I remember having a few. They were cute & very economical to use & you could do something to them & have a bunch of parts left over & they would still work just fine.
There doesn’t see to be many on the road these days, what’s the reason for that? I saw a couple for sale, $2000 & $4000 each, which seems pretty high for a car almost 40 years old.
They are about 9 feet long which is half the length of a Ford Expedition, I can only imagine what would happen if they ran into each other.
Actually they were more like 13-14ft long. Horribly unsafe, but a kick to drive, especially on a dirt road. I’ve had three “real” Beetles in my driving life. I’d love to have Karmann Ghia convertible, bright yellow w/black Porsche rims.
There are still a few kicking around in this area as well. In fact I’ve seen original Beetle convertibles moving under their own power this summer (don’t know what years they were, I’m not one of those guys that can glance at a car and know what year it is).
The original Beetles are highly collectible. Enthusiasts like to buy them up, then restore them to showroom condition. I’m sure prices would be more in line with the '55-'57 Chevys if VW hadn’t made so many of 'em.
I don’t know much about Beetles; just what I’ve read peripherally when I had a Porsche. But there are “special” VW Beetles. For example, some of the early ones had Karmann bodies. I can identify the ones with the small rear window and the ones with the large rear window, and the ones with the flat windscreen and the ones with the curved windscreens. But the subtleties are lost on me since I’ve never studied them. From what little I’ve read about them though, owning a Beetle looks as if it would be an interesting hobby.
My neighbour loves her Beetle and will never part with it. She’s not a “collector”, but she recognizes that her car is all-original. (She did have it resprayed a few years ago, and she had to replace some OEM parts that were stolen with new OEM parts.)
Well, not so fun to drive on a washboarded dirt road. My bro and I went to Joshua Tree Nat’l Park in a '69 Bug, and driving THOSE dirt roads could not be described as a kick. I think ‘bone-jarring’ would be a more apt description!
Beetles are still around, thank you very much. You can buy just about any part you’d need to fix one, either new or reproduction. Heck, there are even a few CG/Beetle-only salvage yards. They are cheap to keep running–a rebuilt drop-in engine only costs around $400 with exchange of the old one, and two guys can easily put it in in an afternoon by hand. A similar rebuilt engine for any other car will cost way over $1000 and require an engine hoist to install–air-cooling has its advantages.
The main problem with owning Beetles (at least in the midwest) is that they tend to rust out fairly quickly, and the basic design wasn’t made with this problem in mind so repairs aren’t particularly easy to do. I see them mostly out in summer, probably because of this reason. People around here who want good ones shop online for cars from the desert-southwest states. And it’s true they aren’t exactly structurally impressive, but then the basic design is simply old, dating from the 1950’s-60’s. They are crude, but often crude is good enough, and “crude with a convertible top” can be downright fun.
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I do see them around here. Not as many as elsewhere in the county – this is a pretentious area, so the expensive fad cars are more common than the less expensive ones (before I get burnt at the stake, I’m not calling classic Beetles fad cars!). I see more BMW Z3s and Z4s than Mazda Miatas, for example, and more H2’s than Honda Elements. More Mini Coopers than “New Beetles”, and more “New Beetles” than real Beetles.
That said, I know of at least two people in this apartment complex who own classic Beetles, one of whom seems to be restoring his or putting a bigger engine in it or something. And in the suburb of LA I consider my hometown, they’re considerably more common.
Since I have nothing better to do on my commute from L.A. to OC and back (aside from trying not to be killed by cage drivers who “don’t see” motorcyclists), I look at cars. I see about an equal number of Miatas and Z3s. I see a couple of Z4s, but not very many. I wonder from time to time which I like the looks of better: The Z3 or the Z4. The funny thing about the Z3 is that when they first came out I was always confusing them with Miatas. They look pretty similar.
Yes, the styling remained constant. Here is a 1937 Beetle.
A friend had a 1956 Beetle that had a split rear window and semaphore turn signals that swung out from the roof pillars behind the front doors. We used a skateboard to pull the engine.
I can’t imagine having one in LA as I never saw one with air conditioning. There was a trick that the door would shut faster if you left the window open.
“I think ‘bone-jarring’ would be a more apt description!”
That’s is there famous transaxle. Most cars have one that goes from one side to the other but the beetle has an independent one & it’s not joined in the middle so you get that ‘bounce’.
[hijack] You know what’s surprisingly good-looking? The hatchback Z3. The rounded-out hardtop and the longish nose combine to give it a look almost reminiscent of a muscle car. The first time I saw one was was one of those, “Hey that looks cool, I wonder what … holy crap it’s a Z3?!” kind of moments. [/hijack]
A/C was available in the late 60s & early 70s. It wasn’t cheap and didn’t work all that well. Also, you paid the price in horsepower loss. When you’ve only got 52hp, you really can’t spare the 5-7hp required to run the compressor.
The last batch of Beetles made in Mexico recently all had A/C.
I drove a '69 Bug throughout the Colorado summer last year (and many days in the winter) although it was a mess of rust and repairs by the end. A dream to drive though, and great in the snow.
Now I miss it and I’m looking for another (or a convertable Karmann Ghia).
My brother and I once heard a standup comedian describe how the heater worked in a VW Beetle: to acheive the same comfort level all you had to do was go into a walk in freezer, sit on a block of ice, and set one foot on fire.
My dad had a 1969 “squareback” VW which was like the station wagon version of the Beetle. I don’t see those around much anymore.
Beetle memories. Had a '62 when I was in high school-any idea how hard it is to buy a good 6 volt stereo? I worked part time in a body shop, and a badly mashed beetle came in, and the owner gave the boss the title to settle the tow bill. My '62 quickly got the bigger front and rear turn signals, and everything else 12 volt except the starter, as the 12V wouldn’t bolt up and I couldn’t swap rotors/stators. It spun damn quick when you hit the key, yessir!
