"Auto Stick" Volkswagon?

What is known about them? Never heard of it. Are they worth the time/money or are they garbage?

Just came across this link..
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/4822425395.html

 

If it is something you are interested in then pursue it.

 

It's only 1k, I say buy it.

 

I had a '74 Super Beetle with the semi automatic transmission.
When you touch the gear shift stick, the clutch would disengage by an electric solenoid.
Would drive new drivers to the vehicle nuts if they had a habit of holding the stick.
You could rev up the engine then just let go of the stick.

From a collector's point of view, it would be cool. From a performance aspect, not so much.

 

I'd say its worth it for how clean it appears alone, even if the engine needed work. I thin k you could recoup your monies whenever you wanted to if it is that clean as it appears in the photos. The area where the fenders meet the body was always a bad rust area. There is a gasket of type in there to keep the two pieces of metal apart, and if that is in good shape, then the rust would stay away.

 

I was mainly looking for one of these as a little thing to drive around when its sunny out. I like 15 mins from town and its 50 the whole way so I thought it would be cool to get one. I was hoping to find one that only needed miner restorations as I dont have a shop or much in tools/experience to do any kind of restoration. Engine work isn't too bad but after doing some research I have noticed a pattern of people saying that the auto stick is a pain to work on and hard to find parts. If the thing drives and isn't going to take a shit after 50 miles then I would happily go drop a grand on it tomorrow.

 

The only problems I ran into in the 3 years I owned mine, were
a) on long trips the engine would get warm, and if you shut it down (eg get fuel) I could not get it started again. Starter solenoid would need some persuasion with a few hammer taps.
b) Carb needed a rebuild, was easy to do.
c) on freezing cold mornings, (think less than 10F) the windshield would frost up on the inside. Had to drive with the window open a bit to vent the humidity, and keep an ice scraper nearby, until the engine heat was warm enough. I did not have the auxiliary gas heater.
d) i was a young dumb punk, usually drove the thing floored. Would strip a plastic gear in the speedometer. Replaced the plastic gear with a metal one from a 71

brakes, tuneups, basic maintenance was easy to work on. It was a good car for me to learn on.

 

If I were to get something like this, the longest trips it would ever see would be an hour MAX. No need to drive a weedeater that far when I have a tacoma

As far as freezing cold, the coldest it ever has gotten where I live is about 15f, but I wouldn't be driving something like this in that weather to begin with.

I am just a bit concerned since I have never heard of this type of transmission until now. I reading that the service is more of a pain and parts are rare, I was getting a little discouraged. But I emailed the guy and will do some more research on them in the morning. I was originally looking at getting a bus to fix up

 

Have you done any searching on The Samba?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=601275

Careful though, The Samba can be a rabbits hole worse than TacomaWorld

 

Parts and service would be my concern. Rare transmissions could be a real pain in the ass. I had a ford econoline van that had a 4-speed Daganham transmission from England (4-on-the-tree vs 3-on-the-tree). It was slipping so I took it into a transmission repair shop. I told them it was an odd transmission and they said no problem. When they opened it up, it basically fell apart because it was so worn and they couldn't do anything with it (no parts for it). Had to buy a replacement transmission.

 

of course, there could be nothing wrong with the transmission, and it will work fine for years to come. If the OP keeps it stock, and in good shape, it'll at least retain its collectable value. If the tranny craps out, and there are no parts, then put a common 4spd in it. These are not complicated cars.

 

^^Yup. A '71 is a piece of cake to swap out the transaxle, *IF* it comes to that. Owned and/or worked on many Type I,II,III + Ghias from that era (68-75) -- don't recall ever working on a semi-auto though. Sooo... don't know much about them, but if it was broke it'd be simple enough to pop in a regular 'ol 4spd.

 

My buddy in HS had one of those. Tranny never gave him any problems that I can recall. Only problem that I remember was the night he was driving down the road, and laughed at someone's tire go rolling by him. Couple seconds later,CRUNCH..it was HIS rear wheel.

 

A friend in HS had one and it seemed to run better than another friend's who had the standard trannie. Jus thad the typical VW issues with the engine needing constant adjustments. I, too, would worry about repairs to the auto vs standard trannie; the auto is not very common. Maybe only a junkyard repair or a specialty shop?