Bill Schuler
Dalton, Georgia
bschuler@ocsonline.com

"Three years ago I had this urge to buy an old VW and fix it up. I dropped by a fellow here in Dalton that has a VW cemetery and shop and asked how I could get started. He told me to pick up a copy of VW Trends and order some parts catalogs and then get a copy of the Auto Trader and check out what was available. I picked up a copy and there was a feature article about the restoration of a '74 Sun Bug and when I saw this special edition, I had to find one. On the same shelf was a copy of the Georgia Auto and in it was an ad for one. The lady had it since it was new, and it looked beautiful from a short distance until you got close and saw she had it repainted a brilliant gold and she replaced the seat covers with plain brown vinyl. Anyway, my wife and I bought it, drove it for a year and decided to take it back to "new". Took the seats out, stripped it down in my garage, drove it to a local body sitting on a plastic milk crate (with the fenders in the back seat area) and had them paint it to the original formula "gold" paint color. While the car was in the paint shop I spit shined all the parts. I replaced the windshield and bought all new rubber and chrome rubber insert trim. Almost all the other parts are original. What little I did replace elsewhere, I tried to take off other '74's out of three of the local VW cemeteries we have here in town. Also found Sew had some fabric left for the Velour seats and I had them make me a set of new seat coverings. Same outfit used by the fellow in the article. That's how I found Sew had the fabric. When a local soft goods restoration fellow came to my house to put in the new headliner, he then took the seats back home with him to his shop and installed the new original looking upholstery seats covers. Found a fellow in town that had the rear engine deck emblem in his collection but said it wasn't for sale. I persuaded him to sell it to me after I showed him the car. My wife found the '74 Sun Bug music brochure at a swap meet and showed me the picture of the shift knob on the drive home. The fellow in the restoration article said that was the only part he was missing. I told my wife I saw the shift knob at another booth and at that time didn't know what it was. It didn't have the yellow logo on it. Never saw it again but I did find a mahogany one the next year that was the same shape and size. I scanned the picture of the knob emblem in a computer, did some playing with the orientation and printed off a copy and glued it into the knob I found. I then bought a '74 sales brochure from the same fellow that sold me the Sun Bug engine logo which had a picture of the radio for that year. I found one just this summer at another swap meet and sent it to Eddy's Radio Shop in PA to have it repaired. He specializes in vintage car radio restorations. I located a square VDO clock in San Francisco and sent the fellow a check for it. I also found a guy at a local show that has the original striping kit still in the wrapper. But he won't sell it. At least he said that last year. I am going to try again when I see him at the Spring shows here in NW Georgia. I have shown the car as a daily driver or stock entry. It's a beauty. The engine is still original stock, so I avoid the Trailer Queen categories."