Bug Out Beetle: December 2010

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Beetle Camper!?

An air cooled VW Beetle towing a camper? This video has been around for awhile. I believe the camper/trailer was called “The Shadow” though this is unconfirmed. This 1974 video shows the VW Beetle being hooked up to this camper going in circles. Even a Beetle enthusiast like myself has a hard time imagining the VW’s meager power plant hauling this extra weight. I’ve never seen one myself but I’d be interested to hear if some had or knew someone that did. It certainly is unique.

Sources: SuperBeetles, Jalopnik

Technorati Tags: vw,volkswagen,camper,trailer,shadow,beetle,bug

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

New Year resolutions at the garage

I don’t usually do resolutions around new year’s day because it’s so cliché. Though with a break from school for awhile, the holidays are wrapping up and I’m on vacation this week it’s a good time to do some reflection and planning for the coming year. In the past year or two I’ve gotten off track not only posting hear regularly but also in maintaining our family vehicles along with our project 71 Super Beetle.

In the past I was quite punctual with my oil changes and other maintenance items on both my own car and my wife’s car. Even just keeping them clean has been neglected. Now I can sit around and cite family, work, school and time issues but I’ve got no one to blame but myself. Even my state car inspection is late(Appointment on Thursday for that one).My goal is to get back on a regular schedule on maintenance for both my wife’s car and mine.Here’s a short list for my Impala:

Oil and Filter change
Antifreeze flush and refill
Change spark plugs and wires
Transmission service including fluid & filter change
Clean & re-oil K&N air filter
Wash & wax, vacuum interior

For my wife’s Windstar:

Oil & filter change
Fix passenger side door
Wash & wax and vacuum
Check air filter

Now onto the Super Beetle which has been neglected for months. I had started doing the brakes but soon realized I needed a plan to go forth and get this road worthy. The heater channels are but a joke and need replacement on both sides of the car. The engine is tired and I believe could use a rebuild. I have begun gutting out the interior at least. That’s as far as I’ve gotten so far. Plan of attack of the VW:

Remove engine
Rebuild engine
Replace heater channels( which will probably require separating the chassis & body)
And much, much more…..

This is going to be both fun and a challenge. Much of the work I’ll be doing will be new to me and will also mean an influx of cash and tools. My goal is to have the engine out and start rebuilding in the next month. When the warm weather appears in the spring I’ll start on the heater channels which will require extensive body work and some welding(one of those new things I was talking about). By summer time I’d like to have the heater channels in and at least have the body back together. Of course I’m being optimistic and things may come up that slow things down (of course) but that is my plan at the moment. At some point I’d like to at least register and insure it.

Well that’s the plan at the moment. I wish you a Happy New Year and good luck on your winter projects!

Monday, December 20, 2010

The end of the road in 2010

The year 2010 was a rough road for the automobile industry especially the big 3 from Detroit. I can’t recall a year that we have lost more established brand names in such a short time period. Some had been around for decades and others only a short time. Through this it seems that the big three have turned the corner (at least for the moment). Here are the brands we lost this past year.

Hummer – Though these behemoths of the road were a hit when they first came out. Even the Governator Ahnold had one. When gas reached the four dollar mark a few years ago sales tanked and never recovered since. They became a symbol of wastefulness. General Motors tried to find a buyer but it wasn’t meant to be.
Mercury – Even though Ford has turned a profit lately this brand will not be apart of it’s future. The writing had been on the wall for awhile with no new models in the pipeline. It had just become a place to market upscale Fords anyway.
Pontiac – This was brand that jumpstarted the muscle car wars in the 1960’s with the GTO. We also enjoyed watching Burt Reynolds run bootleg Coors beer from Texas to Georgia in his black & gold Trans-Am in the late 70’s. It seemed they were trying to make it into performance brand with the sharp G6’s and G8’s but it was too late.
Saturn – This quirky brand was a relative newcomer. It started of as a brand meant to fight the imports. It seems as if they started out with a great idea and then designing and building a car became an after thought. They turned into a brand with no identity and were slow to redesign.

I hope that the domestic brands have seen the light. They took a huge hit because for a long time the focus was on the highly profitable SUV market. More economical sedans cars were but a mere after thought. Import brands though improved there cars and were slow to join in the SUV race. They never forgot though that their bread and butter was with cars. When the gas prices spiked they were in a better position to change with the market. Domestic brands were caught with their pants down and had to figure out how to get gas guzzling SUV’s off their lots. Let’s hope 2011 is a better year for the big three.