my stolen bug was trashed! :(

That sucks but at least you have it back now.

Put the shifter in neutral and try turning the crank pulley by putting a wrench on the bolt that attaches it to the crank and turning clockwise. It should turn over pretty easilly... If not then maybe try your idea of removing the starter to eliminate that as a possibility. You sure the battery is ok? Got oil in it? Couldn't pop the clutch in second gear? Bad battery won't cause that... Best of luck to you in getting it running again.

Glad to hear you got it back anyway...I don't think the engine not starting is "trashed," I was expecting to hear that the interior was destroyed, the fenders were all dented, etc.

~Anthony

Sounds like it could be the starter was left on when they hotwired it. Check the tranny mounts and nosecone, too. There's no telling what they did to your car, some good airtime could have broken one of the mounts or nosecone and that may be why you can't shift. I could be wrong, though. Glad you at least got it back.

If you couldn't start it by dropping it in gear, sure sounds like its froze up. Dump the oil , measure how much it had in it. Look for bits of brass bearing's . Pull the plugs out when you try to rotate it by a wrench on the flywheel, take a wooden stick and feel the pistons , see if they all move, look at the valve stems if and when you can rotate it and see if they didn't 'drop a valve' some how. Poor bug probably really got a work out. Wouldn't it be nice to catch that guy? I caught two guys tring to lift the rear end of my '56 bug up to put it on the sidewalk. Kinda lost control a bit, hit one in the kidneys and the other one in the back as well. They didn't see me coming but the guys on the other side of the park said they could hear the crack when I popped the first one. He never did get up and the other one just made it across the street and laid down. Justice was done so I left. I bet they never mess with another man's car in their lifetime. Well let us know what happens with your bug. Spud from Montana

.................If anyone who's reading here has ever thought about screwing around with someone else's car, knowing that Leo is out there somewhere ought to give them cause to reconsider..............lol