T3: Miami area moron back-handed by fate! Watch out, it's a big one!

[Jake Kooser <jake_k@ibm.net>]

Hey Volks,
   Now I have proof that Type IIIs are an addiction.  Today, I was going
to go down to one of my roommate's mom's house in Homestead to check out
an alleged fastback that one of her neighbors had.  I had decided not to
go down there after my roommate was running late and I wanted to try and
get to a "wide five" vw club meeting with Wilson, another squareback
owner that lives less than 2 miles from my house (small world!).  Thor,
my roommate (yes, real name!) called about an hour after he left and
said the guy had told him he would take $400.00 for it.  Needless to
say, I was in the zooper beetle and on my way in less than 5 minutes!  I
got down there, and had to pass the place with the car on my way to
Thor's moms house.  Before I had even gotten within 50 feet of the car,
I knew if the guy only wanted 400, I was going home with the car.
   I came to the end of the trees adjacent to the guy's house, and there
it (haven't had time to determine sex) was, parked facing out of the
drive, ready to go.  The body looked straight enough at a glance, none
of the missing fenders I imagined when my roommates first told me about
the car "with some rust on the back and the fenders".  I picked up Thor,
and we headed back to the guy's place.  The paint is red, with no
mismatched spots, hopefully not ever wrecked bad.  The front right
fender and bumper has had a bad day at some point, turn signal
completely gone.  Under the front hood, I was amazed to see that it was
very clean.  Bolt heads still shiny, 2/3 of the original vinyl still
there (the piece on the fresh air box is gone, revealing some small rust
holes).  The spare tire well insert is long gone, but except for the
matching inside wrinkles on the passenger side, it's in really good
shape.  Interior has some funky-looking upholstery on it, I'll have to
get a picture to show you.  It's not basketweave, and I don't know what
else was available.  The carpets look okay, the dash is clean, only the
visors need real help.  Under the carpets, everything seemed fairly
normal.  Only two spots of rust, one on the driver's side just forward
of the bulkhead at the front of the back seat, the other in the classic
"battery drain hole" position.  Under the rear hood (with all trim
present, it appears), things get a bit uglier.  The engine cover is
missing entirely, and there are plenty of "bonus cooling air passages"
all around where it should be.  The rear deck seal is totally gone and
the engine compartment has rusted out pretty badly.  This could be a
problem.  The engine looks pretty good, just a standard coating of
grime, nothing fresh, the guy claims, "it doesn't leak a drop", boy, if
I had a dime....   Rob, the now PO, told me that the key has not been
working every time to start the car, but it could be pushed.  We push
start the car without even trying the key (duh), it coughs happily to
life (we cough too, after the plume of white-blue smoke pours out of the
exhaust).  We let it warm up for a few minutes, and I take it for a
short spin.  The stock exhaust is perfect, you can barely hear it
running.  It needs brake pads, and probably adjustment.  Clutch needs
adjusting, too.  Stock fuel injection, complete.  The only thing I
noticed that wasn't right on the engine was the solenoid-thingy (oh, for
lack of a name) that keeps it idling at stops has been moved away from
the linkage, so it's there, but just for the ride.  Rob claims it has a
lot of rust in the tank and he has had to change the fuel filter about
every 30 miles (!?!).  I drove it about a mile total and it seemed
fine.  Made the deal and took it to Thor's mom's house for immediate
storage.  I pulled the tank out there and dumped out about 2 gallons of
caramel-colored, stinky old gas.  I cut the filter open on the spot, and
didn't see much there.  I brought the tank back to the house with me,
and pulled the fuel gauge sender out for a better look.  I didn't see
any rust, but a mossy-looking coating on the inside, probably from the
old gas.  The little screen on the inlet has a lot of fine gunk on it,
not totally blocking it, but certainly not helping things.  I'm going to
clean it out and try to drive it back up here (about 30 miles) when I
get back from my next job - about 2 weeks.  I took a bunch of photos,
and will scan them when I get back.  I'm going to Norway to do an
installation (Brrr!), any listees up in that area?
   Now some quick details for you number fans:

   Chassis number - 3132066027, checks out in Bentley as a 1973
   Engine number - U5071298,  checks out as a type III engine, also
looks pretty type III-ish :->
   Paint code, yeah the sticker is STILL THERE - IBERISCHROT  L31F
   Date-of-manufacture sticker on the door jamb? - it's there but I
forgot to get the month & year (Kick!)

   Other oddities/goodies of note - The big rivet in the passenger side
mirror mount that was discussed a few weeks back, weird.  Also, a
TRAILER HITCH!!!!  WOO-HOOO!!  although, now that I see the trailer
hitch-of-much-discussion in person, I think it's so cool it may just
"fall off" this car and land on my squareback when it's done.

   Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  The fate part of this story?  Well,
remember back in about October of last year, when I was asking if anyone
knew of a ~$500.00 VW (preferably type III, of course) in the Miami
area?  I guess I didn't look long enough then, but now it looks like I
have an excuse to blow off figuring out the carb on Barney for a while.

Jake "just ensuring that I die penniless AND insane" Kooser

'71 Squareback (the little girl)
'66 Type 1 roadster (like this project will ever get done!)
'73 zooper beetle (Barney)
'73 fastback (just park it, um, over, uh, right next to the.., oh hell,
I don't know!)