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Have you ever owned a VW Beetle?

Did you ever own a VW Beetle?

  • Yep, sure did.

    Votes: 199 73.7%

  • Nope

    Votes: 44 16.3%

  • I've got a New Beetle does that count?

    Votes: 7 2.6%

  • I had some other kind of aircooled boxer motor like a Porsche or a Bus

    Votes: 20 7.4%
  • Total voters
    270
schweinweg said:
hasn't everyone owned one at one time?
Click to expand...
No!! But my first car (shared with my brother) was a '64 microbus. My Father bought my mother a '67 convertable and complained about the extra $300 for the drop top. The bug was $1,995 and the convertable was $2,300. That convertable is now in my niece's garage in Platteville, WI and she uses it in the summer months only.

So no, I never owned a beatle, but I drove that 67 convertable a lot.

tb
 
Nein. But my first car was a '71 Datsun 1200 coupe . Not to be confused with the later Datsun B210/210. I loved that car. No power anything, no A/C, 1200 cc engine, manual choke, four speed with a long sloppy throw. You could crawl in under the bonnet and close it after you. Super simple. How simple, you ask? I could work on it . . . *gasp*
Man, I miss that little car.
I think they still race them in Oz.

/Hijack off
 

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Biggest car mistake I ever made. In 1961 when I got my first job that required a car, my dad and I went shopping. First stop was a VW dealer, he insisted I buy a new bug for about $1500-out the door. I hesitated and went to the Brit car store next door. Saw a really neat Austin A-55, four door sedan, neat roomy (for an Austin) interior, and a very well appointed and equipped interior. Price, out the door: $1350. Being very cheap, needing every penny to survive, I got the Austin. Short version: in less than a year the engine went south, the body rusted out, and most of the electrical (good old Lucas) crashed.

Big lesson learned, cheaper is never better in cars. Traded this lemon on a new beetle and lived happily ever after for at least 100K miles.
 
I have a 64 sunroof Bug with 66k original miles on it.

4082850095_b8a0c08b17.jpg
 
I had a '68, '70, '74 Super Beetle purchased new for $2700, a '72 bus and a VW powered Bradley GT. The Bradley was sold to allow purchase of a '74 R90S.
 
Wifey had two Super Beetles, and several Micro Busses... Note the past tense.

Pros:

They were cheap.
Engine swaps were easy.
The twin tailpipes were as convenient as wheelbarrel handles so I could lift up the engine for her to wedge a hairbrush under after mounting bolts kept shearing off, which in turn caused generator drive belts to fly off and leave you immobilised after battery ran out.
Good heat in the summertime.
Good A/C in winter.
Wiper/washer don't overload electrical system; drain air from spare tire instead.
Air in spare tire always fresh, or you can't see in the rain; usually when you get a flat.
Get to meet people when the fuel indicator doesn't.
Hot ignition lead easy to get to and tear off when it bursts into flames.
No wasting money on silly oil filters, they don't have any. Hence knowledge of engine swaps.
If you're military; guaranteed participation in "Operation Goldenflow" after search dog alerts on every single VW you drive to work.

Cons:

See above.
 
Yup, a '69 and a '73 Beetle, and a '57 Transporter project that I unfortunately had to abandon. I really wanted to get that old bus rolling.

Airhead forever! :dance
 
36654 said:
What kind of micrometer do they use to measure snow depth in Arlington:)
Click to expand...

It was during one of the twice a season snows where nearly an inch and a half fell. Funny thing is, life still goes on and you have to get where you're going. Here in the Triangle, half that much snow shuts down the whole area!

:laugh
 
Yep, back in the 60's in Germany. Also had an air-cooled Porsche in the 80's. The engine caught fire on a very hot day in IN. The rebuild was injection.
 
We had a '73 Super Beetle Sport, bright yellow, my Mom had a '74 Sun Bug, and my Mother-in-law had a Karmann Ghia way back in the 50's. My new car is a '13 Beetle TDI.
 
At our club meeting last Sunday, I asked how many in attendance owned a VW, almost every single person raised their hand.

Something about those boxer engines, I guess.

Nice to see this old thread continue.
 
Owned a VW

Yes, there is something about those Boxer engines. My wife and I each owned a Beetle when we got married in 1981, we took my 73 on the honeymoon. Since then, have gone to Toyota for daily, high mile, use, but still keep some sort of old VW around for fun. After restoring and winning many VW shows with our cars, we now have a 73 Thing in better than new condition. My grandfather started this obsession in me when I was just a kid, he had a 1957, and thought it was the best engineered vehicle on the road.
 
By far the worst car I've owned but it would run in a state of mechanical degadation that would stop most stuff- once drove it 1500 miles with only 1 bank of cylinders working- talk about underpowered..
The broken kingpins get annoying as did the complete lack of reesisitance to rusting out- but at least hole finally rusted through by the rear seat so that water that ran in under the gas pedal and had a tendency to freeze and stick the pedal to the floor could just run out that back..
No heat, no defogging, learning to shift with one hand, wipe the inside of the windshiled with the other while steering with a knee..

When I was young and dirt poor it was OK. Today I wouldn't take one for free...
 
LOL! I remember those days well! My '73 left me stranded in some of the worst areas. In addition to the no heat (in winter I'd wear a snowmobile suit if I had to drive very far), I remember scraping ice off the inside of the windshield to see where I was going. The fuel gage gave out and I had to keep a mileage log and a careful eye on the odometer. Even still, I 'd run out of gas on occasion, usually in a scary area with no help nearby. I took to keeping a full jerry can in the trunk. We also suffered a broken crank shaft and a broken torsion bar. We ended up giving our mechanic a key. He'd get to the shop on Monday morning to find the bug parked out front and give us a call to see what was wrong with it now. When we finally couldn't take it any more, one of his staff bought it from us, probably for parts.

Oddly enough, I ADORED that car!
 
I used a Coleman catalytic heater in our VW van during the winter. Of course it put out tremendous amounts of water vapor so you had to drive with the windows down. :banghead
 
1st car I actually bought was a 6yr-old 1964 40hp beetle for $400. Really not a very good car, but it ran and I learned how to shift and wrench on it. Last year I bought a brand new 40hp boxer Ural for about 40 time more $$$! The 2 are pretty similar in top speed, acceleration, strange handling, 1930ish-engineering, I must be reliving my childhood.
 
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