Re: How Long is Long enough?

["Randall A. Masters" <mmasters@startext.net>]

Steven Ayres wrote:
> 
> RandallM=> What constitutes "strike damage", that is, where do you draw
>         => the line on restore or part out?
> 
> There's nothing you can do if you fall in love with the thing, and more
> power to you, but if you want to be hard-headed I'd say be patient and
> keep looking for a straight, no-rust car. 
Steven,
	Funny you should write from Prescott. I am an airline pilot, and was
chatting with my co-pilot about hobbies. got around to VW's (duh) and he
starts in with...."my grandmother had a volkswagen" I start drooling,
and , well, granny passed about 18years ago, but her T3 SB remained
parked at her daughter's, his mother's, house all that time. 69K miles.
No rust. How is that possible? It was in Prescott, man! Actually,
Prescott Heights on that bluff to the north! I got over there, redid all
wheel bearings, and pulled it home to Dallas Texas(trashed my Grand
Caravan doing it, but, hey, priorities, right?). It is a '68, with a
straight body, great interior (except carpet), good glass, needs window
rubber, but ALL the pieces were there. The rodents had eaten the FI
harness, my no.1 problem. I have re-redone the bearings all around,
rebuilt the calipers, replaced fuel line rubber, and tire rubber, had
the engine rebuilt, new axle boots (swing), rear xmission mounts, brake
shoes and pads, turned the rotors and drums, and am now fighting the FI
battle. In fact, that is really the deal with this poor 69. It has the
harness intact and all the FI goodies as a parts bin for me. BUT I also
have scrounged a dual carb setup (all but the link arms (any help
here?)). I have the fortunate dilemma of actually choosing dual carbs or
FI with spare parts (assuming I can buy this 69 cheap). My wife, bless
her (I have a 74 superbug and a 74 westy as well as the 68 square) said
ok, get it for parts, but strip it where it lies, not here. 
I just wanted to get a feel for what is reasonably 'restorable' before I
strip one that might be and there-by reduce the number of Type III's by
one.
Thanks and "beat ya to it!"
Randy!