Super Challenge: Saving my first car from a fallen tree

[SnowDaySyncro]

It was a temporary parking space outside of a friend's garage where it would be stored. The right rear brake was stuck and the garage needed cleaning out to make space once the non-functioning door opener was fixed. The springs were mismatched to the 16 foot wide door, so opening it manually wasn't a one-person job. It was a group of tedious tasks I needed to get around to doing and failed to get around to for a while with multiple projects underway. Unfortunately, the resulting delay left my '71 Super Beetle sunroof sitting in the path of a tree that fell down during a December storm. I got the bad news and headed up to see how bad it was.

It was bad.

[Root_Werks]

Oh no! A factory sunroof Bug to boot!

That'd be a set of doors and donor roof from another Bug I'd think.

Might also mean it becomes an organ donor to help save other Bugs.


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When I set my timing, why do I flush, then take a pee?

[chicagovw]

Sorry to see that. You mentioned saving it-you will have to get the tree cut off of it and really look at that car to see if it can truly be repaired. I had a very large tree fall on one of the service vans for my business (Ram ProMaster) and it was repaired-it required a new roof, sliding door, and quite a bit of work to the B pillars and quarter panels. You will have to see what other damage there is beyond the roof and doors. Those can be replaced with some effort, but what other damage is there to the structure?

[TDCTDI]

Where are you located?

You might be able to find someone who has donor sections, or a complete shell to swap.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[SnowDaySyncro]

A few hours with chainsaw and Sawzall gave me a clearer view of the damage (and also poison ivy😕, which my chainsaw-owning friend got much worse)

The tree hit the driver side gutter at the B-pillar, crashing diagonally towards the right rear corner, partially crushing the roof, distorting the driver door and left rear quarter panel and separating the rocker/heater channel at the B-pillar. A limb destroyed the right rear fender, folded the rear apron inwards, and tweaked the engine lid.

[TDCTDI]

Yeah…. That shell is probably twisted pretty badly.


I have a 71 super shell near Newburgh NY that you’re welcome to, but it will need heater channels.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[SnowDaySyncro]

At this point, many reasonable people would consider this car a goner, but I intend to save it for a few reasons:

-It was my first car, purchased for $50 from a former neighbor in 1990, before I was old enough to legally drive.

-my familiarity with this '71 Super goes back to 1977, when our neighbors were among 3 families on the block with Beetles. This car had been sideswiped on the driver's side, so was in a state of partial disassembly that both fascinated and frightened me as a preschooler. Up on jackstands without headlights, the looming car in the dark garage towered over me, looking like its eyes had been gouged out. My neighbor eventually completed some sketchy body repairs and bondo application that rivalled our stucco home for texture and installed the headlights, restoring it's visage to a friendly smile like my Mom's white '68 and the other neighbors' Elm Green '70.

Later in '77, my parents bought a new 1978 Chevy Malibu Classic sedan, semi-poverty spec with the base V6, 3-speed manual, and no AC. I was excited about our "Big blue car!" but I was soon to learn that my parents didn't intend to be a two car family. They sold the '68 Beetle in 1978. I was inconsolable. I cried and wailed as we dropped it off to the new owners, WHO ALREADY HAD A BEETLE! I pointed out how unfair it was that they got TWO Beetles and we had NONE. For the next, year or so, I offered myself for adoption to random strangers with Beetles in parking lots while walking to the Malibu with my embarrassed mother.

In the mid-late 1980s my cousin worked for the neighbors as a caregiver for their special needs daughter around my age and two younger children. She drove the '71 Super to ferry the kids around and I sometimes tagged along, delighting in waving my arms, and occasionally, head, out of the open sunroof on warm summer days. Around this time, the neighbors won a lawsuit that enabled them to build a new, wheelchair-accessible home in the fancy section of the next town. My cousin continued working for them, driving the rough-looking VW in a neighborhood where Jaguars, Mercedes-Benz, and even a few Rolls Royces graced semicircular driveways.

In 1990, my 15-old self realized that my older friends were turning 16 and 17 and getting their driving permits and licenses, respectively (New Jersey) so it wouldn't be long before I would NEED a car. I cold-called my former neighbor and asked if he still had the car. "Yes!" he replied, I was just about to put it up for sale." At this point, I heard his younger daughter in the background scream "NOOOO!!!", a poignant reminder of myself a decade and change earlier. "How much?" I asked, excitement mounting, "Fifty dollars," he replied.
"I'LL TAKE IT!!! THANK YOU!!!"

It actually took a few weeks to convince my parents that I should purchase any car, let alone a beat-up old VW of questionable safety, but they finally relented, on the conditions that:
-I never drive it on the highway, and
-My Dad got to use it to commute to the train station until I got my license.
I readily agreed to (and later violated) those terms, and the final transaction was $50 cash, a small skateboard launch ramp and Rector kneepads (for his skateboarding son) in exchange for a running '71 Super Beetle. I was ecstatic for weeks.

[SnowDaySyncro]

With two friends helping out, we got the garage door open, cleaned a lot of junk and at least 4 animal carcasses from the garage, and pushed the '71 inside. The stuck right rear wheel was set onto a $10 furniture dolly from Harbor Freight, which worked surprisingly well.

[TDCTDI]

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[SnowDaySyncro]

Nice!
Definitely interested

[TDCTDI]

It does not have a sunroof, but there may be a sunroof clip from a 73 in the barn. You’re welcome to that too.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[chicagovw]

@SnowDaySyncro, I totally get it. Keep posting pics and progress as you get this car put back together! Good luck with it. I restored a '73 Super (I posted the build on the samba that should have, by any logical account, been scrapped, but I was determined to save it...and I did get the car completed and am glad I stuck it out.

[heimlich]

One of my 71's had a tree limb land on it. I got inside and pushed it up and out. You should check the rest of the car to see if it worth saving. It may be more expensive to fix than to buy one that doesn't have a lot of rot on it. Check behind the rear vents behind the quarter windows. Check the pillars where they connect. All of those places can rust easily and I see a little in yours.
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[Rome]

[SnowDaySyncro]

Every setback is an opportunity to learn stuff and to buy new tools. I had already been wanting a Porta Power after a friend let me use one years ago, and my Syncro has a quarter panel that needs some of that particular flavor of brute finessing.
I can't pony up for the four-figure pro body shop unit that piqued my interest, but Harbor Fate has a couple that seem to have decent reviews. There may be a 25% off coupon available now (if not now, it's never very long until the next one) so I think that will be my next step. If anyone has used any of the HF units, I welcome any feedback, positive, neutral, or negative.

[SnowDaySyncro]

[SnowDaySyncro]

I have multiple Vanagon projects underway, and won't be able to tear into the Super in earnest for a bit. I started this thread (and will start Vanagon ones) so that I can keep at it on some level, planning and acquisition and such, in the meantime. I'm going to endeavor to get SOMETHING done each month until I can go hard on this.

Prior to the tree incident, my goal was to fix the car up as a bit of a sleeper:

BODY: Original Elm Green, 99% stock, with the only planned deviations being smaller Euro-spec front turn signals and hiding extra brake/signal LEDs behind the rear louvers (a good friend had his '74 Thing rear-ended and totalled, so anything for an extra bit of visibility)

SUSPENSION & BRAKES: Lowered a bit with Topline Maxx struts, Kafer cup bar out back, vented 5x130 discs up front, solid discs or 5x130 drums out back.

WHEELS: Porsche 911 steel 5.5x15 KPZ. I got a set of these, circa late 1973, a while back for this project. The 5x130 lug pattern had the widest range of brake upgrade options but I dont want to be flashy. I really like how these wheels look almost, but not, quite like the OE wheels. I have two sets of original Lemmerz hubcaps for them, a blank set of 356c caps and 911/912 caps with the removable Porsche emblems. I'll either find/make VW roundels for the 911 caps or run the blank ones to keep things low-key.
I'm a long way from needing to worry about tires, but I'll mock it up with the ancient 185/70s on them now and see how nicely that size works.

INTERIOR: OE plus? I guess. Again, not something I need to worry about for a while, but I used to work at an auto upholstery shop and this will be one of the most enjoyable parts. My favorite projects were the interiors that looked showroom stock but hid secret features like inflatable lumbar supports, sound systems, et cetera. It will get matching basketweave throw pillows, as our family cars had their own throw pillows, usually maching the interiors (including NOS OEM cloth in one case) going back to the 1970s

PROPULSION: quick. Again, I have a lot of time to think about this, and I'm not sure what I'll be doing. The 1600 DP that came with the car in 1990 was not original to the car and pretty worn out. The used engine I got in 1992 was fine, but I gave it to a buddy who needed one in the mid-1990s when I took it off the road. I have a 2.0 Type 4 in my basement that has interesting potential, but I have also seriously thought about going electric. I know this is polarizing, and I love me some VW engine sound and feel, but I have an air-cooled Westy to scratch that itch. My late father, who drove this car many times and whose memory is intertwined with it, was an electrical engineer, so an EV project would have a sentimental angle for me.

Whether it eventually gets a gas engine or an electric motor, the original transmission will be rebuilt and upgraded to suit. This is the first transmission I ever shifted, when my cousins illegally taught me to drive it at 15, so that's a keeper.

I've reimagined this car thousands of times in my head since 1990. When I think of the dechromed, turquoise metallic over tweed monstrosity I would have made it into if I had the money as an early-1990s teen, I'm glad it took this long before I could seriously think about fixing it up, even if it's an exponentially bigger challenge now.

[TDCTDI]

I have a deal for you on the electric propulsion thing.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2657376
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[scottyrocks]

[Floating VW]

I feel your pain, man! I bought my '74 Standard back in the late '80's; first and only car I've ever owned. I rolled it completely over on an icy exit ramp in South Dakota in the late '90's.

EVERYONE told me it was totalled.

I'm still driving it, today. It wasn't even that hard to repair, and I got pretty good with a MIG along the way!

Anything can be fixed, if you have the tools, time and talent. Don't let anyone tell you different!

I will say, though, if you're going to convert it to electric, I think you're better off junking that one and starting over with a fresh one. It just doesn't seem logical to me to lovingly and painstakingly restore the damaged shell back to its original condition, only to rip the guts (and soul!) out of it and turn it into an EV.

Either way, good luck!
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