New member - Adam Deuce & his '71 1300 Bug
 

Hi guys

I'd like to introduce myself, Adam Deuce, and my Sapphire Blue, 1971, 1300 VW Beetle.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/7194/p1090617o.jpg

As this is 2011 it doesn't take a genius to work out that my car is 40 years old. I am proud to say that I have owned it for 20 of those years, or half of it's life. Despite this I have never felt the need to give it a name (or even a gender if I'm honest) although I do occasionally refer to it as "my baby". It was my first car which I bought (with a little help from my Dad) when I was 16. We intended to buy one to renovate but a friend of my Dad had this one for sale which was in excellent condition with white interior and a white Britax "ragtop" style sunroof and I fell in love with it.

Here is a current photo.

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/420/p1130618.jpg

Three years later I was back home from Uni during the summer holidays. One day driving home from my summer job some inexperienced driving on wet roads following a prolonged period of hot weather resulted in my poor bug ending up on it's side stuffed into a hedge. I was distraught as I genuinely thought I had written off my beautiful car.

Fortunately VW Beetles are a lot more resilient than I gave them credit for and after a few weeks in a local body repair shop the dents a creases were smoothed out and my car was saved from the scrap heap. A set of new wings and a new paint job and XOV 971J was back to looking as good as new.

The car is still pretty much stock. The only real changes I have made are the 1970's Compu-Motive split rim alloys and the bumpers. After the accident I decided to do away with the standard euro spec square type and instead fitted a chrome "towel Rail" style bumper to the front end and chrome T- bars on the back.

Over the years I have had a number of company cars and work vans. I also spent a couple of years living abroad without my car so it has not always been my daily driver. However over the last few years it has been and as it is in it's 40th year parried with the fact I am finally earning a reasonable salary I have decided it is time to lavish some much needed money (as well as TLC) on to my faithful car. Considering how reliable it has been (If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen!) it is the least I can do.

The body work is not in too bad condition however there are a number of blemishes and rust spots appearing (well it is 40 years old). It recently passed it's MOT with just a couple of advisories. One of which is some corrosion to the front beam. Therefore I have decided to replace the whole front end. Narrow front beam, lowered suspension, disc brakes, etc. etc. After that I will concentrate on the engine with plans to upgrade to a 1600.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1638/p4030660.jpg

I will be honest and admit that and my technical / mechanical knowledge is pretty minimal which is one of the reasons I have joined this forum. I'm hoping to pick the brains of the more knowledgeable forum members.

Anyway, I guess that is me and my car (well more my car than me but I guess that's the most important thing).

I look forward to chatting with some of you about all things VW.

Many thanks

Adam 'Deuce' Robins