My internal monologue is mostly annoyed sighs

Front trunk area.
Photo by seller.

Notice that you cannot see the right side of the apron or the fender.

I discovered that the rear fenders are tack welded just above the rear apron-there's supposed to be a body bolt in that space.  I really want to see what's under the rear fenders but I don't want to risk damaging anything just yet.

Rear apron is very straight.  Good fortune or good fake?  Turns out, it's a little of both.  The rear apron has been replaced but I'm not sure about how well the job has been done yet.

 Rear cargo area is pretty clean.

Rubber floor mat at the rear.  Completely cracked, dry and brittle.  I don't think this is coming out in one piece-even in warmer weather.

Under dash area looks good-radio in decent condition.  I have no idea if it works and it's so far down the list of things to check that it'll likely be years before I get to it.

 Front foot well.  Noticed that the floor mat was cracking.  It's an old car from the East coast, so I guessed I'd be able to get it out of the car mostly intact.

After further inspection, that's not going to be the case.

 Floor pan on the passenger's side under the battery.  It looks okay-but then so did the one that was under Ferris until I started cleaning it off.  Then the story changed quickly.  I suspect that'll happen here as well.

 Passenger side sill.

 Rear seat panels are in good condition as are the arm rests and ashtrays.  The rear seat is crunchy from age but is in pretty good shape.

 With some cleaning, these should turn out pretty nice.  Assuming I can get them out in one piece.  I'll cut new backer pieces and mount the vinyl on them.  Not sure what I'm going to do with the arm rests-they look good but they're crunchy.

 Passenger side door is complete, window rolls up and down effortlessly. Pocket in the bottom panel has come out but that's not impossible to fix.  These panels will likely need to be moved to new backer boards because these are coming apart-you can't see that here.  It's an old car so it's to be expected.

 Battery tray area looks okay-rear seat kick panel is in good shape but I'll have to wait and see how it survives restoration.

 The driver's side door is missing the lower panel and the Z arm rest is pretty much toast.  This car was advertised as a low mileage 1 owner car.  I'm almost certain that the odometer turned once-meaning that it's got 100k more miles on it than described.

The top panel on this side is ripped but you can't see it in the picture because the seller took this photo.

Front apron area.  If you think it looks okay-take a look at the bottom right corner and you'll notice the seal is wonky.  It looked like the seal had simply come off the front trunk so I didn't think much more of it at the time.

 Passenger side door hinge and seat release bracket.  Not terrible for an old car.

 Right side door striker plate.  The fender beading looks to be the same color as the rear fender.  In person, it's clear that it's not.  This is something that is easy to spot in person but not in the photo.

 Interior shot I took once the car was in the garage.  It has high back seats that are worn and will suffice for now.

 Here's a picture I never received from the seller...the front end shot.  I didn't realize that I hadn't seen the whole front of the car until I went back through the 60+ pictures after I received the car.  This is after I removed the bungie cord holding the hood down.

Both SB12 headlight rings are broken (one is broken in half and the other one is dented and broken at the retaining screw.

 This car looks like it's been punched in the face.  Right front fender is creased in more than one place, the hood is creased and doesn't stay shut as it should.

Upon closer inspection, the front apron is pushed back about 1/2" and is warped right around the bumper bracket.  I have pictures of the inner fenders but the angle and lighting doesn't show the damage (it's one slight crease on both sides).

 Different angle of the damage.  This is the corner you can't see in the pictures-and for good reason if you're a dishonest seller.

 I noticed this hole while doing a first inspection.  I know where this goes so I got in the back and started feeling around.

 This is the other side of that hole.  It's under the back seat, on the passenger side, under the panel (you can see a little bit of the panel at the top of the photo).  This has been open for a while because there's road debris inside the car.

 Something else that didn't show up in the photos:  Every panel on the car is dented.  All four fenders, the hood, the hatch, both doors.  There was always something just barely covering the damage or there was sun glare obstructing the clear view in the photos the seller sent to me.

The passenger side door is complete and in pretty good shape.  The windows on both sides roll up and down very easily (that was a nice surprise) and the doors both close properly and line up with the body.


The engine is currently not running and I don't have a battery.  Since I have no plans to keep the car 6 volt, I need to swap the fan shroud to accept the larger 12v generator until I install an alternator.  I don't really have time to work on the car right now so it may just sit for a while.  I did notice that the engine was replaced at one point and the heater boxes are near new condition.  Everything on the engine looks to be bone stock (minus the distributor cap and wires)-meaning it also needs to be replaced with new hose before I turn it into a 4 wheeled BBQ.  I've also decided that I need to get an engine stand and a bell housing.

This is the driver's side rocker channel. VW did a shit job of designing this part of the car and these are always rusted out.  This is what it looked like after I pulled the rocker trim piece and blew out the rust flakes trapped inside.  Seven holes at the bottom of the body was a terrible idea.

Overall, I'm not sure if I'm happy with this purchase or not.  I expected the car to be in much better condition given its description.  I got some good stuff with this car but I also found some sizable disappointments.

This was the first car I've ever bought without touching it first...and I'd honestly have to say I won't do it again.  I'm pretty sure I have all of the parts I'll need to get a complete car out of what I have so now I just have to get cracking and make it happen.

Background Tune: "New Year's Day" by U2