Well i guess the VW bug has bitten me, And i saw another Automatic stick shift beetle on ebay and grabbed it for $750. Good body, its a 70’s model with early 60’s guards. The story of getting it is pretty funny, I went to pick it up and the guy comes out telling me it doesn’t have a battery.. so off i go and grab a battery (even though a battery was there the day before), come back get in start her up and oh its out of petrol… Man i couldn’t believe it so off i went and got petrol. So finally I’m on my way chugging along at a nice 50kph when bang the front left tire came off, turns out that all the bolts on all the wheels were undone, luckily enough i had the right socket with me and did it up and brought the new beetle home.
The motor a bit of a mess (i took the oil cooler off), the automatic choke and cutoff solenoid were unplugged as well as a few of the autostick pipes were falling apart. So slowly getting her back to what she should be. Changed the oil that was disgusting piles of silt on the sump plate and when i touched the oil i could feel the dirt in it (yuck).
Just a picture showing the paint work, i get the feeling that the paint work was one of those rattle can jobs but it looks bloody good.
The brakes felt like they had air in them and after about 30 minutes of shouting “stop” “pump” to my girlfriend we had the air out (thanks to the back right drum), i continued on around the car getting any and all air out and any crap that was in the lines too (a lot of crap the fluid was black on some and white on others :S) {P.S look at how bald those tires are, will need some new ones}
Had finished doing the back left wheel getting the air out when the actual nozzle snapped leaving part of it in the brake, luckily for me it is broken off in the closed position and isn’t leaking brake fluid, i will need to take this somewhere to get fixed at some point. (yeah please forgive my car on bricks and wood the actual axel stands are up with my other beetle.)
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Just me firing through the gears while she is on blocks. What am i going to do with it i don’t know yet. Was originally for parts btu shes in such good condition its a shame.
9 replies on “Another beetle? Autostick issues?”
Hi
You didn’t drive it with no heater hoses on it did you??
No heater hoses = no cool air for the engine
You said oil cooler Did you mean oil filter??
Engine parts probably need renewing like plugs points dist cap and rotor
and the tappets done… [which i did today on my beetle]
make sure you take the oil sump screen out and clean it
I wonder why the 4 guards are from early models??
the 63-67 rear guards with the support round holes are pretty rare
whats it like inside??
cheers
Lee
saw Sean mention Your video on VWAR…
I just use transmission high pressure 1/2 inch or 12.7 or 13mm hose for the vacuum hoses
its thick enough to take pressure and won’t suck in..
and Yes, My wheels used to go round all the time when i was restoring the car
but had a lot of problems getting it into gear with the handbrake on… lol Lee
Nah i put heater hoses on temporarily ( i actually took them with me to put on :P)
Yeah oil filter is what i meant 😛
Inside is rust free it has 2 LH 60’s front seats which is a bit confusing 😛 So yeah its like a 71 that someone decided to retro fit it with 60’s parts.
I will take a few pics inside and you can see what some idiot did to the gear shifter 😛
Hi, I have just got my hands on a 1968 Beetle automatic stick shift. It was owned by an old lady for all it’s life. She has kept it garaged so it really is in MINT condition. There are afew small scratches on the paint work but everything on it is original, original enamel paintwork, chrome bumpers and hubcaps. The interior is immaculate I opened the back windows for the first time in 41 years yesterday. It runs like a dream, she kept the engine in very good repair, infact she only used to drive it once a week.
Can you tell me how rare a car like this is and how much I should have paid for it? I am not interested in selling it, just inquisitive, I have only had it for a week and am already a fanatic.
Thanks Michelle
Michelle, its a bit hard for me to generalise on how much its worth, I guess you should look to see what the going rate of a great looking beetle is going for then it will be worth about that. Basically not many people know of these great little cars 😉 check the vwar.org website.. this is the holey grail for Semi-Auto beetles.
Good luck.
Hi,
Nice blog with good info and pics
Have posted a link to your Blog here
http://beetlesbugsdubs.myfreeforum.org/sutra81.php#81
Hey there, I recently just bought a 68 autostick with no engine. I decided to drop a 1600 dual port and connected everything, the only problem is that I don’t know how to connect all the autostick parts do you know where I can get that Information? Thanks
estephan there is a website called vwar.org best place ever for autostick info. Just ensure you have the ATF pump which bolts on infront of the standard oil pump on the dual port.
Where can I find a control switch for a 68 Autostick shift.Can the diaphram in this item be replaced?
Check the vwar.org forums for info, and cip1.com for parts.