Shakotoms 1963 Volkswagen Beetle

Shakotom · February 11, 2015

This threads been a long time in the making.

I've pretty much wanted a Volkswagen Beetle since as long as I can remember.

I was turning 21 in January and decided it was about time I bit the bullet and got one. Id decided that my criteria for purchase was it had to have the 'wide five' wheel pattern, be pre 67, and not need much done to it because I was and still am sick of long term projects.

So Id been looking for a while and had a few possible ones lined up and then this one popped up which seemed like a good one.

I called the lady back at the start of December but due to it being a fair distance away from home and that time of the year it was a bit hard to get down to view it. I went away for New Years and when I got back it had disappeared. I left it for a little while and had a look at another one that didn't seem to be as good as this one. So I gave the lady a call just out of chance and yes it was still available!

Emails with more photos were exchanged and a date was set to go have a look.

My father and I headed down the country to have a look at this on anniversary weekend. Had a look at it, drove it and struck a deal.

I drove it home that day and stopped in to visit family half way back and stay for the night

The next morning I woke up early,made a cup of tea and went outside and then it actually clicked that Id finally got the Volkswagen id been wanting since ages ago.

The one I ended up getting is a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle De Luxe.

The lady I bought it off had owned it for two years and had hardly driven it, before that It was owned by another older lady who had owned it for a while as well and hadn't used it very often either. In her time of ownership back in the early 2000s it had a full resto undertaken and a bunch of work done to the motor and gearbox.

Its nice and fairly tidy inside, and has all been re done in a factory style

Discussion here

Shakotom · February 11, 2015

Its powered by a engine which is a model of efficiency and precision. It is a four-cylinder, four cycle overhead valve powerplant with two pairs of horizontally opposed cylinders displacing 1200cc

and since purchasing the car in the three weekends Ive owned and driven it Ive put almost 1200 trouble free miles on it (touchwood) with many more to come. I enjoy driving this way too much.

(I stuck the scat sticker on there, there's no performance parts only factory goodness)

As I said it was my 21st back in January my parents hadn't really got me a present yet, and with purchasing this and it not having the original plates on it I came home one day to find a brown envelope on my bed.

Turns out theyd bought me a set of Personalized plates as a belated gift!!

I think they suit the car very well, being a beetle and all

Shakotom · February 11, 2015

I had been planning on keeping this a secret and just turning up to meets and not saying anything, but I suck at keeping secrets hence this thread.

A few mates on here saw it when they came around and yeah

I did manage to make it down to leadfoot on the saturday. got there early, parked up and disappeared for a while and came back and chatted to people and had a few be like what did you come in? and I pointed at the VW and got told I was crazy.

But thats okay!

I was lucky enough to partake in the parade up the drive way at lunch time with OldSchool and remembered to set my go pro up aswell

That was an awsome day to say the least but I left a bit early though to head off to the beach with the mrs

And a photo from the way home

Shakotom · February 11, 2015

This does photograph slightly better than it looks in real life. Since I got it home and have been staring at it Ive picked it to pieces and have written a list of bits I want to get tided up.

Ive purchased new chrome trims as the chrome on it has a few dents and isn't really fixable, Its got a small dent in the passangers door that needs popped out, Horn rings broken and needs replacing and a couple of other things.

Oh it did have an oil leak from around the sump plate but I fixed that when I changed the oil and cleaned the strainer out.

Whats my plans for this you may ask?

Fix my list of issues with vehicle to tidy it up

And lower it. I dont want to do any modifications to the body or any factory components as I want to have the ability to put it all back to standard if ever I want/need to.

Ive already sourced another set of wheels (thanks to Greg) and am saving for a adjustable beam and drop spindles now

ultimately I'm stoked with my purchase and thoroughly enjoy driving and owning a vehicle I've wanted since ages ago.

My only regret is not buying a Volkswagen sooner.

Shakotom · February 11, 2015

click on the VW to discuss

Shakotom · May 26, 2015

So Ive put some work in on this.....

Will be more to come as funds allow

Shakotom · July 28, 2015

Havent really done anything extra to this recently, Just enjoying driving it! so heres a photodump to celebrate getting my computer fixed!

Went to Hamilton swap-meet and caught up with Greg

Roadtrip weekend away with the girlfriend around taupo area, with lots of backroad/gravel detours resulting in a filthy car by the time we got home

Shakotom · July 28, 2015

SO HOT ITS STEAMING?

not really, I parked over a geothermal vent

Been on a couple of club night town cruises with DMFV

Shakotom · July 28, 2015

And this about sums up all that Ive really had to do to the bug.
Regular oil changes!

Now were coming into winter, Im starting to try and scrape some cash together to do plugs ect and a couple of other maintainace bits

Shakotom · July 28, 2015

WHO SAYS BEETLES ARENT PRACTICAL

Did a Semi freight run on the way down to gang summit as an excuse to cruise round and see some places/meet OS peeps.

Had three bikes on the roof, A set of alloys and tyres on the backseat/trunk area for Mjrstar to drop off in hamilton aswell as stopping at gregs to foam my roofrack and tighten the bolts.
THANKS GREG!

Cruised on through to Taupo to pick up two stationary engines (that were alot larger that I thought) off Testament for Seedy Al. Took the passenger seat out to put them in

Thats about all....

Shakotom · September 8, 2015

Nothing major to report lately.

Got a spot on Caffiene and classics cruise to filming of HotRodTV and ended up getting drawn to be in front of shed/in opening sequence

Also got this sweet rolling shot taken on the way out there which is probably my favorite photo of the Bug so far

.

Also, I borrowed 10Speed Dave's wheels off his bug while I was trying to figure out widths for the rear and sort of really liked the look/width of his rears. A deal was struck and BUGD had some new slightly wider rear wheels than the factory 4s. Im still not 100% sure on width, But they're probably 7 inches wide.

Also tweaked the ride height a bit more because I cant have Greg having all the slammed Volkswagen fame on here.

[Although, I think hes trying to sabotage me because he took my spare springplates to notch for me and I haven't seen them since ]

Almost at the stage where I really need to throw some money at a narrowed beam and notch/raise fuel tank

DISCUSS

Shakotom · August 31, 2022

2015! Frig.

Shakotom · August 31, 2022

This spent most of the last few years tucked away in a shed while life got in the way.

i think it got put in the shed mid 2017 , then came back out at the end of 2018 then back into the shed mid 2019

Shakotom · August 31, 2022

Life moved on, and it just sat waiting.

I got married back in March, and we decided we wanted to use the Bug as a wedding car. Dragged it from its slumber, changed the oil, new set of plugs, fixed the coil wiring, drained the stale gas, a new battery and got it running!

Ordered some bits to fix the play in the link pins / regreased the front wheel bearings, found the RF wheel cylinder had stuck from sitting so replaced that.