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Which beetle for me?
Slow - February 23rd, 2004 at 12:47 PM

Hi,

Im completely new beetles and all things VW, but I want to start another project car and my wife wants something like the pic attached.

So does anyone know what yr's beetles would look like that?
and which floorpans which mate up to it easily (if I cant find that yr beetle)

thanks

Cory

oh yeah and can one of the mods delete the user Cory, I must have put on the wrong email address as I waited over a day and nothing came... thanks

VWCOOL - February 23rd, 2004 at 07:04 PM

If that's what the wife wants, can I ask if she has a sister?;)

Might be best to begin playing with a post 1968 Beetle. Earlier ones are a bit...err, vintage and tend to be a little more difficult to get bits for etc and require a bit more knowledge to restore and modify. The one in the pic is a modified mid-late 70s one, with a curved windscreen

[Edited on 23-2-2004 by VWCOOL]

68AutoBug - February 23rd, 2004 at 08:54 PM

The car Pictured Cory, is a 73-75 1303S SuperBug or Super Beetle in other countries. It looks like the genuine Karmann made cabriolet to Me... These were never sold in Australia , but there is the odd one about, usually from the US, where most of the Karmann Cabriolets were destined to be sold until Early 1980..The 1303S Beetle sedan was sold in Australia from 1973-75 with the standard beetle back in 1976-77..
The 1303S wasn't really accepted by Beetle enthusists, as a true beetle always had a FLAT windscreen... and these had the large CURVED windscreen ready for the New US Laws concerning how far the driver was from the windscreen... The 1303S has been accepted by the VW enthusists in the last few years. The 1303S is also called the "L" Beetle in Australia.. Its probably the easist to find parts for...
I hope this helps..
Lee Noonan 68AutoBug

Anthiron - February 23rd, 2004 at 10:44 PM

as 68autobug said these are probobly the most common beetles in aussie land (the sedans that is) if u are going to buy a convertable its doubtful that u will find a factory one....so make sure u get all documentation for the roof chop and engineers cert. its cheaper to buy one already chopped than to do it yourself. but if u want to do it yourself it should be very easy to track down a 1302 (71-72 flat windscreen) or a 1303 (73-75 curved screen and bigger dashboard) check the trader www.tradingpost.com

alexh - February 24th, 2004 at 08:21 AM

These later model beetles are also a good introduction to driving old aircooled vws I think as they have a tad more refinement, slightly better suspension and handling etc and are probably just easier to own and use as daily drivers than some more vintage models.

Slow - February 24th, 2004 at 09:33 AM

thanks heaps guys,

one more question though...

I looked through an old australian VW mag a mate had and there are complete fibreglass kits (from fibre fab) for a cabriolet so would it be as simple and bolting a kit on and reregistering it as a cabriolet?

Cory

Anthiron - February 24th, 2004 at 09:39 AM

are u sure it didnt mean a carrera kit which is a kit to make a bug look a bit like a porchse? cause the cabroleit's are pretty much standare beetles just with no roof

Slow - February 24th, 2004 at 10:28 AM

Yeah, the add says Fibre Fab in Nth Geelong Victoria. Convertibles for beetle bug or type 3 at $3300. (but this mag is fairly old)

Cory

Anthiron - February 24th, 2004 at 10:32 AM

ok then well maybe one of the other guys might shed some light for u cause im not sure bout this one

68AutoBug - February 26th, 2004 at 09:43 PM

There is a 1978 orginal Karmann Beetle Cabriolet for sale on the Club VW site.

http://www.clubvw.org.au/ 

look at the "for sale & wanted" in the box on the Left Hand Side....

A Beautiful Beetle Convertible made by Karmann in Germany.

Lee Noonan 68AutoBug

Slow - February 27th, 2004 at 10:51 AM

thanks but its a bit out of my price range, and i love doing the work myself.. but that is an awesome looking car!

Cory