Perhaps, it is fitting that this project began on the day of the beginning of the end of the world. I saw an ad on CL for what was either a Beetle parts car or some parts. It was not far away and worth a shot. It turned out to be not what I expected at all: scads of parts, a Beetle shell, and a Beetle chassis (non-roller) all housed within a barn. Somebody bought the car years ago and began disassembly for restoration. The car sat in pieces... and piles until the seller, Amiel, attempted to resume the project then despaired.
For $300, I am the proud owner of piles of disorganized Beetle parts that could possibly form a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle... after I go insane. I was hesitant to make the purchase at first, but after months of shut doors (and over a year of passive searching), this car seems like the path that God wants me to follow. After seeing about one third of the parts, I feel rather daunted and quite mad.
During Camping's rapture, Amiel and his family piled many parts onto my trailer and into my tiny car, probably exceeding the GVWR by a straw or two. I have sorted the parts on my deck by suspension/brakes, engine, do not want, and WTF. I plan to power wash the bits that can handle water before filling my basement with them. I often lament not having a loving wife, however, it is instances such as these that I am glad to be single than to have a wife who just does not understand the madness.
So far, it looks like I have:
- At least two sets of drum brakes (four lug)
- A pair of five lug drum brakes
- A pair of calipers of unknown origin
- A pair of brake disks
- Two chassis front ends (whatever the things that hold the front struts et al are called)
- Engine cover (what do you call a trunk lid when it conceals an engine?)
- Hood
- Two engine cooling fans (heavy duty motors!)
- One engine block with connecting rods, crank, flywheel, clutch, and pointy bits
- Four round cylinders with pistons
- Four square cylinders with pistons
- Six! heads with varying completeness of valves, springs, and rockers
- Mysterious aluminum pulley with graduation
- Two shifters
- Emergency brake handle
- Spindles?
- Chrome trim
- Back seat with the upholstery torn to reveal a houndstooth pattern
- Seat belts
- Interior bits (those cool old pull knobs, rear view mirrors, and weird stuff)
- Lots of thin sheet metal shrouds presumably for the engine cooling
- Two heat exhanges
- Muffler/exhaust
- Carburetors
- Some unopened packages of JC Whitney parts
- Chrome VW hub caps
- "New" carpeting
- Lots of dampers. At least three are in boxes
- One long tie rod
- One short tie rod
- Quadrilateral cork gaskets with beveled corners. Being cork, I thought that they were for the heating/vent system, but they are rather coincidentally shaped like the place on the head where valve covers would go...
- Covers to match the cork gaskets
- ???????
- Lots and lots of dirt, grime, and general filth
There is more stuff that I could not identify or have forgotten about.
I bought a Made in China cart from TSC with a claimed 1200 pound weight capacity. Looking at the thing, I think that the capacity is rated by how much force can be applied to the cart before it will be crushed beyond recognition as having once been a cart. My plan is to place the shell onto the cart so that can move it around my property by mood to optimize my neighbhors' view and appreciation of the glorious Beetle. I might buy a second cart to build the chassis on until it can roll on its own.
Tomorrow, I shall haul back another load and start washing the parts. Lord willing, this vomited Beetle will resemble an automobile one day.
