Buying a project

How the project started:

After I moved from Rotterdam to a small village in the south of the Netherlands the opportunity arose to start-up an old hobby: restoration of VW Beetles!! Not the expensive nice ones but the old rusty ones. After some nosing around on the Internet I found a nice project.

It's a 1967 1500 beetle. The previous owner started the project but gave up along the way (a better opertunity was presented to him). After the Herbie movies you start to look at beetles as living beings so I couldn't let it die. The shell was already seperated from the floorpan and some area's were repared. But most of the car was in poor condition.

The dashboard looks very nice though. Apart from a radio it is complete.

The front hood is the 67 down long model. The rear decklid it the semi long model.

Now it's time to move the beetle to my place.

ten comments:

Hi, that looks like a lot of work!!

Good luck
Natasja - 21 05 06 - 19:04

pretty cool man, im restoring a 77 Z28 and i got a parts car and we cut it up cause it didnt have a frame/rear end and it was really poor condition and like u said “its like their a living being” cause it wasnt that great cuttin it up…but good luck with it … lots of work…my friend shes got a 67 bug 2 and we got to do a bunch of work to it to…
mitch () - 18 03 07 - 11:39

When you first got the bug how much did it cost and did it run?
billy - 14 08 07 - 02:51

The beetle cost around 700 dollar including a lot of spare parts. It dit not run (it was completely disassembled)
Pieter - 14 08 07 - 09:23

I have found that vw beetles are an addiction, no matter how rough they are you still think you can fix ‘em. my first bug was a ’72 in Germany back in 92. I had it for over a year tinkering with very limited funds.. I guess the addiction is the feeling that no matter what you do to it you can’t make it worse and you learn new tricks at every turn
Terry Grooms () - 30 05 08 - 18:42

Liked reading your article. I have a 73 convertable bug I’m hoping to restore. My son and I sripped it and dropped it off at the body shop. They just called this week to tell me it’s not worth it, it will cost too much. I can’t give up on my bug but I’m not rich. Any suggestions?
Patty Croce - 21 03 09 - 00:28

Patty Crose… don’t get discouraged. part of building a bug is the thrill of doing as much as you can your self. also don’t expect it to be a short term deal. restoration projects take a lot of time. email me at terrygrooms@bellsouth.net and lets talk about your bug
Terry Grooms () - 21 03 09 - 02:59

Hi Patty Croce, all you need is time and space. Money isn’t your biggest problem (if you want to restore the beetle yourself). To save money you can have your beetle sandblasted then find a friend to do the body work. Just remember to stay positive, if you only see problems you probably get discouraged.
Pieter - 24 03 09 - 11:06

Watch it, it’s contagious! I started with a 64 beetle converted into a dune buggy, and then a 72 Westfalia Busand now a 53 Split Beetle. I love working on them and am always on the lookout for a new restoration. The hardest part is finding the time! My 8 year old is already planning on doing a restoration as well before he’s 16. LOL.
Richard Bourque (URL) - 14 05 09 - 21:05

I just bought a 69 baja beetle for 400 dollars, its in pretty good condition for the price, i just have no idea where to start.
Is there any website, or anything that has any kind of blue prints, or anything telling me how to get started on this project?
Steven Gibson () (URL) - 26 04 10 - 16:56