Larry,
I agree with you all the way regarding the time and money aspect. To tell
you the truth, I did not like the car *at all* when I first saw it.
This is the first VW I rescued from certain death. It was with a local VW
scrapper I have very good terms with. His entire extended family gets free
guidance/favors as far as any health issue is concerned. So he is nice to me
and suggested that I buy this car off him, although had he scrapped the car he
would have easily doubled his investment (which was slightly less than what he
was asking for the bug).
I remember the first time I saw the car parked at his residence, I
eyeballed the nice front seats (ultra rare in Pakistan as few US spec bugs are
around), the four spoke steering with the column and the ragtop clip. I had
even gone as far as marking points on the pillars where I had wanted him to cut
the roof clip off using a felt tip pen, the only thing I had at hand. I had
asked him to go ahead and scrap the car as it was b...@stardised beyond belief.
But the scrapper convinced me to buy the whole car as it had too many good
stuff on it. He said it would be a good deal for me. He was right, as the
following math summed up what I paid for the bug......price of alternator +
price of original exhaust + price of the brand new Brazilian carb.
Thus I had purchased the bug in 2005. I had been collecting 50s VW stuff
since several years and had been trying to snap up what I laid eyes on. 50s
bugs are rare in Pakistan, in fact anything pre 67 is quite rare now. Somehow
the local folks dislike the pre 67 bug shape and its very common to see them
being converted to post 68 lookers. A 74 bug is regarded as the ultimate bug by
most. Surprising?? The scrappers have played havoc as VWs have been massacred
at the rate of as high as three per day recently. Just imagine the
bloodbath........makes my heart cry.......metal prices were soaring high a
short while ago......made the scrappers rich and us VW lovers poorer.......
That said, its safe to say that only a handful of 50s bugs survive in the
country. The oldest is a 51 crotch cooler split, currently off road.
The thread would slowly show what parts I have sourced for the resto,
some close to what would have been the original, some bang on, some
not......stay tuned and please, never stop giving your valuable input!
AsadKarachi, Pakistan.
PS: sorry this made it to Larry's pmail the first time I sent it....meant to
send it to the whole list....
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [vintagvw] My 1959 Ragtop Bug project on thesamba.
> Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:05:19 -0700
>
> Asad,
>
> You will end up spending A LOT OF TIME AND MONEY to change it back to a '59.
> That's assuming you can find the necessary parts. :o)
>
> Larry
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "asad ishaque" <[email protected]>
> To: "vw mailing list" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2009 12:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [vintagvw] My 1959 Ragtop Bug project on thesamba.
>
>
>
> Larry,
> If I ever find the previous owner of this bug, id personally throttle
> him. Many people have had the thoughts you do, even some who saw the car in
> person, inside out, so I cant blame you. The PO had indeed gone through the
> trouble of changing all the bits to 'modernize' the poor bug.
> The front windshield, side windows and rear window all accept glass
> correct for the 58 to 64 body style. The side rear pop out windows have been
> a pain to locate but I have done it! They are the rare pre 64 smaller kind.
> Cool accessory. The four fenders, front and rear clips along with both
> bonnets are indeed post 68. The bumpers match the post 68 clips and are a
> simple bolt on to the newer grafts. The doors are of 1967 vintage. The B
> pillars are buggered to accept the post 67 style of door latch plates. The
> semaphore apertures in the B pillars have been plated over.
> The wheel drums are still five lug though (thank heavens for that!!).
> Wheels from a 66-67 bug have been fit giving the slotted look of a post 68
> four lug wheel.
> Even in this part of the world, VW did go to steel sliding sunroof in
> 1964. I did read somewhere a most interesting fact that VW did offer a
> ragtop sunroof option but only on the standard bug range right until 1966 or
> 67. Anyone can shed light on that???
> Pakistan got UK/Euro spec right hand drive cars officially imported in.
> There are a lot of self imported examples too of various specs. Since the
> discussion is on this curious aspect, please take some time to view this
> story:
> http://www.pakwheels.com/forumreply_az_TopicID!67088~ForumID!31~pw.html
>
> While bribes are common in this part of the world, it was not the case
> with this bug's documentation as its still registered as a 59. The taxes are
> the same for a 59 or 69 model year car so the idea holds no attraction for
> the corrupt. Hope to see more input from guys here on the project.
> Best wishes and regards,
> Asad
> Karachi, Pakistan.
>
>
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