Just checking in (again). I believe I've told you about my TYPE-1 Beetle I restored (I went through my old boxes - the original title read 1967 - the most powerful, durable Beetle ever made). I did swap out the rear suspension to an independent out of a '73, the clutch ass'y from a Porsche 914, roller-rockered short-stroke engine bored to nearly 1.8 litres, thermo-fiber insulated interior completely redone, with carpet...
The power-to-weight ratio made that car a death trap. Twin 52-mm Kadron carbs, electronic ignition. Man! You had to start in second gear, unless you wanted to 'pull a Herbie' and destroy your exhaust, engine bonnet, rear panel and bumper trying to do a normal first gear start (read: wheelie); nudge it in first, and you were guaranteed to stall - after rocking back and forth, violently.
From stoplight to stoplight, there wasn't ANY car out there that could touch it, starting in second gear. Sweet paint, chromed and widened stock wheels with baby moons - she was a looker, too. I wrecked it, doing 45 mph after a rainstorm - hit a live oak tree, and I actually saw myself slumped in the driver's seat from where I was, by the rear quarter panel...
The car was folded in half. I came to, and the smell of high-test gas filled my nostrils, as I noticed that the steering wheel was folded inward. My head hurt - and I was treated at a local hospital.
I was bedridden for a week. What I wouldn't give to have that car back. New headlight bezels, bumpers... ah, s*** - I miss it, terribly.
LW & Liz (maybe one day... g'night)
. My first car was a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville that my dad bought me. That was in 1976. Loved that beast but he made me get rid of it. All the kids in school used to go smoke in it and play with the electric seats till the battery died. Too many batteries and down the road it went. It was a sad day indeed. . My first car was a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville that my dad bought me. That was in 1976. Loved that beast but he made me get rid of it. All the kids in school used to go smoke in it and play with the electric seats till the battery died. Too many batteries and down the road it went. It was a sad day indeed.
