Yes! This should give you an idea of what Arty looked like just after I first bought him. Here, he's getting ready for his respray and having a bit of rust treatment too! In the bottom left photo, you can see where the huge puddle was after accumulating rainwater through a hole in the window seal- scream!- and you may also see some evidence of where the muppet who owned it before the guy I bought it from- who's wife had bought it for him, but he unfortunately didn't have enough spare time for- had put house carpet in there without anything in the way of under-lay (or whatever the right word for the car equivalent is). The same person also put on a tiny steering wheel- from a recent VW (not sure which but it wasn't a beetle!)- and a Scat quick shift gear stick, which is still there for the moment. Everything done on this car by these people was cosmetic- in what appears to be some kind of 'pimp my ride' attempt- with the opalescent purple paintwork, steering wheel that I can't imagine anyone being able to use, and massive speakers put in the back- which didn't have anything else added in the ways of battery power and balancing etc. to accommodate them- and there seemed to be absolutely nothing practical done to him.
Anyway, these photos were taken by the guy who ended up screwing me over- but that's a story for another time. Arty's come a long way since then- oh yeah he had seats from some sort of fiat in him- but is still on his way to being how I dream of him to be.
To give you some recent news, I took Arty on his longest run for at least three years! I drove him into uni (Basingstoke to Egham, so about a 40 mile round trip) and he was brilliant! He got all the way there with no trouble and wasn't too hot afterwards, there's still the flat spot but nothing drastic. I was worried about whether I'd get home or not- seeing as he can be a right grump- but he only grumbled a bit when I started him back up again. The drive was fine, got cut up by an 09 Passat- who had taken his badge off and put a stupid exhaust on- but he didn't get anywhere any quicker (muhahaha) as I had caught up with him at traffic lights five miles afterwards.
Today also saw my first experience of how much love there is in the VW community. When driving through Camberly, I went past another Bug- in a beautiful pale blue (didn't have enough time to see what year-sorry!)- and I went for the 'I'll wave whether or not they wave back' but the fella in the blue bug waved too with a big grin on his face, and I smiled the rest of the way home. I also got flashed at by a Golf as he passed me on the other side of the road- I have to admit, the first thing I thought was 'is he on fire?!?!'.
I think it's brilliant how much love there is to share in these old cars (and even modern VWs in the case of the Golf) so I'll leave you with this warm feeling :)...
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