My aunt and uncle owned a series of 1960s-70s Bugs. What sticks with me is the interiors’ distinctive odor – something along the lines of wet/burnt plastic with a hint of mildew? It wasn’t necessarily a bad smell, just memorable.
Some cool VW Beetle facts from Wiki.
[ul]
[li]1938-2003: over 21 million original Beetles were built (officially, the “VW Type 1”). Ferdinand Porsche was the lead engineer. None were ever built in the USA; and besides Germany they were built in at least 14 other countries, including the Philippines. (I’m Filipino-Russian, so this interests me.) The original, in 1938, had a 25-HP engine.[/li][li]1998-2011: VW “New Beetle”; the classic design gets resurrected, with a water cooled front engine, FWD[/li][li]2011-present: VW Beetle (A5); only assembled in Mexico (and apparently nowhere else, not even in Germany; interesting…)[/li][li]Punch Buggy has its own Wikipedia page! How cool is that? Did anyone else play that kid car game? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_buggy[/li][/ul]
The world’s largest privately owned VW collection is in Puerto Rico but currently not open to the public. The very last Type 1 is in that collection.
Around 1976, when I was in high school, my father traded his MG with full wire-spoke wheels (including 2 spares!!) for a 1959 WV Beetle. Dad wasn’t up to the maintenance needs of the MG. But I think he lost out on the deal value-wise.
The 1959 WV Beetle was a piece of work. 6 volt battery. It was lime green with big orange spots, not as a design choice, instead because the previous owner had worked on the body and this was the primer layer - we never did finish painting it. It didn’t have bumpers, instead on the front and back were pieces of 2x6 wolmanized board bolted on (wolmanized because of exposure to the elements.) It didn’t require a key to start, any key, or a nail file would do - or a slight push and a popped clutch.
When I was driving it I kept getting pulled over by the police. Evidently the car had a reputation because it had been passed down through the years to a variety of young guys and some of them may not have been the best behaved. The cops didn’t keep up with who the owner was, they just knew the car was up to no good.
Eventually I gave it to my grandfather, who stripped it down to make a dune buggy.
I grew up as a kid with several bugs and busses. This is what I remember most, a combination of degrading foam and fiberglass, grease, battery acid, and cigarette ash.
We also had a camper van that we nicknamed “Princess Leia” because of the radiator cover ‘buns’ on the sides.
My first car was a bright yellow '68 Beetle convertible. I loved that car. I drove it from Nashville to Seattle when I went to stay with my brother. The Rockies killed it - it started throwing oil. When I got to Seattle I was told it needed a new engine - about $600 in the early '90’s. I left it with my brother and told him I’d send the money for the engine when I got it. I was going to come back and drive the car home at some point. But his truck died, and he traded my car and his truck for something that ran.
StG
1971 Super Beetle here, with the automatic stick shift. Died in 1982 with 156,000 miles on it.
Loved it at the time, but wouldn’t want it back. It was a great car for its time, but that was a long time ago.
I drove a '59 in the late 60’s. It was actually my sister’s car, and I got it with a smashed up front fender that I constantly had to get out of the car and pull away from the wheel, But the '59 was the last Bug to not have a gas gauge. The gas tank had a gravity tray that held a certain amount of gas, and if you did run out of gas, there was a handle on the floor board that you would flip over and have enough gas to keep going to, hopefully, a gas station.
My first car was grandfather’s Chrysler Windsor but the second, and only new one, was a 1969 VW bug. $1,850 on a three-year note. Sold it in 1982 to a friend’s son for $200, 250k miles.
Those specialty tools could be really handy, though. The generator seized up and I had a helluva time loosening the four bolts on the back of the air shroud that held a plate and the back-end of the generator. About six months later I had it at a one-man mechanic for something quick I was not willing to do, and I was poking around in his tool box while he worked on it. I hauled out this odd one, a plate about a foot long with a sprocket on both ends and a chain driven by the sprockets. One sprocket had a T-handle in its center and the other a 3/8 socket stud, facing the same direction as the handle. I twisted the handle back and forth a couple times making the chain zhoop around and the stud turn while I puzzled at it. It clicked just as he asked, “Know what that’s for?”
“It’s for removing the generator plate on the back of the shroud.”
“Ah, you’ve done that, then.”
“Yup, and I wish I had one of these.”
I never owned one, but I grew up in 2 of them.
Dad owned a 1958 blue VW Beetle. Mom owned a 1968 white Beetle.
Loved em. Even with the lack of air conditioning. ( Summertime, Philly, yech. It’s incredible there was a Declaration of Independence at all. :eek: )
Loved crawling into the well behind the back seat as a small child. Many great memories of them. My Aunt Ruth owned a glossy black mid-60’s Beetle with the blood red vinyl interior. Wicked cool.
I owned a 1978 Rabbit, but it died a sad expensive death.
I am sorry they’re bailing on the model. They’re deathtraps, of course, like all small lightweight cars. So be it- I still loved them a LOT. Rode in one of the “new” Beetles only once. I liked it a lot !!
Sorry to see them go…
ETA: The battery ruptured in the '58 bug. Unseen for days, it leaked into the floor and ATE IT AWAY to a degree. Dad had to cut away the damage, mind the wiring hidden in there, and build a new floor. Out of wood. 
It’s Slug Bug, not Punch Buggy.
But my kids called it Punch Buggy. Sigh.
gImages of Slug Bug Ranch, in Conway TX. Conway is about 30 miles E of Amarillo (gMap, Google Maps).
I’ve had a few beetles
A Yellow 1967, with the big glass headlights
A Red 1970 with a 1600cc engine
A 1975 with a bosh fuel injected dual port and a porsche 914 5 speed transaxle (which entailed a little work to get functioning)
All of them had heat that would melt your face off.
People laugh about the beetles recycled exhaust heat system, but seem to not know they had cold weather heaters made by espacher, they worked very well and did not use much fuel, and if you were really paranoid, they would run on diesel (the heater not the car)
never bothered installing AC on one, just opened the wing vents.
Never had one fail outside of simply wearing it out.
Very cheap to rebuild the engine in one, and only takes 18 minutes to take the engine from the car to the kitchen table.
Back in car same day good as new.
I’d happily take one now