Basketcase Rescue 2-for-1: 200 Bucks Takes Both

By Austin Gaddis

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My friend, Jason, happens to be an air-cooled VW nut. So he was the first person who came to mind when I received a text message last Friday from a friend saying that his co-worker had a VW Baja Bug and a split-window van that he was trying to get rid of.  He said the guy wanted $200 for the pair, so I got his phone number and then called him immediately to tell him I’d take the VWs. Right after that, I called my friend Jason and let him know that he’d just bought a splitty van and a baja bug for $200. He didn’t seem very interested in the bug, as he likes his Beetles to be original. I had gathered over the phone with the seller that the VW sale was kind a package deal–so, being the good friend I am, I split the cost of the pair and took the Beetle off his hands. We went for the 65-mile drive North to Ronan, Montana, to look at the cars on Saturday. The van was pretty rough and the bug was ok–at best. More…

On Sunday we drove up with the trailer and discovered that the van was in stuck gear–whatever the shifter was previously mounted to was rusted out to the point that that the shifter was laying on the floor. Well, we dragged the van up onto the trailer anyways, taking turns on the come-along and a little pull to the side from the previous owner’ big Ford pickup from time to time to keep the van from sliding off the ramps. It took about an hour to get the van all loaded up and chained down. The Beetle then got loaded up onto the seller’s own trailer, to be towed into town on Tuesday.  So, I came out of the deal with a ’69 VW Baja Bug that is supposed to run with a knock, and Jason got a ’66 VW van with a locked-up engine.  but knock and he got a 1966 VW van with a locked up engine. All in all, not a bad haul for 200 bucks–though we haven’t yet figured how we’re going to get the van back off the trailer.