FINDING A GOOD
BEETLE, 1999
I
recently had the privilege of attending my first meeting of Club VW. I have been a member
since October '98 after deciding to buy a Beetle. With four teenagers in the household
wanting "cool" transport, the search was on. I figured the best way to get the
right advice would be to join the club. Many thanks to those who assisted me in getting on
the right track. My first contact was Hans Klaack gave me the sort of sound advice I
didn't want to hear - "Spend as much as you can afford and look for a really good
one."
My search took me South to Sylvania and West to Windsor (not to mention
North and East). After three months of searching the papers, the Internet and various ads
at VW repairers, I almost gave up. The "good condition" ads offered very
ordinary cars. One car which appealed was a one-owner 1973 1600. I called at 9pm and
agreed to an 8am inspection but I was there champing at the bit at 7am. The car was very
good but at $5400, way above my budget. After hearing my story, they offered to go to
$4800 (still above my budget) and I agreed. I went home and told the wife that we had
bought a car, but at 10am, they rang to say that another buyer had seen the car, heard my
story, been to the bank, taken $5400 in cash back to the seller and slapped it on the
table! They caved in and I was gazumped! Money talks.
Believe it or not the first car I saw turned out to be one of the best!
But I wasn't to know that. My budget was $4000 and all I wanted was a clean, honest
example - minimal rust, good overall condition and mechanically original! Not too much to
ask?
Early in October (week 10 of the search) I was up early on a Saturday
and read the classifieds where I spotted an ad stating 1973 1300 blue slip, good condition
$4000, and a mobile phone number. This was my tenth car to inspect. I had a rule not to
ring mobiles but I waited till 8am and rang to find out it was the VW repairer on the
Lower North Shore. By 8.45 I was driving a car in reasonable condition and getting the
unmistakable feeling that this was the one. When I returned from the test drive and said
yes, I was delighted to find I was presented with a folder containing the full service
history (143000km original) with every invoice, plus the original books. As its proud
third owner, I was now a VW driver! I must give special thanks to Bob Hickman who gave me
candid advice during my search, and numerous parts at cheap prices to move my TLC program
along.
I have since spent $3000 repairing the body rubber, replacing
the windscreen head lining brakes (discs fitted), bumpers, seats, trim shocks
and tyres. The end result is a very clean, reliable, rust-free, "cool"
daily transport which - to my chagrin - I don't get to drive very often due
to my son's adoption of same!.
What other car could give so much enjoyment for only $7000? We are now
looking for Beetle no.2. Let the legend live on!
Carl Moll
Home
I
recently had the privilege of attending my first meeting of Club VW. I have been a member
since October '98 after deciding to buy a Beetle. With four teenagers in the household
wanting "cool" transport, the search was on. I figured the best way to get the
right advice would be to join the club. Many thanks to those who assisted me in getting on
the right track. My first contact was Hans Klaack gave me the sort of sound advice I
didn't want to hear - "Spend as much as you can afford and look for a really good
one."