Ready to quit payments

A bug in winter? Sure! As long as you remember your long johns, ultra-thick socks, undershirt, flannel shirt, sweater and coat, scarf, gloves and hat... Stranded... hope you have a cell phone. If you live in an apartment, where would you do any of the major work you know your car is going to, at some point, require?

The decision is of course up to you. I can't imagine paying $500 a month for a truck. Why not get something with cheaper payments? I love Beetles, don't get me wrong. The winter would make me put some serious consideration into it though. I live in Florida so a bug in winter isn't really a big deal. Snow would make me worry.

Kidd What's the difference between a northern fairytale and a southern fairytale? A northern fairytale starts out "Once upon a time..." A southern fairytale starts with "Ya'll ain't gonna believe this shit..."

Jeremy,

I just did what you are thinking of doing. Went out and got me a 72 Super to replace my new Maxima...Too early to tell but I forgot how much work it is. I guess I didn't mind it when I was a kid. But now I have a job, family and other obligations. Can't tinker as much as I had hoped.

My suggestion is to keep your truck until you are certain. I think both of us have a bit of nostalgia clouding our judgement. When we were kids, it was no biggie to be stranded one day and start fixing the next. Now, things are a bit more complicated. A 35 year old car, although a blast to drive, is still 35 years old and requires a lot of work to keep her purring.

But then again...as I have read on this NG....it ain't a tattoo...if you don't like it...you can always get rid of her...

Thanks Junior

Well, I live just South of you in New Mexico. We get pretty harsh winters here too, but they use sand on the roads instead of salt so there's not a problem with corrosion like in the East. I don't drive my car too much; I bike to work and walk a lot of other places. I'll end up driving the car on weekends usually. Beetles drive fine in the snow with some good tires that aren't too wide. Just be careful and take it slow and you shouldn't swap ends. As for the question if it's worth it, only you can decide. Would you rather be driving a heated, air-conditioned, reliable and boring mass-production truck or a car that actually has some character?

If your main reason for scrapping the truck is to save money, you may want to look elsewhere. My initial reasoning to buy a Beetle was "It'll be cheap!"

I payed $2,800 for a 73 std with a freshly rebuilt engine with only 20 miles on it. Great. The engine has been perfect so far (well, even better now that it has an SVDA dizzy on it). However, over the past two years, I have spent $1800 on fixing OTHER things, and it still LOOKS like crap. Only now, after two years is it ready to be painted and be finished finally. So I could safely say the car was not cheap. I could've saved up the total of $4600 I've spent on this car and bought something else that didn't need nearly the work my Beetle has required. Even after a Beetle is restored, you will still spend more money on it than a lot of newer cars in running costs. There is so much preventative maintenance you have to do. Of course, parts are cheap, abbundant and often salvagable though, so maybe not.

Remember, even the newest Beetle you can get will still be 25 years old. Older cars are a whole different ball game. They can be great fun, but you do need to know what you're doing.

~Anthony

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 23:34:47 -0600, Elwell scribbled this interesting note:

Having several antique cars in the drive, I think I can offer another way out for you.

You drive a truck? Fairly new? With payments? You like driving a truck? Seems like most of the answers to these questions may be "Yes."

You don't like your payments? You are looking for a different vehicle? Thinking of buying a Beetle?

Here's an answer I've found to these issues (other than the one about car payments since I've only ever had one car payment with any car we own since we buy used and pay cash.)

My work truck is a 1972 GMC 1/2 ton truck. It is set up with a/c and heat, power steering and brakes, and requires little extra work to keep it on the road. Of course it gets terrible mileage (about 10 mpg no matter how you use the damn thing), but on a yearly basis the upkeep on it is about what you spend in one month on your truck payments. That means things like tune-ups, etc., and most recently a water pump and alternator belt (a whopping $150.00, and that was with a new, as opposed to rebuilt, water pump!:~)

The initial cost of the truck about ten years ago, give or take, was $3,500.00. It has been worked hard and just keeps on going, and going, and going...

Another car in the drive is a 1959 Beetle. More of a Sunday Driver than anything else. It is more expensive to own, repair, and keep up than the '72 GMC. The same would be true if it were a '71 Beetle (which, as I seem to recall, was the year with the highest production numbers so that should be the year with the best possibility of finding all parts at a good price.) The cost to buy the '59 was less than the GMC. Right now I think we have more in the '59 than we do the GMC. And it will do nothing but keep up that trend.

You can have a good truck and a Beetle. In the long run the Beetle will be the more expensive car to own. In the long run it will be less expensive than the final cost of that new truck you are still making payments on.

Oh, and you need to get out of apartments. That too is throwing money away. Usually for the cost of a few months rent you can buy your own home and do your own thing on your own property...

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

I've found my bug to be very comfortable to drive in in cold weather. It's all in the quality of the heat exchangers on your car.

Even on the nastiest windiest day of January where I live (Chicago suburbs) that little engine can push out enough heat that I leave the window cracked. I grew up in Alaska though, which bred a little more tolerance to cold I think.

Defrosting is another matter entirely. ;) Get a good scraper, will give the engine a chance to warm up while you're clearing the windows.

I haven't had occassion where the vehicle would refuse to run, no matter how cold it was. Sometimes it wouldn't want to start up (which I attribute more to voltage dropping than a mechanical fault), but once it gets warm it runs as well as it does in the summer.

Cracking the window always helped me with mine. Kinda de-pressurized the cabin so that more hot air would come in from the heat exchangers. I think I read that trick in The Muir Book.

Once upon a time I had a '73 Super Beetle with no decklid. One day it was cold here and a bunch of sleet and freezing rain got all over my bug and COMPLETELY covered the engine so that I couldn't see any of it. I got out a butter knife and chipped away the ice until I could see the alternator pulley and most of the belt and part of the crank pulley. Also chipped away a small amount of ice from around the air cleaner. Got in, turned the key, and it fired right up. Work was closed due to weather, but my faithful bug got me to the beer store and back. I was hooked right away and still haven't gotten over "the bug".....

A few "old school" ways around the lack of heat issues...

1> Insulate the heck out of the car.. 2> Insure all heat connections from shroud to interior are sealed, air tight! 3> By pass heat channels, by removing the connection under the seat. Add flexible duct to that location, and bring it on the floor, under seats, to your feet. Lousy for defrosting, but cabin (and feet) will be HOT 4> Get a gas heater 5> Open side windows slightly to provide a place for the heat to travel to, negative pressure. You could also buy pop out side windows to get same effect (good in summer too) 6> Buy aftermarket heating system (Barneys) 7> Make own aftermarket heating system (aka Barneys) Buy 12 volt bilge air pumps ?dealerId=1538&pageNum=559 Wear wool long johns!

your all forgetting the fact that there are very few autos that handle better in snow then a beetle,

I started with bugs as winter cars do to the fact that they do very well in snow and growing up in upstate NY, I know snow.

Mario

On 06 Oct 2004 23:49:09 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Kafertoys) scribbled this interesting note:

That matters not 'round here since more likely than not, if we get any winter precipitation, it will be more ice than snow...and no one can drive reliably on ice...not even in a Beetle...

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

My VW heat works so well that I have to open the window. My Bug gets around great in the winter, but I don't drive it. It's the other people who can't control their vehicles and might smash into my car that scare me. Plus the chemical ice control. I drive my 15 year old Chevy 4WD when the temps drop. Other than that I drive my bug to work every day.

- - - - - Al Gilson

1970 VW Convertible 1964 Cessna 172 (All Air Cooled) Spokane, WA USA

I.

At least the heater would have time to warm up. It takes about 20 minutes for it to start working really well.

Then the deal is off.

Well, how about getting a small house with a garage, maybe close to your local universisty and live like a college kid. Then you could make the garage into a work shop for your Beetle.

Nope. It doesn't work that way. Now those cars are older and nead a lot to get them going.

brakes front end engine and clutch transaxle, c.v. joints and boots possibly new ball joints, steering box and tie rod ends and new front axle beam new electrical switches wiper motor the list goes on and on.

Get a Beetle because you like them and want something to work on.

that was me for years.....then i got a bug that actually had the proper parts installed...meaning the factory heating and cooling parts....nice heat....too much heat actually...even when 0 or below here....

i was always damn glad i had a bug in the snow....got a bug stuck exactly two times in my life...both involved large snow drifts and a stupid "hey y'all watch this" look on my face.....

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

*sigh* I should have been more specific. The ice is what I worry about. To me, snow = ice. And I freeze when it gets below 79 F so I'm screwed either way. So now you can all tell me how ice and snow are nothing alike. It's all frozen water, my friends. It's all the same to me.

Kidd

What's the difference between a northern fairytale and a southern fairytale? A northern fairytale starts out "Once upon a time..." A southern fairytale starts with "Ya'll ain't gonna believe this shit..."

can't argue that....i guess by that same thinking my suzuki is actually an acvw though....strange way of thinking...

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

This really is the best way to get heat in a bug, I wouldn't drive one in teh winter without a gas heater. Instant hot air, right where you want it (do your own ducting), and it doesn't smell icky.

Jan

As long as you learn how to drive that thing in snow/ice. And have good, new winter tires.

No matter what conditions, the key is to know how your car behaves in "extreme" situations. This becomes more important in the winter but shouldn't be ignored in the summertime either.

Find a safe place to practise in.. PUSH the car to it's limits, and see what happens when you cross them.

The first memory that comes to mind, is the lightness of the front end and how the damn thing likes to lock up the front brakes and just plow forward.

The second thing that I remember, is how, when you get stuck, you can leave th eengine at idle and tranny in gear, and just get out and push. Once the tires grab, you will have to hurry on back onto teh driver's seat though :)

Jan

Bah, I actually like the smell that comes out of a beetle's heating system. It's as much a part of the car as the horse hair seats and fweeming pea shooters.

Think my favorite part about beetle heating is it doesn't blast you with dry heat. 10 minutes in a modern car and my nose feels like the Sahara.