Hello,
My name is Ralph and I live with my wife in Brandon, MB., Canada. I'm 66 yrs. old and am semi-retired. I’ve owned this 66 VW for about 43 yrs. My sister-in-law used to own it and when she got married I asked her what she was going to do with it and she said 'park it behind the barn'. I told her she couldn't do that as it would be full of mice so we agreed that I’d buy it which I did. I’ve stored it inside ever since I bought it. I’ve only had it out to drive once since I bought it and that was about 20+ yrs. ago. I had some work done on it then, brake wheel cylinder, fuel pump and I don't remember what else and we drove it a few times in town and I put it away again until recently. As far as I know it’s all original ... at least nothing has changed since 1980 for sure. All original metal including floor pans and no rust that I've found other than normal wear and tear or ‘lot rot’ as they say. Really it’s in very good condition for the year. My father-in-law had it painted the same factory color that it was, in about 1976 and it’s never been touched since … not even a wax job.
When I got it out this fall, I put a new gas tank on it along with misc. items such as brake wheel cylinder, oil change and it may need a carburetor or at the very least a carb kit. I've gotten it running and drove it to get waxed and then put it in my garage again.
I didn't know that these cars were somewhat rare in the sense that they only put the 1300 cc engine in them for 1966 ... or am I mistaken? The engine has the number FS416159 on it so I'll have to look into whether it's original or not. Maybe it's a different numbering system in the U.S. than it is in Canada.
Below are two photos of the car, 1st one is when I just pulled it out of the storage shed and the 2nd was taken yesterday in my driveway. It’s certainly not perfect but everything’s original and I may take the bumpers off and get them straightened and my get new carpet for the interior and a new headliner.
Enough said, if you know the details of the engine’s serial number, I’d love to hear from you.
Greetings from Manitoba, Canada
Re: Greetings from Manitoba, Canada
Very nice looking Beetle. The 1300 engine was only for the 1966 model in the US but it was available up to 1970 in other countries (not sure about Canada). Are you sure that the second digit in the engine number is not a "0"? I have never heard of a VW engine starting with FS. Engine number F0416159 would have been built in December 1965 which would make it a 1966 engine ('66 model year started in August 1965).
Re: Greetings from Manitoba, Canada
Beautiful!