I am out of the challenge business but have my dream car

Yesterday I picked up a 1952 standard beetle. The standards had no chrome, a special headliner, cable brakes, non-adjustable seats, a non-synchromesh transmission, and no accessories. Standards were foreign market cars only and never brought to the US. This car is also a late 1952 so it is a zwitter (oval window dash and split rear window ). The fact that it is a standard and a zwitter makes the car very rare.

It all started about a month ago when I was visiting some local vw people. Through talking it came up that one knew about a very early beetle in a junk yard. We figured that the very early beetle would turn out to be a late model once we got there. After talking to the owner on the phone we decided to go and check it out.

When we arrived at the yard we found a 1952 beetle sitting amongst many old American cars. The owner told us that it was a 1952 body on a 1966 chassis and it would need a specially constructed vin to be driven. He also said we couldn’t buy it but instead had to put in a bid and he would get back to us.

When I got home and looked at some of the pictures and called upon some experts on thesamba they concluded that the car was the rarer standard model (I think from Sweden) and I determined that it was not on a 1966 chassis but the original.

We continued to call the guy once a week and he said the same “Well I don’t know if I can sell it and I am not ready yet maybe next week” Last Saturday when we were on vacation in Boston we called the guy and he said that it all needed to be gone now and that he was going to junk it all. He told us if we were there Monday we might be able to get it.

When we got to the yard we first had to move a car and piles of aluminum to make a path to get it out of the yard. The car has some rust in the rockers, passenger side floor, and the rear luggage area but is decent for a car sitting outside in Pa for almost 40 years.

I plan on doing a complete restoration bringing the interior and exterior back to factory specs but beating the car with the lowering stick to the point where the pan lays on the ground. I think that I will build a old speed 36hp engine with a hot cam and my 356 crank along with dual carbs giving me some extra displacement and double the power.

That's REALLY awesome!

My first 13 vehicles in a row were air cooled 'Dubs, but I never had the privilege of owning a car like that! Enjoy, make us all proud!

Awesome find. I just sold a standard Beetle yesterday (mine was '62 though) - I love the old style rim, small headliner and lack of trim. The normal Deluxe Beetles always seemed a bit glitzy to me.

What an awesome find! Good luck with the resto, it looks like it needs a ton of work.

Having also worked on plenty of air cooled stuff, I can say with assurance: That will keep you busy for a while. Enjoy, looks like a fun project and definitely a good find!

Bryce

You found that in PA?!?!?! Where?

WOW! Way to go, ratghia! Your idea of restoring the int/ext to original but putting enough of a motor in it to actually drive it sounds like the "best of both worlds".

I dont know my vws but those pics make me want to get a tetanus shot.

andrave wrote: I dont know my vws but those pics make me want to get a tetanus shot.

Hey, that's the first order of buisiness if you're gonna go hardcore grassroots.

Of course, in some of the junkyards around here, anti-venom is the second..

I am really glad for you. I cant wait till I get to write a "finally got my dream car..." thread. The fact that youve found a '52 anything in restorable form makes me feel more confident that I can find an '87 corolla in similar order. Ive always been afraid that when the time comes that I can afford to restore an ancient auto that the only ones available will be either molested beyond recognition, Rusted beyond salvage, or 3x what I want to pay because its already been restored. Thanks for restoring the faith

Congrats, please start a build thread once you get going.

Awesome! My brother's first car was a 51 deluxe—I love those Splits. The standard is cool because you can essentially restore it back to stock, lower it a bit and put decent wheels on it and it looks like it's been dechromed--as there's no chrome to begin with.

Per

Great score.

Add it to Readers' Rides!

Great find! I'd have definitely been all over that too. Sure its going to take time and money to restore, but what a worthwhile car to start with. Enjoy the process and enjoy the car :)

Thanks for all the comments. I just added the Beetle in readers rides and will update that and maybe start a thread when I start making progress on the car. This car is going to take a lot of time and money to restore but I can't wait to start working on it. I was looking for a split or a standard and found both in the same car so I couldn't be happier with it.

I have never cared for VW bugs until I saw the volksrod in the 2008 challenge coverage. Now I want one just like it, but for the street.

Congrats on the find. I can't wait to watch your progress.

I love those Splits.

+1. I also love this:

Very very nice. Congrats

poopshovel said: +1. I also love this:

Ah... Death! that car is awesome!

nice find. BTW love the new avatar!

Today I worked on getting the car ready for the show and put fenders and bumpers on it. I also cleaned the inside of the car.

awesomeness, loving this car, keep the updates coming

surprisingly solid looking

I don't know if I'd do anything to it cosmetically. That's freakin' dope.

ratghia wrote: Today I worked on getting the car ready for the show and put fenders and bumpers on it. I also cleaned the inside of the car.

That was pretty stinking quick. Taking it to the show as a WIP?