Henry Rifle Forums

Yes I found the perfect,as close as I could year wise, VW to look somewhat like the one I had 54 years ago during the Summer of 1972. Mine back then was a 1966 however I found a very nice solid no rust 1965 the same color within a 2.5 hour drive from home! I am only the 4 th owner now and it came with all the paperwork from previous owners including the original sales invoice from 1965 and the first tags ever put on it!
The seats were show a good bit of splitting in the material and I replaced them with a pair of nice race seats I used to run in my 1985 Mustang and they follow the theme of the high back 1970 Cuda seats I put in my original 66. Had to make my own adapter seat rails that bolted to the VW seat rails without any need to drill any extra holes in the floor or the factory rails. The tires that were on it were 22 yrs. old and even though they looked new I replaced them with a set of custom wheels that look like the ones used on a famous race VW out of the Thunder Bug shop featured in CARS magazine in 1972. Upsized the rear tires to 205-65-15 about as wide as I can go without any fender mods. New muffler installed,since the other one was rusted a good bit along with unbaffled larger tailpipes for some sound. The 1965 has the 40 HP 1200 engine nobody makes a header for due to a narrower engine case. 1300 and up no issue but I do have a pair of larger engines that came with the Bug.
Found out the front spindles need new link pin bushings and order a new assembled pair that will lower the front end 2.5 inches which will make it look really good since it sits a bit high in front like normal.
Having fun with this Back in 1972 project!!!!! In the picture you see my diecast replica of my VW back in 72 with me and girl of that time looking back at me 54 years in the future sitting in my 1965 VW ! I could have found rear wheels like I had back then but the adapters made today suffer great quality/ fitment issues compared to what we had back then so went with direct bolt on VW wheels.

Way cool! I hope you take us along on this project with lots of posts and pictures.

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2026 10:33 am

Way cool! I hope you take us along on this project with lots of posts and pictures.

Yes I will do that. Forgot to mention the original shifter in the VW was like a wet noodle for shifting and I got lucky and found a Hurst shifter like the one I had back in 1972 in brand new shape with the original box new never used. Best of all in came with the Thunder Bug store label on it! Won't cheap but then Hurst quit making them back in 1979 and only thing like it now is a cheap China copy that falls apart.

awesome looking bug.

fortyshooter wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2026 10:51 am

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2026 10:33 am

Way cool! I hope you take us along on this project with lots of posts and pictures.

Yes I will do that. Forgot to mention the original shifter in the VW was like a wet noodle for shifting and I got lucky and found a Hurst shifter like the one I had back in 1972 in brand new shape with the original box new never used. Best of all in came with the Thunder Bug store label on it! Won't cheap but then Hurst quit making them back in 1979 and only thing like it now is a cheap China copy that falls apart.

I was living in Medford, OR at the time the VW was purchased. It must have an interesting journey history to have made it to Virginia.

Mags wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2026 11:44 am

I was living in Medford, OR at the time the VW was purchased. It must have an interesting journey history to have made it to Virginia.

Well the original owners sold it in 2004 to a guy in Oregon. That guy sold it in 2021 to a guy in Maryland and shipped it there by truck carrier. I bought it from that guy. I am happy to have found it!

fortyshooter wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2026 10:30 pm

Mags wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2026 11:44 am

I was living in Medford, OR at the time the VW was purchased. It must have an interesting journey history to have made it to Virginia.

Well the original owners sold it in 2004 to a guy in Oregon. That guy sold it in 2021 to a guy in Maryland and shipped it there by truck carrier. I bought it from that guy. I am happy to have found it!

This is going to be fun. You’ve done a lot of work already.

I have to say, this is a pretty looking VW Beetle.
I am saying this as someone who really doesn't like those VW Beetles.
It is outside of my grasp, why anybody would like a vehicle like that. But, it is pretty.

Ted124 wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 16, 2026 11:15 am

I have to say, this is a pretty looking VW Beetle.
I am saying this as someone who really doesn't like those VW Beetles.
It is outside of my grasp, why anybody would like a vehicle like that. But, it is pretty.

I bought a 1961 bug in 1970. I could afford it, work on it and it got great gas mileage. In 1974 I bought a 1970 Karmann Ghia.

I owned 1, a 73 1302. Terrible gas mileage. No seat comfort. I never had to work on it though, I didn’t own it long enough.
Winter came, I had to scrape the ice off the inside windshield because the heater didn’t work.
I sold it. It only took a day to pass it on to friend of a friend.
I decided to restore my motor vehicle confidence by acquiring a Mercedes Benz 300 SEL 6.3. One hell of a rocket.
Yet, I couldn’t drive fast enough to chase down the legal tender required for that kind of car.

Jay Leno is sporting one right here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct-KlbvGX ... gNi4z&ra=m

I had a 64. Great gas mileage and great in the snow. Heater and defroster were almost worthless and it was pretty gutless above 50mph, you could eventually get it up to 70mph if the road was level. My mom had a VW station wagon, had a gasoline fired heater that was kind of neat, instant heat even before the engine was running.

I had put in a short shifter, not sure of the brand but I don't think it was a Hurst. It made the shifts incredibly short and close together, found out how good the VW syncros were when I accidentally went into first when I meant to go to third. Went in easily but rear tires squealed when I let out the clutch.