What to look for?

Allbones Officially Full-On Dubber

395 posts · joined Jul 2012 · 13 Jul 2012, 9:23 am

#912383

Hey Dubbers,

I'm new to the Volkswagen scene and I'm wondering if you would be able to give me some general pointers on what year models to watch out for an so fourth.

I'm hoping to find a 64-69 Beetle or Type 3 to rat. Hopefully something earlier with wide 5's.

So i'm just wondering is there anything to look out for in these models? And when inspecting is there anything extra special I should be paying attention to? And which models are the easiest to modify?

Thanks very much for reading!
John.

whatnow Custom Title Time!

1,000 posts · joined Jan 2003 · 13 Jul 2012, 11:16 am

#912393

hi, it sounds like you are after a big window 6 volt car.

aka sloping headlights but not with the oval rear window. they were built from '58-67. all the australian built cars in this period were built as wide 5.

58-67 aust cars had king and link pin front ends which are easier to get really low (i'm assuming that is what you are after if you want a rat).

are you going for the patina look or a primered rat? rat or rat rod? what you want to look for depends or where you want to be at the end.

with any old car condition is everything. starting with a good base will save time and $ in the long run. if you are going primered then you can stat with an incomplete car but trying to find panels with matching colour and patina isn't easy. (i'm at 9 months for waiting for the right tail light housings to come up)

most parts get more expensive the earlier you go. a lot of people think the earlier the cooler. (myself included 🙂 )

later cars are technically more advanced (and complicated) and are supposed to be better to drive, but if you slam it none will really drive that pleasently.

you can easily fit later more powerful engines to earlier cars.

they are all easy to work on.

Allbones Officially Full-On Dubber

395 posts · joined Jul 2012 · 13 Jul 2012, 12:11 pm

#912400

Awesome, Ideally I want a rat (will primarily be goverened by the car I find though, if its nice i'm not going to destroy it)

58-67 sounds on the money, thats what i've been looking at. Hoping to find something with terrible paint and surface rust but no cancer (guessing, like with most old cars, this is probably wishful thinking haha)

The perfect one for me would be a type 3 wagon. So fingers crossed one of them comes up in a month or so when i'm seriously looking.

Picturing Mexaican blanket (sarape/falza what ever you want to call them) seat covers & door cards, white walls, black, red or blue stock wide 5's with no hub caps, roof rack, terrible paint, pinstripping, rear spats, low (bearing in mind i'm in queensland and planning on using this a daily, so low will be dictaced by 10mm from the lowest point, haha), and probably some other body work I cant think of.

h fractals - an ever changing lifestyle

7,671 posts · joined Feb 2005 · 13 Jul 2012, 12:59 pm

#912407

I know where a 70 type 3 square is sitting needing some love oh yeah lots of love
it's a sunny coast local
pm me if interested 😉

fractal geometry; the inner most limits of mind altering abuse

Fantasy http://seventhchronicle.com

Z = Z2 + C1/r = 1/0 = infinity

Barrels www.barrelman.com.au

VW Workshop - aircooledgarage.com.au
allcooled.com.au

Allbones Officially Full-On Dubber

395 posts · joined Jul 2012 · 13 Jul 2012, 1:14 pm

#912409

Cheers H

whatnow Custom Title Time!

1,000 posts · joined Jan 2003 · 13 Jul 2012, 7:58 pm

#912475

if you are daily driving at 10mm you will earn instant hero/idiot status. 😂

if you get an early beetle and want to daily drive at 100mm you will most likely want a narrowed beam. i don't have one but i have never heard a bad word said about "DUB" beams (down under beams)(i have heard pleanty of good words too)

late squares aren't considered cool but aren't expensive and make great looking rats IMHO. you can change a IRS car back to swing axle easily if you like the broken axles look. i think type 3's will be more challenging (expensive) to get rust fixed on.

Allbones Officially Full-On Dubber

395 posts · joined Jul 2012 · 13 Jul 2012, 8:09 pm

#912478

whatnow wrote:if you are daily driving at 10mm you will earn instant hero/idiot status. 😂

if you get an early beetle and want to daily drive at 100mm you will most likely want a narrowed beam. i don't have one but i have never heard a bad word said about "DUB" beams (down under beams)(i have heard pleanty of good words too)

late squares aren't considered cool but aren't expensive and make great looking rats IMHO. you can change a IRS car back to swing axle easily if you like the broken axles look. i think type 3's will be more challenging (expensive) to get rust fixed on.

Not sure of the context here, haha

I already know it's going to be painful to drive etc, but I only drive a few minutes to work each day. I also have another car for longer drives when I don't want to cruise and to be realistic if I'm going to drive a car everyday I want to enjoy it.

If I can find an earlier model that would be preferred but I guess it depends on what's available and what I can afford at the time.