I'm Back...

This will be just a short quick post, but I wanted to let you all know that I returned safely home. I got back Thursday night and it was a long flight back but it was an amazing experience. I'm alive and well, and I haven't forgotten about the blog or my love for bugs, i should have some good posts ahead. In the near future I'm going to be working on getting Felix, my 1975 super beetle back on the road, he has some issues with the fuel lines. It will be a fun project me an my dad will get to dive into. I'll post again when I have some more time these first few days have been really busy though!

Be back in two years...

Sorry, i just haven't had time to post before I leave. I've been very busy preparing to leave, getting scholarship applications done, spending time with friends, packing etc. But it will be an awesome experience!

Thanks for all the support and comments I've gotten on my blog. If you're new to my blog in the two years I'm gone please read through my older posts and still feel free to comment.

Mark your calendars for March 2016 I'll be back sometime that month. And I'll post shortly after I get back. I hope to have a few VW stories. But I'll have lots of pictures of the Baltic States. Talk to you again in two years!

Big Announcement

Lithuanian Flag

I have a really cool and really big announcement for any of you who have been following my blog. I have decided to serve a two year proselyting service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (The Mormons) to which I belong. I will be teaching others about my beliefs as well as serving the people in my area. I have been called to serve in the Baltic Mission. This includes Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Belarus. Four countries next to Russia. I will be speaking Lithuanian and will be mainly serving in Lithuania.

I will be leaving February 26th. So only a few short months. I will not be updating my blog for the two years I will be gone, but don't worry I'll let you guys know when I get back, and I won't be abandoning the blog. I'll still update some more before I leave. I have to get my bug ready for my absence. My dad is going to take it for regular drives so it doesn't end up sitting derelict for two years. I'm getting ready to do a full tune-up. Any way, just a heads up notice for February.

I am really excited! Lithuania is an awesome country with cool traditions. Doubtful I'll see to many air cooled VW's while I'm there but one never knows. Its going to be a great experience though. I'm hoping while I am there I will also be able to pick up some Russian, as they speak that as well. In fact at one time the whole area was under soviet rule. Lithuania has some interesting history. I may post about some of the stories I'm finding out before I leave (even if it isn't VW related). If you have any questions about my mission call or anything let me know in the comments below and I'll get back to you.

Early Christmas Present

My mom gave everyone in my family an early Christmas present. We each got a unique ornament, and of course mine is a VW Bug. It's awesome, I've wanted one for a while, but I guess I'm just too cheap to buy myself one. And it looks great on the tree. This is the first year I've ever had a real christmas tree, it's great! The smell is wonderful. It's worth the mess of needles. My Christmas has been going great, plenty of snow. (It's fun doing donuts in a bug in the winter) Any one have any cool vw ornaments? Merry Christmas

La Grande Edition

All right so I finally decided to do a write up about something I found out about my car after I bought it. Originally I bought my car because i wanted a super Beetle, the sunroof was a plus and I like the Fuel Injection because I thought I wouldn't have to do much with it. Wrong! But that's a story for another post.

After I bought it I posted pics of my car on thesamba.com and immediately I had someone post a reply saying something along the lines of "wow that's a great car! did you know that all 1975 supers were La Grande editions?" I was surprised, turns out my car is a relatively rare model. There weren't very many of these special edition models produced.

These La Grande Beetles were produced as kind of a farewell to the super beetle as all super beetle sedans were dropped after 1975. (the convertible ones hung around until 1980). They were meant to be a luxury edition of the Beetle and originally they were really quite nice, they were no Cadillac as far as handling but as far as Beetles go they were nice.

They came in three colors a metallic blue, metallic green, and a metallic harvest gold. The paint was a very nice elegant metallic shine. On the rear deck lid there was a La Grande Edition badge. Also included on all models was a metal sunroof from the factory, and optional at the dealership were pop-out rear windows for more air flow. The interior was a bit nicer than the base model standard beetles as well. All the vinyl trim was leather grained with corduroy inserts. It also came with a wood grain dash insert. The gold bug had a brown interior, the blue bug had a blue interior, and the green had a matching green interior. The steering wheel was also upgraded to a soft "comfort" grip instead of the hard plastic ones.

The car itself had a few upgrades aside from aesthetic ones. For the first time VW introduced the fuel injected engine to the Beetle and it was a standard feature. So in a way it was nicer than a Cadillac as on Cadillacs Fuel injection was still an option. And the Super Beetle also got a rack and pinion steering so that it was easier to steer. Handling was still the upgraded McPherson suspension that all super Beetles came with. With all of these features the La Grande was a really nice car to drive.

My car was originally the harvest gold color which is the color of the bug in the pictures I have shown in the article. And I found out that in the US that is the most rare color. Most of the ones distributed here were the green or blue. The gold ones were distributed some in Canada. But at the end of the year VW still had orders to fill in the US so they build more of the gold beetle to finish out the sales and because of this there aren't that many gold bugs. So mine is a rather rare model. Unfortunately everything that made it a la Grande is gone. The plaque, color, wood grain dash, steering wheel. Someday I may restore it to its La Grande glory, especially since its so rare. But for know I'm just trying to keep it running. My car doesn't drive as well as an original la Grande since its 40 years old and hasn't been cared for properly in probably the same amount of time. But its a work in progress.

Any one out there have a special edition model they want to share? I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Finally a Stock Steering Wheel!

As you probably know I used to have a 1974 beetle. It had a funky tiny little steering wheel with a broken horn button. And I was always on the lookout for a stock steering wheel. Took me a little time to find out that VW produced a new steering wheel in 1972, the modern style steering wheel. But in 1974 they changed steering columns small the old steering wheels no longer fit. I learned that the hard way,  a guy was advertising a steering wheel a while back as a 1973 and up, so I bought it. And it didn't fit at all. So I sent it back and kept searching. And searching. I was never able to find one that was reasonably priced and in good shape while I had my old car. I was able to find plenty 1972 to 1973 steering wheels, but for some reason 1974 and up wheels are harder to find. 

Then I get my new super beetle and it's old wheel was terrible, it was a cheap after market one that really didn't fit well. And the norm would beep whenever I took a sharp right turn. It was embarrassing, and I got a lot of crab for it from my friends. Finally thought I found a stock steering wheel online. I love it! It looks so much nicer, and I can actually see my speedometer, I don't have to look around the wheel to see my speed and fuel anymore! And I think stock usually looks better than aftermarket anyway.

Stuff I found at the car show

One of the things I love most about going to VW shows is sifting through parts at the swap meet. You may go with something in mind that you want to buy, but you never actually know what you will get until you're there. This year I was hoping for a steering wheel and the knobs for the fresh air control, what I came away with was different. I ended up finding a decent pair of rear grab hand
Es and coat hook, this car and my old green one didn't have them, so it was nice to be able to put those on. Slowly I'm trying to put this bug back to stock.

The other thing that I found is a vintage VW dealership accessory, a leather shift knob, you could either get it with the Wolfsburg crest or the VW shift pattern, I was lucky enough to find this one foronly $15. It is perfect, it looks brand new, so now I have three Vintage accessories for my car, the shifter, the center console, and the pop-out rear windows. I love finding things like this.

What cool things have you guys found sifting through piles of parts and junk?