The Cockpit

 Hello! I'm glad you've made it back to the site here. I wanted to post a few updates on how my 1975 Super Beetle, Felix, is coming along. Since he has been sitting for about two years, and I'm finally now getting around to fixing a lot of problems from the years on neglect, and neglect of previous owners. I still have several lists of things I need to work through, but this the life of an old car owner. My hope is that he will be roadworthy before the local VW car show in July.

Since I have begun the process of resurrecting Felix I have had to take the dash board off to do some rewiring, and as I did that, I fixed up some things on the dash. Today I wanted to write a couple posts about a few things that I've done to improve the "cockpit". Today's topic: The Steering Wheel!

First off let me say, I really like the way a clean 1303 super beetle dash board looks. I think it blends together really well. When I first got this car it had an aftermarket, autozone steering wheel. It was small, and cheap. It would make the car honk every time you turned right when going around a corner. It was really embarrassing. It didn't take me long to start the search for a replacement. It took a couple tries to get the right model steering wheel for my car. Turns out that VW switched steering columns mid-1974.

Once I got that figured out I got the right one ordered. I really love the way it looks with the dash, it meshes really well! When I took the dash apart a few weeks ago I was also able to take a close look at the turn signal cancellation ring. It had been busted off at one time, but I still had the old piece. I glued it back on with a plastics glue, and now have automatically canceling turn signals! Its just like driving a new car, :)

I have lately been realizing how weird it is that I get so excited about odd things, like a turn signal that cancels itself, or a stock windshield washer "pump", or a funky plastic steering wheel. Does anybody else get really excited about odd little things on your car that most people just take for granted? I think the joy of a car is in the details!