the interior. finally lowered the rear end with adjustable spring plates from sway-a-way. hooked up the hood release, got the engine tuned, started to paint the side panel. adjusted the brakes, fixed a brake line leak, re-bled the brakes and adjusted them again, put my roof rack together, fitted my porsche steering wheel, got my rear early apron mocked up and ready for welding, and put in new pop out seals. only thing now thats keeping me off the road is lights, gauges, and seats.

here are a few pics

She looks beautiful man. Lol love the last pic w/ your car peeking out. 3rd pic is absolutely awesome.

Coming along really well T yeah Kenny nice touch.... is that roof rack original?

thank you kenny and no dave it isnt but im alright with that =)