I am about to buy a 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle. It will be my daily driver, I drive about 65 miles a day.
Does anyone have any experience with one of these little cars? Anything I should know?
Thanks,
TD
My college bf had one.
Of course, that was during the '70s, so I’m not sure how helpful that is. 
I don’t have any personal experience with them, but a friend of mine has a 1970 Beetle she’s been driving since it was new. It seems to me that they work pretty well as long as you do routine maintenance. They seem pretty simple to work on. Spares seem to be abundant.
You may want to pick up some coolant for the engine, and carry it with you.
Providing for the rare example, 70’s and earlier era Volkswagons can be some of the most unreliable and maintenance heavy vehicles one can own (speaking as a good friend of several currant 60-70’s Volkswagon owners and as the former roommate of someone with an early 70’s bus as our sole private transportation).
As a hobby they’re great fun, as sole transportation I’d strongly recommend against it unless you have a penchant for being stranded.
I had a 1971 in Canary Yellow. It was my first car. I cried when I sold it - and I didn’t cry when I broke up with my last girlfriend.
A few things to watch out for:
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If your generator light ever comes on, pull over immediately and shut the car off. The belt that turns the generator turns pretty much everything else, including the cooling fan.
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Check the heater boxes to see if the heat works. It’s common for people to sell these things without functional heat. Yank up the two levers on either side of the e-brake when the car is warm and see if things heat up. If not, just know that it’s a time-consuming process to get the heat working again on an old Beetle.
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Watch your tire pressure on the spare. If your car is like mine, the pressure for the windshield washers comes from a small tube hooked up to the valve on the spare tire in the front trunk.
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Check to see what size motor yours comes with. I believe the motors range from 1000cc up to 1776cc. I had a 1200 in my car and upgraded to a 1776 and the difference was night and day.
Other stuff to know:
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Super Beetles are surprisingly good in the snow.
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The Super Beetle was not a Volkswagen of America product. They come over from Germany.
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Mark my words. You will both love and hate this car.
Brakes on this car are not self-adjusting. They are relatively easy to adjust yourself, though.
I have a copy of “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” - the bible for air-cooled VWs - that needs a good home. If you are willing to pay the postage (a couple of bucks media rate), it’s yours. My email is in my profile.
I will wait to see if I actually get it.
It is in really good shape, just needs a brake job. It has a brand new head and the body is a wierd egg shell beige - but straight and rust free. I appreciate it and I will probably look you up. I wrote down your SN and it is on the cubicle wall here…
I heard that the shift pattern was different. Anybody know any more of the quirks involved? I haven’t seen the car in a little while, it is about 4 hours away…
Assuming you have a manual and not a semi-automatic, it’s the same as most four-speeds, save that you need to push the shift knob down (toward the floor), push the stick left and then down (toward the rear of the car) to get it into reverse.
It’s a standard 4-speed H pattern. For reverse, you put the shifter in neutral, push down, left, and back. A breeze after you get it the first time.
Ditto =)
I have a 1973 not-a-super beetle, just a plain beetle=)
Not just pull over if the engine light comes on, CARRY a spare belt! Trust me on this. As a matter of fact, get in the habbit of carrying certain crucial parts, belt hose and i’d have to ask mrAru about other suggestions. He drove Bailey for about a year as primary transport and it was making the round trip fromn eastern CT to Kittery Maine once every couple of weeks, as well as driving around up there.
They are surprisingly good in the snow, despite the common heater problem [the piping that carries the warm air from the engine to the front of the passenger compartment tends to rot out, but oddly enough can be repaired with a soda can with top and bottom cut out …] but the electrical system is not really beefy enough for an aftermarket heater.
Watch the groove between the running board and the door for rust - it is sneeky! The groove/joint catches the salty nasty water and trickles down slowly and rust can get a foothold there and all of a sudden you have a problem that you never saw coming.
sigh am currently trying to sell bailey now… mrAru fried the engine and it has rust issues, and we just cant manage the renovation with everything else going on …
Also, standard Beetles use shocks all around while the Super Beetle uses MacPherson struts up front.
The number one thing to remember:
Just like turning the power off before changing a light bulb, you must remember to change the oil every 3000 miles (in the Beetle, not the light bulb) and do not let the oil get low.
Your Beetle will thank you.
Thanks for all the advice guys. Hopefully, I will post up pictures of the superbug when it is ready. I have plans for doing the interior in denim…
I think I have jumped into another money pit. Oh well, here’ goes!
A friend of mine owns and restores Beetles. If properly maintained, they’re pretty reliable and get really good gas mileage…like 40 to 50 mpg if it’s tuned right.
The electrical system can be upgraded to a higher amperage generator and 12 volts. My friend had one with electric A/C mounted under the hood (in front). I think he designed the system himself.
As aruvqan said carry a spare belt. If your belt breaks, you’re screwed. If the fan stops turning, all the dehydrated water leaks out and you’ll overheat. 
Also, carry the proper wrench for removing the outer part of the pulley. Changing the belt takes about 2 minutes once you know how it works and you have to shim the pulley to get the proper tension on the belt, but if you get someone who knows what they’re doing to show you what that means, you’ll catch on, even if you’re not mechanically inclined.
If you look around, I can almost guarantee that there’s a VW person somewhere in your area that has a backyard full of old Beetles that will sell you used parts pretty cheap and probably give you pointers on how to do certain maintenence.
I owned a regular Beetle and a Super Beetle back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I cannot think of one single reason why you should want to do this. Beetles are underpowered; if that commute includes being on the freeway you are going to be at a disadvantage. Beetles do not suffer crosswinds well; prepare to be all over the road on blustery days. Beetles are prone to clutch problems; that coming from my grandfather the mechanic, not just my opinion. By today’s standards, Beetle gas mileage is rather uninspiring. By today’s standards, Beetles are horrible polluters.
Honestly, if I were you, I’d look at something newer. Maybe a good used compact from one of the apanese makers if you really want a small car. The Beetle is just asking for grief. The only thing they have going for them is the nostalgia factor.
Could be worse. You could be looking at an MGB. 
:smack:
You know what’s funny? I have a 1959 Triumph TR3A sitting in my barn.
I have no interest in it, although it is nearly complete. I just have to do the interior. I looked it up on NADA and I could sell it for about 15 grand if I just moderatly fixed it up.
And I am getting a Volkswagen. What is wrong with me?
As I said, my friend has a '70 Beetle. One day her son injured his ankle playing baseball, and her Beetle was in the shop. I was driving a Chevy Sprint Metro at the time. The Sprint had a three-cylinder, 1000cc engine. My friend marvelled at how peppy the little car was, and at the room inside of it. A perfect car for the crowded L.A. streets, it also handled the freeway well enough – except for the long hill by Vasquez Rocks. I drove it from L.A. to Park City, UT a couple of times, pegging the needle at 90 mph much of the way. Compared to the Beetle, the Sprint was a much better car.
But if you can deal with the Beetle’s lack of power (and I assume the Super Beetle has more power than my friend’s), then it should be okay. But you’ll get better mileage in a newer car.
British cars have a reputation for being unreliable. I’m sure you’ve heard all of the jokes about Lucas electricals. I’ve joked that out of my three MGBs, only two were running at the time. But in reality, they run just fine as long as you keep up with routine maintenance.
If I had a choice between buying a VW or using a Triumph I already had, I’d choose the Triumph. It would be much cooler.
Crappy positive ground electrics aside, the Triumph has dual oiled carbs-
That never stay tuned more than about a day. I am going to let someone else deal with that…