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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
Remembering the VW Beetle

The wife had our two kids in the back, and our son started complaining that the seat was "hot" "Shut up" he was told. Soon the interior was filled with smoke.
The (steel) sprung seat had shorted the battery, after the cover was dislodged.
This must have happened to others.
An interesting fact - the dune buggy racing guys would often use the 1200cc gearbox (3 speed I think) and rear drive - but mated to fire-breathing V8's and rotary engines - claimed they where unbreakable!
 
Everyone's talking about the "lack of heat" these little cars had.
I remember "oh so well", to literally having to scrape the Frost off the inside of the windshield from your breath freezing up.
:help

I found a simple solution to the heat issue. I simply closed the air flaps on the engine air jacket with sheet metal screws in the Fall and reopened them in the Spring. Worked like a charm.
 
have you ever owned a VW bettle

My first post.

The first one was a 66 then I moved onto a 68. My first van was a 72. Boy, I loved those vehicles. I spoted this one in lower SC, a 90 camper. If it could talk, the fun I had in that van. I went many years without a VW and just 3mo's ago. I found a the new style bettle 98 TDI, with less than 18k on it. It is a joy to ride, I call it my poor man's "Porsche". I love riding my LT but nothing beats the fun of driving a VW in heavy traffic. Tk's for the chance of re-living the past and good times. MK:laugh
 
First car

Straight out of the Corps, paid $450 for a 1962 blue beetle. Dependable but no heater, sort of like riding my roadster.
 
My Aunt had a Beetle when I was a kid... it was the first stick shift I can recall riding in. I remember it being fun to drive in, but never really considered owning one. Until 2001. The new Beetle had an attraction for me and I grew interested in one. A friend bought the TDI version and while it was nice, it couldn't compare to the pickup of a gas turbo engine (though that 48 MPG the diesel got was rather appealing). I found a beautiful silver one that was a pre-release sport model (which didn't come out until 2002 officially) and couldn't pass it up. It had loads of room (I'm 6'3" tall), got terrific gas mileage (32+MPG), I was single and didn't care about more than 1 passenger, and with a rear spoiler I added, it was really sporty looking. The only trouble I had with it was two ignition coils dying, covered under warranty. Otherwise a great little car. Three years later, I sold it for $2000 less than I paid because demand was still pretty high for them.

bug.jpg
 
I had a '65 (same year as me) with a crank sunroof. I like the looks of the older ones with the glass over the headlights. The split windows and big fabric sunroofs were cool too!
I was driving around town one day and someone coming towards me in the other lane launched a water grenade (a green water balloon shaped like a hand grenade) at me. It hit the lower drivers side windshield shattering it and cutting my knuckles. I never did find the pranksters.
Anyone else notice if their bikes sound like those old bugs? My 84 R80RT sounds just like what I remember the bug sounded like!
 
This oughta stir up a few memories. I learned SO much from working on my beetles and this book.


51763C0VTGL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

So where did you get that fancy full color version of the bible? Mine is black and white and spiral bound. Also quite greasy on most pages and dog eared.
My first beetle was in '68 when I bought a '61 beetle. No fuel guage, reserve lever on the firewall hump. I put Keystone Mags, 14" Goodyears and of course the adapters for the bolt up. Junior year of high school.
Our first family car was in '73 when we bought a '68 nine passenger bus. Took many camping trips in Southern California with that one. Couple of years later we had a '72 Super Beetle. Got away from VW's till a few years ago when my wife had two Super Beetles, one was a Turbo. Now she's settled into her new Jetta and loving it.
 
So where did you get that fancy full color version of the bible? Mine is black and white and spiral bound. Also quite greasy on most pages and dog eared.


Spiral bound, the deluxe edition! Mine fell apart at the binding, plus one chapter (if memory serve, chapter 8?) is all covered in grease. I still have that book somewhere....

The pic has been lifted from the amazon.com site.

I remember running out of gas on my 55 and/or 58. Managed to flip the lever while still going 45+ mph, difficult to do given you have to practically lay on the seats. Started right back up though!
 
I remember seeing that book in stores when I was a kid. I often think of it when I see Aeroflow ads.
 
OK, Cliffy made me do it. There's a discussion going on about tools and it turns out a bunch of folks have owned Beetles. The question was posted, "I wonder how many BMW riders have owned a Beetle?"

So, have you?

:dunno

I owned four of them. '68 (which my brother inherited when I moved to California), a '70 which was crunched parked outside of my apartment, a '74 Super Beetle and an auto-stick (can't remember the year wanna say 76 but I don't think thats right). I loved them all with the exception of the auto-stick. I remember the first time I drove it I went to shift from low to high and slammed the brake thinking it was the clutch... I think I still have the VW emblem embossed on my chest :)
 
In the early 1979 I purchased a '66 Beetle for $50. It had been sitting in this lady's driveway for about a year, but I was able to get it started and air in the tires. As I was backing it out of the driveway, I stepped on the brakes and the pedal went right to the floor. I drove it home, about 50 miles, with no brakes (well only a hand brake). I was following my dad in his pick-up, he said if I had to stop in an emergency to hit him. Stepping back a minute; the lady I brought it from felt kind of bad that the car had no brakes and no gas that she followed us to the gas station down the street and filled up the tank. (about $10) After I got the car home I was cleaning it up and I found all sorts of change, tools, and maps under the seats and floor mats. The joke in our family was that car only cost me $34.50. Here's the kicker. I put Continental radial ($75 each in 1979) tires on it and drove the car 30k+ miles over the next three years. If any of you are familiar with that vintage Bug, will know that was before they got heavy with all the safety and emissions stuff. That car was so light the tires barely wore. The guy I eventually sold the car to thought the tires were brand new. I told him how old they were, but he didn't believe me. Sold it for $600. Wish I could find a couple more deals like that.
Jeff
 
My first car was a 63 VW with a slider sun roof. My wifes first car 1969 VW. Latter on in our marriage we had a 73 Super Beetle with a sun roof. I restored a 68 convertible, a 57 oval window, a 69 Camper Van and a 67 Beetle . We lovde them all . Loads of fun and easy to work on.:german
 
My father bought a new 1971 Beetle for $1800, in the worst shade of light yellow. The dealer also had a red one for sale, but my dad thought the black interior would be too hot in the eastern Washington summer, so he bought the ugly yellow one. We still tease him about that. :laugh

He drove it 14 miles a day to work for over a decade, and eventually taught both my sister and I how to drive with it. I took it over full-time in 1982, and then my sister took it from me in 1984. I spent hours keeping the ugly paint looking beautiful (back when you could wax a car and actually see results), and it never let us down. I remember being small enough to actually ride in the parcel shelf behind the rear seats!

When my sister graduated from HS in 1986 and headed to college, my father took a job overseas. We decided to sell the Beetle and keep the more modern Mazda GLC, and the first person who showed up to look drove off with it. It might still be in Spokane for all we know. My sister drove the Mazda for two months before it expired in a heap of flames, and ended up with a brand new VW Golf. Dammit. :p

Now we have a bay-window Westy that is even older than the Beetle. I was thinking fondly of the old days last Saturday afternoon........while my wife was towing me and the bus back home after the fuel pump expired.
 
My fellow Americans (or not) may I say to you that I love this thread. Thanks to Kbasa for starting it and to whomever had the bright idea to re-start it.
When I have to drive something with 4 wheels I bought a snappy '87 Ford Ranger with the really baaaaad salmon/green paint job, BUT what I really wanted was a Bug. They are mighty hard to find around here. I found one but it was beyond my ability to make workable. It had a Fred Flintstone floor and electrical problems and the seats were doo-doo. Dang.
My wife told me about one that was for sale by the road last week about 2 miles from the house and by the time I went to look at it........gone!
 
When I hit 40, I decided I needed to bump up my student loan balance a bit, and started back at night to school at CSU working on a degree.

Somehow I acquired a VW bus about 84-85 model I forget?, but with all the bells and whistles, everything from the little cab heater that ran on gasoline (Scary) to the fridge and sink and cook stove topped off with the raise and lower topper! All canvas was included, and I loved my little study hall on wheels!

Gutless? Absolute! Required fixing? 84 bus in 95 yep needs parts all the time!

I had more fun with that thing! Wish I had a picture!
 
My project this Christmas is to scan the old family photos and compile them onto CD's for everyone, and eventually (I won't get them ALL scanned before this Christmas) produce a DVD with background music. While scanning, I ran across a photo of my earliest experience with a Beetle and recalled this thread, I think I was 1 (2 more likely?) year old...

beetle.jpg
 
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My first car was a 1969 Bug convertible - my Dad had bought it new and rarely used it so it was in pretty good shape for sitting around collecting dust for 15 years. Still miss that car.
 
love those bugs

My first car was a 60 Bug. I started driving in 1974 so it was well used by then. It even had a sunroof. No fuel gauge, just flip a lever with my foot when it started to run out of gas and wait for the engine to start running again. We gave it to someone who made a dune buggy out of it. Second car was a 70 VW bus. Lots of room but no power. Third car was a 74 Super Beetle. I wish I still had that one. Those were the last cars I ever worked on myself.

Mark
 
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