Manx Club

Sometimes it gets very difficult being a "carnut"! I have a new delima now. While in search of a possible better chassis candidate for the 68 Manx project...I run across an internet ad. The ad was vague only catching my eye because of the 67 VW Beetle advertised along with a 70 AMC Pacer and a 52 Kaiser.... I contact the seller and learn that these are just 3 of a stash of 40 old collectible cars that just became available thru an estate sale of his past away friend. I learn that there are actually 12 VW's Beetles from 1939 to 1968. There are 6 VW Bus/campers, a '53 hidaway hardtop Ford Fairlane, TWO 1957 Chevrolet Belair Convertibles (a red one and a black one,) 60 model Caddy's, Mecedes Benz and Buicks! A 66? Hemi Chrysler Fury, an original 1940 Ford Woody and several other strangly collected cars like a 73 X type Gremlin and an Orange Grabber Maverick! All of these cars have been in a dirt floored barn for at least 22 YEARS! All are completely original down to having original jacks and spare tires STILL IN PLACE! Most have less than 50,000 miles on them and none had been started in 20 years. Unfortunatily by the time I made the 3 hour drive the next day the majority of the cars had been bought and were being loaded onto transport trucks when my wife and I arrived. The Pacer, the Kaiser, a couple of the Mecedes, a Buick Rivera and the Fairlane were still available. Kind of disheartened that I had just drove 3 hours to get one of the VW's....I guess my depression was showing...so the original person I spoke with says "Hey, I kept two of the Beetles over at my place thinking I may some day restore them...but if you want, I'll sell you one of them for what the estate broker wants for it." We drive over to his very elegant shop done up in fully 50's gas station style and he introduces me to this.... (the pics are not his shop...thats in my dirty shop) This is a completly original 1967 Type 1 (the spare was in the well....I had it out when I took the pics). It has 49,819 ORIGINAL miles on it. It has NO rust ANYWHERE! The chassis, except for the silver paint sprayed on it to protect it, is like brand new! The heater tubes with original paper air leaders are still in perfect shape, the old cloth braided fuel lines...still there! The reason the hub caps are off is because due to sitting, the brake shoes froze up and he had to remove them to get it to roll. It has never been wrecked. I hooked a battery to it and all power came on...lights, signals, wipers, hazards and even the cigarette lighter and Original AM Radio WORK!!! I just cranked it over to make sure the engine turned freely but due to it sitting so long I didn't want to contaminate the engine with bad varnished gas and want to lube the cylinders before firing it up.... The 68 he had was in the exact same condition but it did have a rusty place in the drivers pan...so I passed on it. Here's the clincher....I had to pay $1250 to the estate for it and $250 to the brokerage firm.....$1500!!!!!!!!! Now...I just CAN'T hurt this little Bug for a Dune Buggy project......so Im still looking for a better chassis candidate for the "68 Manx!! You never know WHAT I may find next......( next post to add additional pics due to 4 pic limit) Doh!

Here are some others of the 67

Great find, '67s are the best...you certainly ate the bear this time...

I began reading your post and began to cringe. The first thing that came to mind was another one of those internet scams. We just had someone at work who sent an $1800.00 moneygram to a seller on Craigs List for a car and now the seller has vanished, along with the car. Then you began talking about the couple of dozen vintage cars stored for 22 years on the dirt floor and I KNEW it was a scam, similar to one that was going around a couple years ago. Then you actually drove out to look at the cars, and.... wait a minute..... he got to actually look and touch these things?! Maybe it wasn't a scam after all..... but no one has that many vintage cars...... but he got to see them in person!... but this kind of stuff doesn't happen these days... I had to look at the date stamp on the pictures to be sure... SCORE!!! You actually got to buy that Beetle from the estate and bring it home! I would say that I am jelous, but I am extatic for you!!! That is a keeper just as it is. Classic Beetle all the way. And yes, another chassis for the buggy project will be found soon I'm sure. Congratulations

.....Mike, I thought it was a "Yeah Sure Bud"...deal too. You have to remember Im a 27 year Investigator and Recovery Agent originally from St. Louis MO. I DON'T believe ANYTHING some one tells me and even then if there is solid proof of it...being from Missouri you still have to SHOW ME!! But this one WAS for real!! I did actually see most of these cars....some were already loaded into enclosed trailers and several were on open trailers. I am still kicking myself for not taking pictures....I keep forgetting that Im in the new milinium now and my PHONE has a CAMERA!!! I have over the years ran into some great finds....the best so far was a story I kept hearing about in the back woods of Missouri in the mid 90's. The story went that there was this 80 something old guy who used to be the Sheriff Dept tow truck driver for a county in the backwoods of the Missouri Ozark mountains. Thru the 50's, 60's and 70's he collected somewhere in the amount of about 2000 cars from tow ins, Police tows and mechanic liens.... For about 2 years I blew it off as hearsay. Then one day I was eating at a Diner in Springfield MO. when a real weird guy (Think: banjo player kid from movie, Deliverence) came up and asked me if I need any parts for my 70 GTO that was parked outside. I told him no that the 70 was complete and original, but asked if he had parts....He says, "My Grandaddy has a whole farm full of 'em!" To shorten this story...I get in the Goat and follow this kid way back into the hills. He pulls off a country road up to an overgrown chained up wooden fence with barely enough room for you to walk thru. We get out and he walks me into the place....about 200 yards in I start seeing old relics of cars...mostly picked apart old 40's and 50 year big cars, Buicks, Olds, Chryslers and some old 40's and 50's trucks. As we get deeper into this place I start seeing Cuda's, Camero's, triple 5 Chevy's, Mustangs, GTO's, Thunderbirds, Corvettes,......you name it...IT WAS THERE! Scattered over 147 acres of overgrown, hilly, rocky forest. There were A-models, T Models, pre war cars of everykind. Trucks, tractors, Busses, Early 60's big cars, late 60's muscle cars....JUST EVERYTHING! Now these cars were hardly in good condition...most were rotted to hell. Rusted beyond repair and very little if any cloth/rubber/glass material left on them from sitting in the Missouri weathers for decades....BUT, the kid tells me his Grandaddy is dying and they need to get rid of all of this so they can sell the land to the mining company. And the ball begins to roll..........I spent over $8000 in crew help and 6 weeks of traveling back and forth to have paths made thru this place and haulers to remove all of the cars that we thought would sell or had enough parts on them to salvage. We buried the rest where they laid. I purchased all of the vehicles from the Grandaddy for $5000 and after all said and done...we made around $53,000 after expenses which includes the "Big Sell Off" of left over parts I had at my place in 2005 just prior to moving to Florida! There was several websites back then in 1998 that had this reported....but I think the only ones left is on Sean Mattingly's , The UltimateGTO site....you can access it here. http://ultimategto.com/cgi-bin/showcar.cgi?type=lot&pic=/1966/66_00136_1 Once you get to the site, click "Next Pic" in top left corner to get to next pictures....the story behind the car is under each pic. There is only 3 cars on his site now....but when this took place it was on every classic car website!! And yes I had to hear each and every story from the old guy about how he got it, what happened to it and what the story was behind it on EVERY friggin car in there!! We removed a total of 62 vintage cars. We buried 834 junks of metal...most only after we removed, cataloged and tagged anything worth keeping from them. My age and new life responsibilities doesn't afford me to spend the kind of time it takes to search out and secure these kind of deals anymore... ..but Man it sure felt good last week when I ran into this little VW Bug! : )

.........what 22 year old gas looks like in a VW Beetle gas tank after sitting that long. The clumps of rust looking stuff is ACTUALLY gasoline! It first coagulates into a varnish/gelatin type substance then begins to break down over the years into a almost silicone type fluff.....its color is from the inside of the tank rusting into the old gas. I hope this post makes it to the board since I am averaging about 1 out of 5 of my posts ever making here!

Well done on your find.And yes it would be a shame to hurt that cute little Beetle!