Post #188934 by thejab on Mon, Sep 26, 2005 10:48 AM

It's hard to keep an old car if you can't do the work yourself because of time or space constraints.

I was a VW man. I only drove VWs until about 3 years ago. I've owned a '68 poptop camper, a '67 split window van, an '82 rabbit, and a '68 fastback. My favorites were the '67 van, which I converted to a camper by removing the bench seats and installing the interior from my '68 pop-top. I had to sell it for peanuts when I was going to college because I couldn't afford to get her engine rebuilt. I've always regretted that mistake.

A few years ago I had to get rid of my beloved fastback - a great little car with electronic fuel injection that never had problems even after 35 years. It also had front wheel disc brakes and was surprisingly roomy for a VW. People would ask "where's the engine?" when I opened the back trunk and there was no engine showing because the pancake engine is fairly low compared to the beetle which has no trunk to speak of. I think the Type III (fastback, squareback, notchback) were the peak of VW engineering in the air-cooled era. Anyway, I had to get rid of her because I couldn't find a reliable mechanic and I had no place to work on her myself. That and she leaked like crazy so when it rained the windows fogged up real bad and she would fill up with water. I even had mushrooms growing on the carpet for a while! Getting new rubber seals was an expensive undertaking (over $1000 plus labor). I miss her.

My dream 60s car is the VW Type III Ghia, with a body designed by Ghia. Only about a thousand remain in drivable condition worldwide.

[ Edited by: thejab 2005-09-26 10:51 ]