Reliving my high school with a 63 beetle.

Just dragged this home, wife has been wanting one for a while and I had one in high school. I have been looking around for one offhandedly but kind of fell into my lap. Not sure how long it will be around I am tight on space but my god does it make me feel like I am 15 again. Paid a good bit for it and near market but not caring about this right now.

So introducing Carol a 1963, 17k mile, one owner bug. Other then the air cleaner, stereo head unit and the seat covers is basically as it rolled out of the factory.  Not a bit of rust, even the heat works.  Needs an alignment and it leaks fuel everywhere. 
 

lots of fun projects on it that are time intensive and not that costly.  Going to polish it out tomorrow, replace the fuel lines and adjust the brakes which are slightly dragging but extremely strong.  
 

That's beautiful. 

Dang, nice job 

How the hell do you put only 17k on a 63 Bug!  I mean, it's not like it's a Ferrari that someone knows will be worth money in the future!  An old lady, who barely drove it , in 1963!? What, did the live to 130!? 

It's even a bit hard to believe someone bought it off said lady in the 80's and said "I better preserve this, it's gonna be worth something!" (Bugs were dirt cheap in the 80's)

Do tell!  There HAS to be a story!

Looks like the antenna is aftermarket market also.

(it's almost ready for it's 6th valve adjustment BTW)

I know the seller and trust the mileage. I believe it was left here in California to use at a second house and just sat and sat.  May have been bought by a uncle and then handed off in the 70s but did not pry too much. 
 

Noticed the antenna as well. I think the side mirrors are aftermarket as well. Once I get it out on the sun tomorrow and get stuck in I will find out what's what. One of the kids I mentor had his 350z break a steering rod as I was unloading the car and went out to help him. Been a long day. 
 

I did pull the rear seat and it's the cleanest bug I have ever seen at least there paint is not original but whoever did the job was a master. Same in the frunk still had all the oem washer bottle parts and still had the fitting to go to the spare tire. I cannot see anywhere it has been hit period. Little misalignment on the fenders in the front but they were likely off for paint. 

As a youth I derided those as smelly hippiemobiles. Then I rented one in Mexico and they are great! Good for you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3bM2VpvtO4

Radios were likely an option back then, installed at the dealer level. Antenna style and placement was often at the dealership's whim. Very typical on the Fiats I played with from the same time period.

I've never driven (or even been in) an ACVW, but anyways wanted to.  Looks like you found the most original one on the planet!   Very cool!

That looks pretty amazing. Enjoy your Beetle!

Damn, that would be a fun car to have. Enjoy yourself !!

That's awesome!

My first 13 cars were ACVWs

Glad you're fixing the fuel lines. Too many Type 1s burned down from the fuel line that's routed through the cooling tin.

Love this, and slightly jelly.

In reply to ddavidv :

Yes, from what I have heard all, at least early VW's, where delivered without radios.  Not sure about the antennas.  I am also not sure if it was the dealers or the owners that installed the radios, I suspect a bit of both?

The antenna style on the early cars seem to be pretty consistent though, from what I have seen. I thinks for that year it's the side mounted (like it is now), but with the two attaching points.  I would guess they filled in the holes when they painted it(?). Catalogs do show a single mount style is appropriate for that year, but I would guess chrome is more accurate to the period (?)

In reply to wearymicrobe :

Also, if you are not aware, you should get the Birth Certificate for the car.  As many may know Germans are well known for their record keeping (!), and VW still has information on every VW built.  They have a process where they will send you a nice certificate (I think it's like $20?) for the car.  The certificate show build date and location (which is likely not hard to guess!) and also what options it was bult with (not sure they had many on Bugs) and what dealership it was delivered to.

The Birth Certificate on my Ghia was of particular interest since it was purchased in Germany.  It did have two options: white wall tires, and a driver side mirror (which of course implies you could order one without side view mirrors (!).

I did notice that the passenger side mirror would have been a rare thing on any car in 1963 much less an inexpensive car like a Beetle.

Great cars!

I did the kinda same thing about 5 years ago. My first car (well, technically my folks' car, but I took control of the family cars at about age 15) was a '61 bug. Had a lot of fun with that car, rebuilt the motor, and learned to drive sideways one winter where Dayton had snow continuously for several months.

Anyway, in high school in 1971, I had my best friend take a pic of me and the bug behind the grocery store where I worked for $1.60 per hour.

Many cars and decades later, I kept an eye out for a white pre-'68 bug, and bought a hopped up '67 sunroof through oldbug.com referral site. Four wheel discs, 1915cc motor, etc., but looked stock. I added some alloy wheels that look like steelies, a rare Momo steering wheel, vintagespeed shifter, etc. 

Then, 50 years after the first, I had my same best friend take the same pic at the same location. Came out amazing.

I had the new one five years, but sold it to a friend a few months ago.

.

Great purchase! 17k for the mileage is amazing. I had a red 1965 bug in the mid-late 1970s.  Blast to drive year round, even in Midwest winters as long as you carried an ice scraper for the inside of the windshield in the mornings. I once moved an entire dorm room home for the summer with it, including a large dorm fridge, a 100-lb weight set and bar, boxes of books, clothes and more. Top speed on the interstate with that load was about 40 and the rear end was only a few inches off the ground but it made it home without skipping a beat.  

Enjoy!!!      

Ok lots to add, spent most of the weekend going through the car. Also I have so many ACVW parts from my youth that I wa s able to do everything with just 40-50$ worth of parts from NAPA. 

I did drive it and to my surprise the odometer does work, had a few VW friends over and they are all in awe of how clean it is. Also I forgot just how slow a single port motor is, I am so used to building 2000cc+ motors and sticking them in bugs that I have not driven a "stock" beetle in almost 30 years. 

So what has been done so far. 

• Oil Change. 
• Checked timing (In spec)
• Carb rebuild and hot tanking
• All new fuel lines
• Got the interior carpet pulled tight and glued down better. 
• Got the whole car lubed
• Distributor vacuum advance was shot, replaced the unit with a good one I had in stock and replaced all the lines. 
• Checked the valves (In spec) 
• Cleaned everything chrome came out perfect with some steel wool and a lot of polishing. 
• Confirmed that it was blue when it came out of the factory
• Added a bit more toe to the front 
• Tire pressures were 30 which is way to high, dropped to my usual 21/24 for early bugs. 
• cleaned the yellowing off the whitewalls best I could with what I had. 
• Quick silicon wax job to hide the very light marring in the paint. 
• Quick emergency brake adjustment. 
• Backed the adjusters out on the drums because they were a tiny bit to tight and balanced them. Stops straight now. 
• Drained the fuel out of the tank and it was skunky, but the tank is a replacement for sure and it is clean inside by scope. 
• Pulled the trim rings on the wheels an found the steel wheels had been powdercoated or heavily painted black. 
• Repaired a few hubcap clips from my stock. 
• found a steelie dan tape in the stereo and it still works. 
• Found a faint pen marking on the motor of last service and miles marked were 14K. 
• Fuel pump was bad, had OEM replacmenet in box from a couple decades ago. 

The bad. 

• third gear grinds on any shift that is faster then 3 seconds. Easy to fix when I pull the box out. 
• I have had the car up to 60mph and its stable now. 
• Dear lord does this thing make people want to talk to you
• electrics are decent but the turn single switch needs replacement for sure. 
• Gas gauge does not work and its not a ground or sensor issue so its likely a gauge (Boo hard to find) 
• Radio only works on one station because it is not hooked up to the antenna.
• Speakers are blown out. 
• Seats are horrible and stock. Its like sitting on a leaning park bench.  (Looks like a few broken springs which I did not have in stock)
• Shifter is to short for me to reach comfortably and I need to cleanup the linkages for sure. 
• Brake fluid tests on the edge of OK for water with my little sensor tool. 
• horn covers fell off the car and are cheap aftermarket ones, will look through my stash I should have a good set somewhere or I will have to order them tonight. 
• Air cleaner looks out of place on the motor and I need to do all the wiring in the cloth braided lines to get it to look right. Going to try and find a replacement oilbath air cleaner that I can cut up and put a filter in like I have done when I was younger. 

My wife has claimed the car as here own and named it so its sticking around for a good long while. It has been named Coraline by here. 

Photos soon. 

Dusty and uncleaned 

All cleaned up and polished with fresh wax and all new lines. 

Looks incredible - what a great find!

Looking great!

I am a bit thrown by the fact the car has a vacuum advance distributor.  I, like you, have mostly dealt with at least partially modified cars, and I don't think I have ever noticed an early car with a vacuum advance!  I had to look it up to make sure, and yup, that car would have come with a vacuum advance.  Not only that, but his source says the car ONLY has vacuum advance!

I asked someone once why you never see vacuum advances on AC VW's and his comment was "why would you need vacuum advance when you essentially run the car at full throttle all the time?" 

I think this is yours.  40hp engine, right?:

Freaking fantastic!

I've wanted a bug for so long, but much like E30s now, cleans are enough I don't think I'd want to spend that kind of money. A girl I briefly dated in high school had one, it's one of those things that are just fun to be behind the wheel of. 

aircooled said:

Looking great!

I am a bit thrown by the fact the car has a vacuum advance distributor.  I, like you, have mostly dealt with at least partially modified cars, and I don't think I have ever noticed an early car with a vacuum advance!  I had to look it up to make sure, and yup, that car would have come with a vacuum advance.  Not only that, but his source says the car ONLY has vacuum advance!

I asked someone once why you never see vacuum advances on AC VW's and his comment was "why would you need vacuum advance when you essentially run the car at full throttle all the time?" 

I think this is yours.  40hp engine, right?:

Thats the one, I have always used 009's for the fast cars and electrics so I never really needed these. Which is likely why i had the diaphram in my box of goodies. 

Great car :)

The gas gauge is just a  metal cable , not electric  , the sender just swings and moves the needle , 

pull the plate under the back seat and check/ replace the shift rod coupler ,  its probably "mushy" and might fix your 3rd gear problem :)

and also check steering shaft coupler to the steering box , 

I always tell people to buy from Wolfsburg West as they really care what they sell ,  there is lots of junk aftermarket parts for sale . 

And replace the "rubber" fuel line under the gas tank and the one that comes out of the tunnel next to the gearbox, and the fuel pump to carb  , 

Thats all I got , its what I do with any VW bug that  shows up here , 

Have fun !