Delivery of the bug!

Before restoration:

After restoration:

For Mother’s day, Lisa and I gave Lisa’s mom a Volkswagen bug. “WHAT!?!?!” you may be saying? The story goes way back to a dream that Lisa has had for many years…a dream to “bring back her mom’s original bug”. This past weekend we made this a reality! Keep reading for the whole story, and be sure to check out our pictures in our photo album HERE, or by clicking the above pictures.

The whole purpose of this project is to fulfill a dream of my wife’s. Her mother used to own a ’69 bug back in the day. However, when she got married, her [ex]husband (my wife’s dad) made her sell it. She sold it and a few months later the buyer totalled it. Ever since, she has talked about bugs, has little bug models, points them out when we drive places…therefore, my wife’s dream for probably 10 years has been to buy an old bug, restore it, and give it to her mom.
Back in July of 2006, this became a reality. We found an old bug on eBay that, while looking like an ugly duckling, promised to have the same potential. We purchased it for $600 sight-unseen going on the seller’s word. However, we figured for $600 we weren’t getting much.
Two weeks later, my wife’s uncle helped us drive out to L.A. with his flatbed trailer to pick it up. It was true to the pictures (cosmetically challenged), but still very solid. A little bondo on the front, straight frame, and the only rust was surface rust.
In December, we started stripping it down to overhaul it. It basically needed a new engine, new interior, and new paint in order to be ready for “delivery”. Our goal was to give it to her for Mother’s Day.
Doing a lot ourselves due to our tight budget, Lisa and I cleaned out the interior, tore down the engine to short block, installed the headliner, installed the new upholstery, installed the carpet and padding, reassembled the fenders, installed the windows, and installed the taillight assemblies.
It was all a smashing success as we gave it to her mom yesterday! The pictures of the entire process are now in our photo album at this link: VW Album. We’d love to hear your comments and thoughts! Hopefully soon I’ll be able to post the video of the delivery too!