Any VW guys on here?

[Bad Attitude]

I have a 1977 Beetle (not a super!) with a ball joint front end, supposedly a very rare find... all I do know is that it was manufactured at Volkswagen AG and imported here to the U.S.... anyway, I'm looking to get rid of it, but don't really know the worth? any resources would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Paul

 

[TattooKenny]

What condish is it in? Picts would help.

 

[Reflection]

1977 ain't rare.

It's probably harder to find someone that wants a 77 beetle.

You might look around thesamba.com Thats a good VW site.

 

[Bad Attitude]

Sorry about that guys... the reason it is supposedly rare is because of the year, the front end, and the fact that it is a standard beetle... that's just going off what the guy at the Bug shop said. It is in decent shape, not much rust on it, but when I went to get it (it was given to me by my father in law), I wasn't told that you couldn't jump start a fuel injected bug without smoking the control unit... it is now a carbureted 1650 dual port.

 

[Bad Attitude]

 

[jason]

what do you want for it?

 

[Bad Attitude]

what do you want for it?

not sure... that's why I was asking about it. I think it's worth $2k, maybe more, not sure. I want to be fair!

 

[jetboat]

it looks mint... in this area (rust heavan) they ask 5k or one in perfect shape... They usually get around 3k.

Front ends are easy to change out so wouldnt think that would change much of the value.

 

[61bajabug]

Put it on the Samba to sell it, and find out what it's worth."thumbsup"


Jetboat. What other frontend do you think will be easy to put on that car?

 

[rock hard]

if you have a place to keep it,keep it.
there are so many things you can do with a good vw.
when the economy picks up again. our next project will be a open wheel vw roadster. but the possibilities are almost endless.

 

[Offroader5]

It's probably harder to find someone that wants a 77 beetle.

Ditto. Most people that are "into" volkswagens won't even look at bugs later than 67...and that's pushing it with some people. IMO it would probably sell to someone outta high school or something that may not know (or care) that it's not a more sought after early model.

 

[crunky]

perfect hoodride candidate.....
"thumbsup"

 

[jetboat]

Put it on the Samba to sell it, and find out what it's worth."thumbsup"


Jetboat. What other frontend do you think will be easy to put on that car?

As far as I know they came in ball joint and kingpin and bolt holes etc all line up so interchanging would be a quick job.

 

[Reflection]

Ditto. Most people that are "into" volkswagens won't even look at bugs later than 67...and that's pushing it with some people. IMO it would probably sell to someone outta high school or something that may not know (or care) that it's not a more sought after early model.

Right."thumbsup" I know some guys,if it wasn't built in the 50's,you couldn't pay them to sit in it.:ror: If it's got tail lights the size of dinner plates,they call them "fat chicks" :ror:

Older VW's are definitely easier to sell,allot more demand.

 

[BansheeManiac]

once you find a price pop it on craigslist and im sure some hot blonde will buy it8)

 

[BJoe]

If done right, the Late Models ones can look pretty bad ass"thumbsup"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/run-amuck/4276506315/in/photostream/

 

[Hvrc]

If you can drive it to ca I'll trade you my fleet of rc and a hyundia to get back. No promise on this Korean pos.

 

[Offroader5]

If done right, the Late Models ones can look pretty bad ass"thumbsup"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/run-amuck/4276506315/in/photostream/

I can't click the link here at work...but without even looking at it, I will say this.....

IMO and the way I like my bugs, the only way you could get a late model to look good is to replace all the fenders, the aprons, hood, decklid, taillights, signals, cut out the dash and replace it, replace the seats and most of the interior, pull the trans and replace with a swing, and put popouts in it....and it would still show some "late model" in it that you really couldn't get rid of :ror:

 

[vw_thing]

As far as I know they came in ball joint and kingpin and bolt holes etc all line up so interchanging would be a quick job.

Different tube spacing on link pin and ball-joint beams. You have to cut out the frame horn and weld in a new one to do the swap right. A whole lot more is involved if you want to convert strut to ball joint, you might as well replace the car in that case.

If I remember right, Mexi-Beetles kept the ball joint front end for quite some time after VWoA moved to the strut front end. Check the tag in the trunk, I think you will find it is Mexican. If you want to sell it, the Samba is your best bet. My *guess* is $4000, maybe $5K, unless it is hiding some serious rust issues.

As for hoodride.. Just say no. You will get laughed off of the Samba for bringing that up, and wrecking a decent Bug. Enough people still like original fat chicks to buy one, and the Standard is a one-up over a Super. German-look like that black one posted by BJoe is the way to go with a late-model Bug if you want to change anything.

And finally...

I guess the Thing is technically a fat chick, but I still love 'er.

 

[BMAN]

Rare? No. It's a late model standard beetle, no big deal. In 1977 there were 258,634 standard beetles produced. 32,762 of those beetles, were German production. The car would actually be more "RARE" if it were a Super beetle as 1977 was the last year of production with only 4,176 1303 Sedans produced. The car seems to be a clean car from the pix you posted. I would guess that you could sell it for $3k-$4k to the right buyer. The problem is that the right buyers are hard to find at the moment. TheSamba.com is a great place to start doing research and potentially selling the car. I would do as others have suggested and also post on CL when you're ready to sell. The more exposure you get for the car, the better the chance of finding your buyer. If you want to keep it I would suggest a lowering job and maybe some German look additions. I wouldn't personally ever buy a late model, but if I owned one, I would deffinatley go with the BeetleCup/ German look and stuff a Fuel injected 2 litre type four motor in it with Porsche cooling, built by Jake Raby at Aircooledtechnology.com. That silver car with some blacked out Porsche twists would be pretty tight. (For a fat chick)

Let's see some more pix of the car. How's the interior? Battery tray rust? Open the hood and take a couple pics of the spare tire well so we can see if she's been hit. Do the same at the rear apron area. treat that car like a dirty whore you're taking pix of for Hustler... we wanna see beetle porn.