Aircooled Reboot: The start

This is the story of the revival of a little VW Beetle that came into my life in the spring of 2011. My history with bugs goes back to the early 70's. My very first beetle was a 1959 and the engine leaked oil on to the clutch so much that if you "popped the clutch" the bug would just slowly drive off like it had an automatic transmission. My second experience was with a 1964/65/66. I picked up a '64 but found it was in a flood and the pan and engine were shot. A buddy had pan that he was going to make a dune buggy (but never did) and the engine was from another friend. Between all the parts, I managed to make my wonderful bug that got me just about everywhere. Alas, over time for various reasons I had to let my four wheeled friends go.

Flash forward to 2011. I had been looking for a car that I could use as a daily driver and that would get better gas mileage than my '94 Chevy Corsica (with 220k). I looked all over but I couldn't find anything that "fit" and wasn't too expensive either.

Then an ad appeared in Craigslist about a 1960 VW Beetle. Oh, I thought that was perfect! I knew these cars! I jumped on the phone and called the owner. Yes, he still had it and yes, I could come and take a look.

She looked sad. She was sitting with one flat tire, and all colors of paint. However under that dirt and grime I could see that she just needed some TLC to be happy again. (and lots of spinning of the wrenches). With nary a second thought, I told the guy I would take her.

A week later I went to get her and the tire had been aired up and she was looking better already. It took some time to breath live back into her little engine. After much coughing and sputtering, she finally started to run and settled down to that sound that we all know and love. I drove her home but she was limping badly and her front tire had rubbed on the fender and about shredded itself by the time I got home.