The 1974 VW Beetle

The story begins, haha.



I grew up watching all of the Herbie the Love Bug movies. Because of that I was (and still am) a big vintage VW fan (and a bit of a closet Herbie geek). So, in November of 1994, when I was 4 years old, my dad took me for a ride and we came home with Wolfgang, our '74 Beetle.

I pretty much grew up sitting in the driver's seat, pretending to drive. I also helped dad work on it when it needed to be fixed. Over the years, the car has been a fixture in our family. Cars have come and gone, years have passed, and yet the Beetle has always been there for us. I do my best to take care of it, but most times end up making any problem it has worse. But, I try, lol. I have big plans for this car which will take a very long time to come to fruition, but there's nothing wrong with that. Anyway, onto the pictures!



Me with the car 1999-2001:

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My high school senior picture 2009:

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The 2011 Pittsburgh Classic VW Show. 2nd place air-cooled daily driver:

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And for the random pics.



1600cc Dual Port flat four:

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Hanging out with Kaleb and a mutual friend:



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I'll be adding to this some of the funnier stories that have happened over the years. So, stay tuned, lol.

nice man, looking forward to seeing more

Hmm.....Hopefully cruising around with Kaleb, they don't leave you to far behind! I love the older Beetles. Nice looking ride!

it's hard to kill those dual port 1600cc engines. my neighbor had a huge collection of classic VW parts. gotta love those bugs.

Looks good! Rachel was supposed to inherit her grandpaps beetle but they moved and had no room to keep it. Would have been cool to cruize around in them together.

I was really impressed with the leg room. ITs alot more than our car.

Thanks everyone! Dave L., Kaleb and his dad are pretty mild behind the wheel, he's only left me behind once and it was on an uphill interstate on-ramp, lol.

Dave R., cruising with you and Rachel in her (almost) Beetle would have been a lot of fun. There aren't too many around here anymore.

My uncle had one for about 3 days. Brought it home, showed everyone, got drunk and rolled it. Wasn't too bad though, the after pictures just showed a few dents on the roof. Always thought they were cool little cars.

A buddy of mine used to have this: a 1970 Beetle with a 1876cc dual port and dual Wbber Carb
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I'd like to have one to make a Baja bug
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Or get monster hp out of one (engine swap most likely, either something else VW or an STI engine)
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My brother used to have a Beetle when I was younger. I remember when we were young and it snowed, we would go to the local KMart in Charleston and do donuts! That thing was like a ski in deep snow! Sadly, a Dr. t-boned him at a 4 way stop. Totaled the car!

91foxbody wrote:

A buddy of mine used to have this: a 1970 Beetle with a 1876cc dual port and dual Wbber Carb
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'd like to have one to make a Baja bug
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Or get monster hp out of one (engine swap most likely, either something else VW or an STI engine)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'd stick with a VW flat four. It doesn't seem like it, but you can do a lot with one power-wise.

The saga of the tennis ball:

Back in 2009, I was a senior at UHS. Every year there was a festival day with a lot of games and random crap to do, including a car show. That year the car show and field hockey were next to each other. And, the field hockey people were using tennis balls. Well, the car show ended up getting peppered with tennis balls. They didn't hurt anything, but were annoying as hell!

Anyway, one ball came flying over Kaleb's Saleen and hit the Beetle right below the rear quarter window on the driver's side. It was loud! And, I wasn't too happy. The ball was recovered and I resisted the urge to shove it up the behind of the person who hit it. When I got home, an idea hit me:

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It now lives in my glove box, lol.

Alex98CVPI wrote:

The saga of the tennis ball:

Back in 2009, I was a senior at UHS. Every year there was a festival day with a lot of games and random crap to do, including a car show. That year the car show and field hockey were next to each other. And, the field hockey people were using tennis balls. Well, the car show ended up getting peppered with tennis balls. They didn't hurt anything, but were annoying as hell!

Anyway, one ball came flying over Kaleb's Saleen and hit the Beetle right below the rear quarter window on the driver's side. It was loud! And, I wasn't too happy. The ball was recovered and I resisted the urge to shove it up the behind of the person who hit it. When I got home, an idea hit me:

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It now lives in my glove box, lol.

hehehe
"Hey! Can we have our..."
"NO"

2many2choose wrote:

hehehe
"Hey! Can we have our..."
"NO"

Ya know, I sometimes feel a little bad about yelling at Justin. Mainly because he didn't do it, lol.

Thanks! Sometimes it's the less mainstream cars that catch my fancy. Without them, car shows would only consist of Mustangs and '57 Chevies.

I really need to update this thread, lol. It is way behind.

The Beetle has changed a bit over this year (all of this happened back in the spring. I just never got around to updating the thread, lol). So far, I have repainted the steel factory sport wheels, did a litle polishing of the paint, and installed a 4'' glasspack muffler for a few more ponies (and to just piss off people).

The wheels before:

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After sanding and painting:

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The exhaust has to be the most fun modification I've ever done to a car. At first start, it was LOUD! It has calmed down quite a bit over the last few months, though.

Original VS aftermarket:

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Other than the tips, when the car is off the untrained eye wouldn't notice much. Installed:

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Video to come after it uploads.

Here is the vieo of the exhaust shortly after it was installed:

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the wheels look great and I love the exhaust... this beetle is awesome

Thanks, Aaron!

nice lookin beetle!

hopfully paying for mine next week.. might have to hit you up for some VW help.. haha even tho our plans seem totally different for the bugs.. lol

Thanks! I appreciate it. I'm no expert with these things, but I'll help you to the best of my ability. Our plans are a bit different, but a air-cooled VW is an air-cooled VW, lol.

nvm.. guy sold the bug. :(

looking at another car tomorrow evening.. keeping it in the Mazda family (i have a mazda 3)

That's too bad. Good luck with the Mazda!