Hello forum, and '66 beetle enthusiasts, my name is Jeremy and I am located in the south eastern part of PA. Just purchased my first '66 beetle over the weekend which I am due to pick up this Saturday the 8th of September. This purchase has been years in the making after many hours or searching and looking for "just the right one".
I am a previous beetle owner, I had a '72 super back in the early 90's which I had to let go of due to trany problems, it was a semi-auto setup and at the time I was young and didn't have the money to go fix it up, so i traded it on a '84 Scirocco. After finding my new love for the Scirocco I added one more to my collection approx. 3 yrs. later, along with an '83 Wolfsburg edition Rabbit convertible.
After letting go of my last Scirocco when my first child came along I felt an emptiness of being a non-VW owner once again. Fortunately my wife's cousin was also a huge V-dub enthusiast and after many years of searching for "the one" we finally received our break this weekend. We are now proud owners of a classic '66 which we acquired for a mere $400. That's correct, don't hate.....$400. This cherry has been garage kept for 18 yrs. has the original 1300 engine with matching numbers and everything else inside and out is all original. There is a small rust spot in the floor pan on the drivers side, and some other very minor rust. As far as the fenders and body......completely spotless, no rust at all. The irony of this is the guy thought he was asking too much for it (laughs). Fate would also have it that sitting right beside the '66 he also had a '61 that he was selling for.......that's right you guessed it $400, no kidding. Given that we pick up the '66 this Sat. we are also looking at picking up the '61 also to use for more of a "hot rod" project. The '66 is getting restored in it's entirety, no aftermarket anything, just original parts. I will be taking pictures of the car on Sat. in it's entirety and posting them so you can see this gem. Thanks for your time and hello everyone
New '66 owner in PA
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jmartini
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Hi Jeremy and Welcome! Congrats on your once in a lifetime find - what a steal and I do mean steal! It just goes to show you that there are people out there that just don't know what they have and how valuable it is. Well there loss is your gain and I'm sure you will have many years of fun in your new 66! Good luck with the restoration and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Re: John
Thanks John, much appreciated, i haven't been this excited about something in years. I am ready to go full on with this project, and I'm glad to see there is a site out there dedicated to just what I was looking for. Will post pics a.s.a.p. hopefully Saturday after I pick it up. Thanks for the welcome and hope to talk to you again
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empiracer1966
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:54 pm
- Location: DALLASTOWN, PA
Welcome grover89 to the forum!!
You did indeed steal the '66!! You are $5600 ahead of me!
That's about how much I have in mine so far and its not even painted yet!! You could check out a slide show of it on our clubs web site at WWW.SPVWC.ORG , click on "GALLERY" then click on the thumbnail pic under "Brian Daughertys Sunroof Beetle Restoration work. by Craig Hamrick"
Where abouts are you from in south eastern part of Pa? I'm in the York area! It is a small world!
Brian
You did indeed steal the '66!! You are $5600 ahead of me!
That's about how much I have in mine so far and its not even painted yet!! You could check out a slide show of it on our clubs web site at WWW.SPVWC.ORG , click on "GALLERY" then click on the thumbnail pic under "Brian Daughertys Sunroof Beetle Restoration work. by Craig Hamrick" Where abouts are you from in south eastern part of Pa? I'm in the York area! It is a small world!
Brian
2 "BUG" infested garages='57 rag top, '61 recently sold, 2-'64s, 2-'66s 1 s.r. other is a standard, "66 Deluxe Bus-recently sold, '73 & a '74 bugs, 2 kids and a Beautiful, encouraging Wife with a 2 tone "Retro Look" '01 "Sport" turbo NB
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jmartini
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Hi Grover89: Here's all you need to do: When you hit reply to respond to the topic, look below the box you type in and you will see a section called "Add an Attachment". Notice the "Browse" button - when you press on that button you can retrieve pictures from your hard drive - you may need to resize them or they will appear as a down load link in the post (which is ok too). Once you select your picture press the "Add Attachment" button and your picture will be added. Then just press submit to post the new pics and response. Hope that helps. John
Few more pics
A few more pics yet, sorry for the delay had to go do some paperwork on this baby 
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- 66 Beetle rear seat.jpg (137.17 KiB) Viewed 22380 times
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- 66 Beetle numbers.jpg (165.49 KiB) Viewed 22380 times
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- 66 Beetle trunk.jpg (146.11 KiB) Viewed 22380 times
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SeeBlauKafer
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:25 am
>Now we are a little unsure if this isn't possibly a German manufactured 66, instead of being made in the states. <
Hi Jeremy, welcome and contratulations on THE FIND! I believe what you're wondering is .... is your '66 a European model or an "Export" model? I have some info below that may help.
Note: Although I wish they had ... VW never produced or assembled the Beetle (Type I) in the United States of America. Later on, they did produce some watercooled VW's (the rabbit pickup) in Pennsylvania where you're from. All 1966 VW's sold new in the USA were all exported from Germany to the US, after having been manufactured in Germany alongside their European counterparts.
I own a '66 Beetle that a US Serviceman purchased in Germany and shipped over at the end of his duty in Europe. I have found the following differences between Euro and US Export Bugs (hope this helps):
- US Export '66 models have an ignition switch on the dashboard
- Euro '66 models have a locking steering column with integrated ignition switch
- US Export '66 models have bumpers with overriders (thus holes in the front and rear aprons to support the overrider stanchions
- Euro '66 models have single blade bumpers (the serviceman who owned my Bug ordered US Spec bumpers before his car was produced, thus I have US Spec w/ overriders too)
- US Export '66 models have one year only door handles with a round push button
- Euro '66 models have a square push button as on '65 models
- US Export '66 models have solid red colored tail lights
- Euro '66 models have amber colored tips on their tail lights
From your pic's I can see a dash mounted ignition switch and the overrider support holes in the front and rear apron sections. Hard to see in the pic's but looks like the door handle push buttons are round on yours? I'd say yours is a true US Export model, but it was definitely manufactured right alongside it's siblings that were destined for the Euro market. She's still a full blooded German!
I can sense your excitement and I'm very happy for you. Looks like your Bug will clean up quite nicely as is. You should enjoy driving it to a VW show or two until you dive into the resto!
Cheers!
Hi Jeremy, welcome and contratulations on THE FIND! I believe what you're wondering is .... is your '66 a European model or an "Export" model? I have some info below that may help.
Note: Although I wish they had ... VW never produced or assembled the Beetle (Type I) in the United States of America. Later on, they did produce some watercooled VW's (the rabbit pickup) in Pennsylvania where you're from. All 1966 VW's sold new in the USA were all exported from Germany to the US, after having been manufactured in Germany alongside their European counterparts.
I own a '66 Beetle that a US Serviceman purchased in Germany and shipped over at the end of his duty in Europe. I have found the following differences between Euro and US Export Bugs (hope this helps):
- US Export '66 models have an ignition switch on the dashboard
- Euro '66 models have a locking steering column with integrated ignition switch
- US Export '66 models have bumpers with overriders (thus holes in the front and rear aprons to support the overrider stanchions
- Euro '66 models have single blade bumpers (the serviceman who owned my Bug ordered US Spec bumpers before his car was produced, thus I have US Spec w/ overriders too)
- US Export '66 models have one year only door handles with a round push button
- Euro '66 models have a square push button as on '65 models
- US Export '66 models have solid red colored tail lights
- Euro '66 models have amber colored tips on their tail lights
From your pic's I can see a dash mounted ignition switch and the overrider support holes in the front and rear apron sections. Hard to see in the pic's but looks like the door handle push buttons are round on yours? I'd say yours is a true US Export model, but it was definitely manufactured right alongside it's siblings that were destined for the Euro market. She's still a full blooded German!
I can sense your excitement and I'm very happy for you. Looks like your Bug will clean up quite nicely as is. You should enjoy driving it to a VW show or two until you dive into the resto!
Cheers!
'66 Type I
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SeeBlauKafer
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:25 am
Jeremy I just remembered one more thing to help determine if your '66 is a US Export model or a European greymarket model.
Go have a look under the front hood at the area just underneath your windshield washer reservoir. You'll see a little silver sticker there (I can see it in your photos).
See if the sticker reads either "Ruby Red L456" or "Rubin L456".
If it says "Rubin L456" it's probably a greymarket Euro model ... if it says "Ruby Red L456" then it's almost sure to be a US Spec Export model.
Anyway it has good German blood either way.
Go have a look under the front hood at the area just underneath your windshield washer reservoir. You'll see a little silver sticker there (I can see it in your photos).
See if the sticker reads either "Ruby Red L456" or "Rubin L456".
If it says "Rubin L456" it's probably a greymarket Euro model ... if it says "Ruby Red L456" then it's almost sure to be a US Spec Export model.
Anyway it has good German blood either way.
'66 Type I
Euro Style
SeeBlauKafer: Thanks for the info I really do appreciate it. I did find that the stamping under the washer bottle did ready "Rubin L456" I did also find that the tail lights were the amber tail lights, the push button on the door handles are rectangle not round. However, my ignition is in the dash, the overrider holes are in the front and rear. Unfortunately it did not come with the bumpers so I'm lost on that end. It seems I have some "miss matched" btwn Euro and American. I'm guessing once we start the tear down and get into the nitty gritty we will be able to distinguish the difference.