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Mark Sissons' Ride

I've had my Red 1961 "Deluxe" Volkswagen Beetle since the mid 1970s when I was still in Junior High School. After paying a fellow $200 (what's that in today's dollars?), I had my very first car. My Dad's thought was that I'd just putter around in it down at the back lot at the family run brick factory so that I'd develop some driving skills and then get rid of the car. I just never had the heart to part with it! A poor old thing, it would only start after getting it rolling and popping the clutch. Even then, it would wheeze out blue smoke. Who knows how many times the odometer wrapped around but it was showing between 50,000 and 60,000 miles when I got the car. The previous owner had never replaced the brake shoes. The result was that he'd worn through the brake material, through the metal behind that, and the rib behind that was forming a groove into the surface of the drums. Sheesh!

Over the subsequent years, I rebuilt the engine, brakes, suspension, interior and more, and even used it as my daily driver in my second year of university at Edmonton (yes, I drove it all winter up there!) The car never had any significant issues of rust except for a small problem spot below the battery under the rear seat (don't all Beetle's get rust in that spot?) It's now on it's second repaint in the original Ruby Red.

Yes, those are fiberglass flared rear fenders... When it was going to get an all-over paint job after a small accident (I wasn't driving it at that time), it needed replacement rear fenders as they were in bad shape. I acquired the flared fenders from a shop in Edmonton. In addition to the fenders, there are oversized rear tires mated to Chevy 14" rims which are attached to the car via cast adapter plates. I got the plates off a wreck at the Medicine Hat dump.

With the help of the John Muir repair guide, the engine rebuild was done on my parent's work bench in the basement. I did it with the parts from a kit you could buy from the SEARS catalogue. This kit boosted the displacement to 1300cc from 1200cc (83mm pistons and cylinders vs. 77mm). Starting this summer, I've noticed that when the engine is hot during a long trip and I'm loading it going up a hill that it's starting to exhibit a bit of ring blow by, but it hasn't lost much of its original power. Gas mileage is just under 40 MPG most of the time.

In recent years, I've added an original 1961 six volt SAPPHIRE AM radio, new turn signal arm and switch assy., new bumpers front and back, new headliner, fresh seatcovers and seat foam, new door panels, a backup lamp (issued with the 1967 models), fresh chrome trim, replaced the windshield glass, window and door rubber, etc., etc. Really, there's more stuff replaced on the car than I can remember! Lately I just replace stuff like clutch cables and axle boots as they wear out. When I leave at the end of summer and cover it up for the winter, I soon start to miss the fun of buzzing around in the car and can't wait to get it on the road again the next year.

Here's some pictures of the car through the years with a bit of explanation to go with them. Click any image to see a larger version and then click your browser's "BACK" button to return to this page.

Sadly, this is the only picture from when I first got the car before initial repaint	A shot from the summer of 1980 after it's first repaint (it got hit on the left side)	First show at Kenora, Ontario in 2001 next to the only other bug that year	Before I pulled and repainted the engine tinwork, it was WILD!
After removing the engine, a repaint and cleaning, it looks more like stock again	After 25 years, a repaint in 2004. The body shop is at Finland (S. of Nestor Falls)	Heading back from the Open Wheel Repair body shop on Al's trailer	The interior getting re-installed, plus new door panels and sound deadener
Here's the sound deadening felting material mounted in the rear side areas	The steering wheel had shrinkage cracks. Here it gets them filled before paint	The steering shaft, shifter arm and parking brake all get a fresh coat of grey paint	The rear apron wasn't repainted when the car was at the shop, so here we go
A standard Ford colour (Candy Apple Red) is a near perfect match to Ruby Red	My six volt booster fan under the rear seat for those cool June days	How the car spends it's time while I'm in the west for the winter