The car is Buster, a 1974 VW Super Beetle SunBug edition. My father originally purchased this car, from the original owner, for me as a college graduation present back in 1996. The car had 274,000 miles on it and it showed. It was rough, It took several months just to get the required repair work done for it to pass a Pennsylvania inspection.

For the next 20 years I drove the car from spring to fall, only storing it in winter time, doing whatever was needed to keep it running and safe. The odometer broke so I have no idea what the true miles were at this point. The car had reached the point where a restoration was needed or it would be too far gone to save from the junk yard. So in 2017 I started tearing the car apart.

I did the body of restoration myself. Leaving only the welding and painting to a professional shop. The floor pan and body were extensively repaired with new metal, all factory spec and thickness; new floor pans, frame head, fenders, heater channels, fire wall, spare tire well, front and rear valances, door bottoms, rear bottom quarter panels and an new drivers side front clip. The floor pan was also coated in “Lizzard Skin” undercoating. The exterior paint was match by a scan under the dash (where original paint was not exposed to the sun.) to get the exact factor color. The engine was a turnkey purchase from "Strickly Foreign". Although this winter I am starting an engine build myself of a pure stock 1600cc with period correct look for 1974 Super Beetle. The 1915cc turnkey engine currently in the car will then be for a future VW project :-)

In the restoration process I tried to use NOS parts where I could find them; including a NOS dash-pad, NOS Speedometer and Taillights as well as some trim pieces. I use all stainless steel hardware throughout the car and where possible I restored original parts that were on the car from the factory. For example I rebuilt the master brake cylinder as it was better than the aftermarket new one from China. Cosmetically the only non stock colors are the seats; I choose a lighter cloth color to make driving on hot summer days more comfortable. I also changed the bumpers to 1973 versions to save weight and because they look more in proportion to the size of the car. Mechanically I have made extensive suspension changes front and rear to improve handling, added discs up front to improve braking, strengthened the transmission case, changed 4th gear for highway speeds, installed a 1915cc engine with duel 44s, electronic ignition, and a CSP stainless steel exhaust system with equal length headers. The wiring harness is also totally new from UK Heritage Parts, but it required a number of changes to work with the 1974 Super Beetle.

The window sticker shown in the second photo is something I recreated in Microsoft excel and picture examples I found on the internet, so the information and look would be accurate and period correct. Since finishing my restoration late summer 2022 I have driving over 3,700 miles; including some drives to VW shows as much as 650 miles round trip.