Esmeralda's Trip Home. Dragging a Beetle from New York to New Hampshire.

"Coty" (coty) 04/07/2014 at 10:25 • Filed to: why did i do this, no seriously, why, esmeralda, vw, trips, roadtrip

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Esmeralda is a 1967 European spec Beetle I bought off of my friend Jon a few months ago. It had been fully restored at one point, but was begining to show it's age. The engine was out of the car and halfway though a rebuild. The biggest problem, however, was a logistical one. It was two states away. I'm not a rich man so having it transported was out of the question. We had to go get it. The plan was to bring a running Volkswagen 1600 dual port engine with us, put it in using Jon's garage and tools, and drive it home. We brought a tow bar to make sure we had a way to get it home if that plan failed.

We got out on the road at around 2 A.M. and began piloting my 1994 Ranger towards the Empire State. My friend Elisha was kind enough to do 99% of the driving for this trip, as I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. We got lost once on the way there, but all in all it was a pretty calm drive. We didn't even see one deer we had to swerve erratically to avoid. Impressive!

We got to Jon's house and went out to the garage and I saw the car I'd bought at the end of last year for the first time with my own eyes. Jon had the back jacked up already, and had all the wires and everything ready to hook up.

We just had to change the exhaust to something legal (mine was way too rusty to be good. In fact, at one point it had cut my pantleg, and I kicked an exhaust tip off in retaliation) and we could put it in and go. In the process of removing the bolts for the exhaust, we broke some. We tried for hours to get them out and could not. We ended up bolting the new J tubes up where we could, and trying to put it in the car, even though we knew we would not be able to drive it home with the exhaust how it was.

We tried a few different ways to get the engine in, but being that the engine had a generator (which sticks out farther than an alternator) and didn't have a removable apron, we couldn't get it to go in. Just as we were about to give up on that, a piece of metal on the engine touched a piece of metal on the car and sparks started flying everywhere. One of the battery wires grounded to something and made the whole damn car positive. So the engine was riding in the truck, and Esmeralda was getting pulled.

It's recommended that you leave the steering wheel unlocked when doing this type of towing, but we didn't make it very far before we realized that wasn't going to work, because the wheels were turning every which direction, not tracking with us. So we locked the wheel. This worked way better, despite sounding like we were peeling away from the stop light everytime we had to make a tight turn. Our GPS decided to take us through the heart of every city between here and New York on our way back. At one of the longer lights in Schenectady, a woman and her boyfriend stood on the curb and discussed Esmeralda as if she were a piece of fine artwork. I thought that was funny. The 5 year old who pointed at it and had to be held back from chasing by his mother was awesome, too.

Damn tailgaters.

The journey wasn't all fun though. We had forgotten the reflective triangle I had bought to put on the back of the car, and even though we had bought lights. As we walked around the back of the car to see if the lights were working (they weren't, the connections on the truck were to corroded to work) we also realized my New Hampshire plate had fallen off at some point. I took the one off the front (now twisted and dented from the tow bar) and duct taped it into the back window. This is the part where I got really quiet, because I was screaming inside. We had to take it through a town we knew was pretty well patrolled, and I was nervous. We drove right past a cop, and he stayed. We were pretty much home free at this point, it felt like, even though we had a lot further to go. The plan was to bring it to my friend who lives in Corinth, VT, and who is a lover of all things VW. This put me going to be at 1 A.M. and I had to get up for work at 7 A.M. That's not bad, but not great. As we pulled into the town Elisha lives in, and where I work, I decided to put it out behind the dealership.

After almost 40 hours of not sleeping, and 20 hours of working to get Esmeralda home, she was finally in a spot for the night. I guess we never made it to New Hampshire, because I work in Vermont, but I'm still taking credit for it, because we're on the border. I plan to get the engine going (hopefully this week!) and just drive it. The interior is perfect, and while the body has some problems, it should be a good driver. If it sits how I think it will with the engine in, I'm just gonna get some old Porsche caps and use it as a commuter.

505Turbeaux > Coty 04/07/2014 at 10:29

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so now we know why you were looking for an engine a few months back. Good trip, good story! is that a Euro standard model?

Coty > Coty 04/07/2014 at 10:32

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And here's some of the photos I didn't put in the article, but still deserve to be seen.

(This badge is off center, but I kinda like it. Gives it character.)

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Coty > 505Turbeaux 04/07/2014 at 10:33

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Yeah, it is. Came with a halfway rebuilt 1776, which is going in my friend's Volksrod, and I'm just gonna run a 1600DP in it.

Crocket Bernet > Coty 04/07/2014 at 10:39

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Cool story man, I hope I get to see it tooling around sooner than later.

Coty > Crocket Bernet 04/07/2014 at 10:40

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Might be as soon as the end of this week. This won't be as crazy as Kermit is.

Pixel > Coty 04/07/2014 at 11:26

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Nice! I remember seeing that bug on CL, the only reason I didn't bite was it was when I had 6 cars in a 4-car driveway. Glad to see it went to Jalop.

Coty > Pixel 04/07/2014 at 11:52

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I was actually Facebook friends with him because we both have Type IIIs. That's how I saw it on a CL 3 states away.

Pixel > Coty 04/07/2014 at 16:33

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searchtempest.com lets you search all CLs as far out as you want. Set it to direct mode for the most accurate results. It was how I found my truck in NH and the parts I bought for it in NH later.

Coty > Pixel 04/07/2014 at 21:54

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I use that, but I wasn't looking for a Beetle at the time, he just posted it.

danjlove > Coty 04/14/2014 at 13:16

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ACVW people have the best adventures. Cool bug.

Coty > danjlove 04/14/2014 at 14:21

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Thanks. A few days after this I bought a new tow rig, too.

danjlove > Coty 04/14/2014 at 14:42

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Oh, god, yes. We are cut from the same cloth.

Coty > danjlove 04/14/2014 at 14:46

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I have a '73 VW fastback that'll eventually be swapped to subbie power and make modern Corvette power to weight.

danjlove > Coty 04/14/2014 at 14:56

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A fasty that's actually fast? Unthinkable!