Today we’d like to introduce you to Craig Simeone.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Growing up, my dad shared stories of his adventures in his green 1967 beetle and an orange 1973 super beetle. When I was 12 years old, I started eyeing VW beetles. I had a feeling this is what I wanted for my first car. I was 14 and found an ad for one in the newspaper. My dad and I went to check it out. I wasn’t old enough to test drive it, but my dad did for me.
August 1st, 1998 I put a $100 deposit down on this 1973 beetle in New Port Richey, FL. Then on August 3rd, I put down the rest of the $2,900 and she was all mine.
After I was finally old enough to drive it, it became my daily driver to high school. I remember that my fellow classmates thought it was pretty cool. I’d get different performance parts and accessories. I raced my beetle at the Sunshine Dragstrip in Largo, FL a few times. I beat every single beetle that I raced. I even beat a 6-cylinder mustang!
Throughout the years, I’ve made so many different modifications and gone through many looks. It’s become my weekend car to travel to car shows, local businesses and parks throughout Florida.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have been many speed bumps along the way, literally. Shortly after I bought the beetle, I found out that it needed a generator and it had a crack in the head. I got the motor rebuilt to a 1641 cc. My senior year, my car was out of commission for about 6 months. It was in the shop at Kenny’s VW Repair in Holiday. I bought a 1973 super beetle for its 1835 cc motor. Swapped it and put it in mine, but turned out I had to rebuild I that too.
In 2005, I decided to lower the front with a 5-inch narrow adjustable beam and the rear was 3 outer splines. I would pop off road reflectors while driving.
In 2009, the motor blew and I found a 1600 cc engine from a 1986 Mexican beetle and replaced it.
In 2014, I brought it back to stock height for a while which was a comfortable ride. People missed the look of how low it would ride. Many didn’t believe it wasn’t on air ride.
In 2015, the week before FL BugJam in Dade City, I decided to lower it again. A 6.5-inch narrow adjustable beam and 3 outer splines in the rear, put brand new EMPI sprint stars on it. I’ve gotten stuck in the sand at the beach, in the grass at a car show in the park, and even over speed humps and driving out of gas stations!
Early in 2016, I had Terry from Sundance Bug & Buggy put in a new cylinder and cylinder heads.
Thankfully, since then, the beetle has been running really well. I would even say it’s the most reliable car I’ve ever had.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I’ve been attending some local car shows since I was very young. Including Florida BugJam, we’re I’ve attended every year since 1997!
Contact Info:
- Email: 73brewdub@gmail.com
- Website: https://brewdub.wordpress.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/brewdub
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrewDub73
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/73brewdub
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCOQQT0U5jchyK8R8Uf3IHUQ
- Other: https://lnk.bio/brewdub
Image Credits
Jacob Freid
Heather B Studio
Nick Wroten
Angelique Simeone
