Faults:

Short in wiring.

Rusty driver side floor pan.

General Comments:

I bought my 74` Super for $1365. It was my very first car. My friends own and drive Beetles. At first I did not like the little "punch" buggies. But after driving one and working on them I knew this was the car for me! Not very fast but who cares! I can handle a curve at 60 very easily. Muscle cars may think I`m bumb for owning a little car like this but I love them! I will always own a little yellowjacket!

Faults:

Nothing, yet... I bought it with a lot of rust... But as a Beetle lover, I planed to restore it... I have started with stripping the surface rust off of the car, and will do a complete body-off restoration when I arrive back to the 48 states (costs much less than in Alaska).

Needed tires.

Interior was okay...

Nothing was really wrong with the car, just that it had 30 years of neglect and hard use...

General Comments:

For anyone who wants an old car that is extremely reliable, then this is it...

This is my 2nd one... my first was a fuel injected 77 (the FI is a problem in the old bugs, takes lots of work to keep them in good shape, work = money). Anyway, the car had 178,000 on it and had no major work done to it, in fact it was so original that I changed the clutch disk and removed the factory one from the car... not bad for almost 200,000 miles.

My new one, a 1974 Super Beetle, as I said above, was neglected and has a lot of rust... It will need most of the body replaced due to rust (a common problem with bugs, even more common in Alaska). When I accomplish the body replacement, I plan to replace all parts on the car... Costly yes, but, anything for my bug... Since this one will be with me for a while I figure I should do it right...

For those who need some information on Beetles and where to locate parts, information, books, etc... see the following places.

www.aircooled.net (great web site)

www.hotvws.com (beetle magazine)

www.oldspeed.com (web site)

The best thing to do for information is to go and buy the hot VWs magazine or the VW Trends magazine... They have tons of information in each issue plus all sorts of ads where you can find most everything you could possibly need for your Volkswagen (no, it's not Volkswagon, it is spelled with an E not an O).

Well, hope this helped, and if you find a Beetle you might buy, do it!!! You won't be disappointed in the car..

Faults:

Starter

Starter

Battery

Clutch Pedal Shaft

Heater Gate Spring

Ran out of Gas (a few times)

Tires

Shocks.

General Comments:

I bought the car for $500, no rust, rebuilt engine, no dents, California car. Drove the car everywhere. My brother (who drove the car for 4 years) took his wife to Quebec City in winter (smart?). Out of 4 cars that went there, one returned, the Beetle. The others had engine block problem, related to -60 degree nights. I gave the car to my best friend (I junked, sold or donated all other cars I had in order to keep friends), helped him restore it and 10,000 dollars later, with 2.2 liter 150 hp engine the show car was back on the streets. Women and children loved the Punch-Buggie. CUTE is the word. Passangers loved it. Starter failed a few times, but push-start is fun-2 friends or downhill. Best car ever engineered. Handled like s^%$, top speed was 70 mph before resto, and 80 after, fun factor was always 10. After resto, Mustang and Corvette owners cried at stoplights for the first 25-50 feet anyway. Not much fun to drive on windy day over Pulaski Skyway. At 50 mph it took all my skill and some praying to keep it in its lane. The car is now with my best friend in TN, doing about 100 miles per week as alternative to Ducati 748SP or Dakota P/U. In 8 years between my brother and I, we spend a total of 1700 dollars in maintenance and parts. I used only Mobil 1 since I had so much extra money from maintenance reserve.

Summary: unsafe, poor brakes, unstable at high speeds, unstable at low speeds in cross-winds, scary in rain if pushed hard, poor defroster, great heat. Best damn car I ever owned. Fun, cheap, etc.