As I began my process it was clear I was in charge of finance, research, and design. Each month I planned to set aside a few dollars towards my project. I scoured informational pages on building VW trikes. Guys had been doing this for decades and there was a lot of information out there, both through chopper websites and VW aficionado websites. I had a lot of homework to do. I thought C and his brothers might be able to use the spare parts. No, I was told, there was no extra space at The Shop for more vehicles until some other project was finished or a vehicle was sold. There were webpages where guys would build frames for you, but that was thousands of dollars I did not have. Several of them sold instructional manuals on how to build your own, but most of them believed it was a bad plan (because they wanted you to buy one of their's). Solution, buy a frame.
I began with
Craigslist and
The Samba. One guy in San Diego wouldn't sell me his frame because it was too much for a little girl like me to handle. Geesh! I gave C the contact information and let him work on this old coot. To know avail. Eventually, I found a guy in the desert who was emptying out unfinished projects from his yard. He said it was a '69 VW bug rear end he welded to the front end of a Harley. He said any standard Harley front end would fit it. Deal!
Mid-August I got C to load into my car, because it had working airconditioning, and out we drove to the desert. It was actually hotter in the Valley that day than it was in Lancaster, but either way we were glad to have the AC. The frame was ugly. It definitely needed sandblasting, but no structural damage, just cosmetic patches. $200 and a handshake. Now the project has officially begun.
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