My girl's first project?

The love of my life wants to learn about cars and we want to get her a relitively easy project to learn on, I know it is not my taste but we are thinking about a '62 VW Ragtop bug that belongs to a friend of mine but I am not sure that a bug is the best project. What do you guys think? I want it to be easy for her so she does not get too frustrated. She really wants to do all the work with me just looking over her sholder and giving moral support. I figure that bug parts are relitively cheep and plentiful so it might be a good starter car. I am real excited to think that my woman wants to learn about this side of life with me. Any suggestions would be appreaciated. Thanx

 

A VW bug is arguably the easiest car ever to work on....and fun too...IMO...

Have you been here???...... The SAMBA

 

whenever my GF says she want's an old car, I always say she should get an old VW. no dice, she hates them

but I think it would be a cool first car for your lady, does she like VW's? nothing takes the fun out of a build like doing a car you don't like!

 

Thats weird my 12 year old daughter said she would like to have a VW bug as a project someday.

 

Good choice!!! My dailey driver use to be a 67'. Shaved, euro bumpers, dropped front, disc brakes, one piece windows, corvette white with polished centerlines. Stone stock 1600 dual port for reliability. My wife and I went to a hotel in Laguna Beach. We pulled in and saw they had valet parking. Nothing but Beemer, Jags and Benzs'. I told my wife we shoulda brought the Audi. My Bug emptied the lobby! Everyone wanted to know who owned the car. My wife said. "See, aren't you glad we brought the Bug!".

The BAD....It got stolen

 

HAHAHAHA.............yesterday on my way to drop my daughter (she's 10) off at her mom's house we passed a guy in a VW.....................she yells out the window "Get off the road, hippie!". When I told her that wasnt real cool she said "But he was driving a yellow VW and wearing one of those stupid tie-dyed shirts daddy."

 

Why do people always say VWs are easy to work on? Parts interchange over a wide range of model years, but the engines are not simple by any stretch...not like a small block chevy.

 

I'm now driving a slammed '66 and love everything about it, except I can't get used to doing the valves from underneath the car - seems like a giant hassle to me, just because I'm not used to it. If she doesn't know any better, it won't bother her and she'll love it. Hope she's a social type, as everyone wants to share their VW stories, or at least tell me how "cute" it is - takes just as long to gas up as my hot rod...Sure is fun to drive though!

 

but the engines are not simple by any stretch...not like a small block chevy


NOPE, THEY ARE SIMPLER !!

And you can build a VW to smoke a Small block Chevy

VWs are a great first project, I had many, My daughter learned to drive stick in my daily '67 Bug...

She loved it till she overheated it and burned it down ... Oh well, made way for her mild custom '62 Falcon

 

Hahahaha......the first engine I ever 'rebuilt' was a 1200cc.....I use the word 'rebuilt' loosely, as the engine in my '65 leaked oil out the rear main...BAD....so I used another block I had laying in the dirt.....swapped ALL the cylinders and pistons, cam, etc, over to it.....only buying a $7.00 COMPLETE gasket set......I even used the old bearings....engine ran good too.....
Doesn't get ANY simpler than that.......

 

That's cheap, not simple.

 

Sold my '64 about 3 years ago and I regret it everyday. I loved that car.

 

VW engines are pretty simple.

I rebuilt my old 1641 in my dorm room one weekend. Dropped it Friday night, Saturday picked up new gasket set and other goodies, assembled it Saturday night, put it back in on Sunday. I even had time to throw a rebuild kit in my carb while it was out.

I had a 1776 in a 74 that would pull a smallblock powered car in a light to light race. I nearly got beat up by some mullet sporting idiot in a Camaro, he was pissed that I beat him 3 times in a row.

 

They are cheap and simple, unless you want to go fast. Then they get expensive(and lose their great reliability) real quick.
I'm not bashing them, I had a few. But I'm sure the bashing is soon to come.

 

I forgot to mention.......this was all done in ONE day (and NO manual).....from pulling the old engine, "rebuilding" the 2nd and installing.....was back driving that same day.
I was 14 (but pops helped)........

SIMPLE isn't a simple enough word to describe it..........

 

I think you should buy a stock Model A. Just as fast as a bug. Freaking easy to work on. Every part on one is reproduced and pretty cheap, and just like the bug, as long as you are building stock engine, it's cheap and easy.

but with the A, you can customize by dropping front axle, adding juice brakes, chop the top, etc....

But bugs are cool too, and you might get into a 62 'vert cheaper than a convertible Model A. (coupes and sedans already have a hole in the roof though) I think you can find an A coupe running for around $4K - $7K though and a sedan is cheaper....

 

Funny, I just bought my wife a '64 vw two weeks ago. The parts are cheap and they make everything for them. It was an project the guy had a new base/clear paint job on, has a perfect interior, 1969 engine and he had to get rid of it because he was moving to downtown Seattle. I got it for $1100, about the cost of the materials to do the paint job.

 

And can be made fast on the cheap with the traditional hot rod engine swap for the last fifty years, the small block Chevy.

 

Awesome! Everyone should own an old Volkswagen at least once in their lives!

I'm going to build one with my un-automobile-inclined son, because he shows a bit of interest in this one. Hopefully, it'll be his first driver.

 

Jaysin, PM me. I don't want this thread to get closed because of the "non-traditional" car you are talking about. I used to work for both VW Trends Magazine, AND Hot VWs, and whatever you want, from a 21 second stocker that will be reliable as (almost) any new car, to an all-out, 10 second street legal door-slammer, can be done.
Yeah, parts are cheap, but if you've been into them long enough, you'll find out WHY some of the parts are so cheap... I have a list of people that I used to buy from, and they refuse to sell shit they wouldn't and don't use on their own cars.
I can walk you through the process of what to look for, where to find the inevitable rust, what's doable by a novice and what to walk away from at any price.
Nope, not neccessarily traditional, but how about a street-legal, inspected, insured, 1951 VW Bug that will run naturally aspirated 10's in the quarter-mile, all day long? That's bound to wake some people up...

 

Oh, and talk about pulling an engine. Friend of mine did it in 15 mins.

 

The world record, was, get this-
The car had to [pass tec, all wires, cables, etc had to be attached, and the engine bolts tight.
Gun goes off for a 2-man team.
Team goes 10 feet to the car, jacks it up, pulls the engine, pulls it back 10 feet, moves it forward 10 feet, re-installs the engine, both guys get in the car, start it, and drive it forward 10 feet.
2 minutes, 17 seconds.
I have the old Super-8 film of it somewhere.

 

The reason they look good is that some of the body metal shapes & reveals were "borrowed" from Ford in 1936-7?....as well as that giant wheel bolt pattern similar to 36-39 ford.

 

If you do get the bug, make sure the first thing you buy is the "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" manual (subtitled "A Guide for the Complete Idiot"). Probably the best manual ever written as it takes the approach that you don't know anything to start out. Killer Illustrations and drawings of the various tasks, no background clutter or unecessary stuff, just clear instructions.

 

Dude, she just wants to work on a car! Just remember to be her encouragement when it breaks, or something doesn't fit, or the wrong part was bought/sent. My girl's daily is a 63 Ford Fairlane Wagon. She bought it and buys all the parts. When she is on ebay or Summit looking for parts, dude, its the coolest thing ever! If your lady wants a bug, then cool, sign her up on the Volksrod forum and get her on the Samba and just keep her excited about HER project. One of the coolest things to say when asked "is that your wagon?" is "NO, it's my girlfriend's!"

Car shows and magazine articles and watching things like "Choppertown" or "Hard Shine" are also way cooler when your lady has a project and understands what is going on and the work involved.

Have fun!

 

Really? is that why the original design, for the VW Beetle,and the first prototypes built, was in NINETEEN THIRTY-THREE?

 

Get her a "Thing"... my wife loved hers for a few years.

 

I havent owned one.. but I just finished this project..
start


end..


I will say this..
those cars are small.. I could have put 3 of them in my 2 car garage.. and still had room..

 

Cheap, easy to find parts, fun and so many parts out there. You can go wild or mild!!