Hi,

I've been lurking here for a while, but I have just registered yesterday. I hail from the SW outskirts of Melbourne, and I'm a hopeless classic car nut!

I don't actually own a VW yet, but I have been close to a few times in the past. My first job way back when I was 15 was at Volkscare Motors in Caringbah in Sydney (now long gone - anyone remember it?). I wanted a 76 Beetle as a first car, but we couldn't find a good one at the time, so I settled for my other choice - a Mini. It's fair to say Minis have been my main automotive passion since. But I've always felt I had "unfinished business" with the Beetle, so it has firmly remianed on the "cars I must own before I die" list!

My current classic car collection includes a 65 Mini Traveller (wagon) long term project, a 71 Moke (restored) and an import 75 Corona Coupe (restored) that was featured in Australian Classic Car Feb 2009 edition. We also have a Nissan Pathfinder which is mainly my wife's family car and our tow car, and I have a very clean 1980 Corona Liftback as a daily hack.

The Corona is 100% reliable and quite practical, but frankly it's a bit boring. Lately I have started considering classics that can handle the daily grind, and a Beetle seems to be a good option. My 2 year old son is currently over-indulging in Herbie movies, and this has only awakened my long-buried desire for a Beetle. So I'm thinking maybe now is Beetle time.

I still reckon the 76 is my favourite Beetle, with the tidy combo of torsion bar front end, IRS rear, 1600 engine, blinkers in teh front bar and padded flat dash. But I'm currently leaning towards a Superbug, as the extra boot space makes it slightly more practical! Ideally I'm thinking of a 75 Superbug with rack and pinion, as I remember the hassles with worn steering boxes on the earlier Supers. But I haven't ruled out anything at this stage.

Anyway, enough about me. I'm looking forward to lurking and learning for a while.

Since it's been 15+ years since I worked on a Beetle, can anyone point me to some FAQ's on where to look for rust, what's expensive to fix mechanically, what's difficult to find etc?

Cheers,
Brett

welcome to the madhouse.

type 3's have good storage room...

welcome aboard

Thanks guys.

Type 3's are cool, but I just prefer Beetles.

welcome !