This is a story of a hate relationship---no love involved. All my career I've been told of how EASY VW Beatles are to work on. All I can say is a lot of people must have been dropped on their heads when they were babies. Everything from the funky fuses to the impossible convertible top belongs in a septic tank. It must know how I feel because even though it started dozens of times over the last 3 months it failed to do anything when the lady who owns it came to pick it up today. I guess it wants to torment me one more weekend. Did I mention I mildly dislike VW Beatles?
Never Again...Yea, right! Come on now...don't you know that there is a "VW Murphy" law in effect here? Or is it the "take it to the mechanic and everything works perfectly law" in effect? But the reverse...How many times have I taken something to someone and it has been not working or making a weird noise and then you get to the specialist and then "nothing". It works! Well, this is payback from the silent majority of the Auto World Death Shadow. Now, that is funny....payback in reverse! rod (oh, have a nice day anyway)
Herbie my first 65 VW beetle car brought me into another hight and gave me freedom in a teenaged world. I whas 18 back then . On the road we smoked some of the good stuf and asked some pretty chicks to come along the way The engine broke down in the Northern parts of norway . I hated that car the rest of my life as the situation became rather unpleasant , no more girls , train back home carying tons of luggage and pennyless for a long time on a low budget to repair that peece of shit. My father in Law had one to a 67 model wich he kept going fore many years , my wife and i used it for some years to , but man we where freezing inside driving in the forrest in winter. Somehow we kept warm . Some positive to say about the beetle is that you dont need seatbelts in it.Your ass freezes automaticly to its seats. You can use it as a wheelbarrow if you have a good grip around the pipes. Ferdinant Porsche whom designed and develloped the first Beetle made Hitler look like an industrial hero , wich offcourse he was`nt. Hitler whas just a smartass in his alliance with the Wolfsburg factory during the 30-tees when unemployment and depression rouled in the whole of europe. He gave People work in a pre war factory and the workers got food on the table. VW kept the production alive for more then sixty years , so the car whas`nt that bad afterall. The cabrio car your showing Evan is that a midt 70 model? Whas that particulair car maybe made in Mexico on lisence ? Many where imported from Germany to the US as they where pretty populair in Your country. Deutcher sprache boefernole Martinius
Probably so Martinius. Hitler did a good job of promoting & capitalizing on Porsche's VW bug design..... AKA " The People's Car "
"Some positive to say about the beetle is that you dont need seatbelts in it.Your ass freezes automaticly to its seats. You can use it as a wheelbarrow if you have a good grip around the pipes." Funny! It was a very versitile vehicle...it would give certain people lots of entertainment....as a game of slug bug call out game...as a spoof on wino or loaded friends who were never quite there, in moving it or turning it around just for the fun of it...or as payback if they were not just weird friends, but someone you needed to get back at, by moving it on top of a rock or playground equipment...and of course, as a "real intelligence test" not one of these modern ones that call it an IQ number, how many people....as in an average person-3 or 4, a little smarter person-5 or 6, and a slightly smarter person-7-8, and really smart pserson could get 9 or more into the drive-in under the "price." rod
I think the VW bug I owned had one of the best heating systems I ever experienced in a car. The VW bug heating system was hooked up to the exhaust system via a pair of "heat exchangers".... this heating system had the capability of melting your shoes if you had them too close to the heater outlets near the floor .... ruined a few shoes that way. Only drawback to the VW heating system was.... the heat exchangers were prone to leak & that resulted in raw exhaust fumes being dumped into the heater vents..... had that happen too & I lived to tell about it.
The heating system leaking was a reason a few of my Hebrew Friends parents would not let them own or ride in any of the VW bugs.
Good one Charles... Here is a " blast from the past " for you Charles.... May be a little too far west for Nate to remember but here is my old VW shot on Valley Circle just south of Roscoe before it was paved.... the street was lined with palm trees & there where corn fields on either side of the road back then....
Those were fun years in the Valley when a lot of the streets were still dirt. The Street I lived on in near San Fernando High was dirt up until they built the condo and apartments. Thanks for the posting the photo.
Promoting postwar VW Beetle It was not Hitler himself that promoted the Volkswagen beetle during the sec. world war but rather his NS propoganda minister Joseph Goebels. It whas Hitlers fundings program to let germans buy the car for a 1000 RM. 350000 germans put aside 5 RM every month into this funding program. He raised the Money devellopping a car factory in Wolfsburg.The money to devellop the Volkswagen beetle further came from private NS sympathisers , stolen goods, corruptive activitees, fundings and fresh capital through stahl industry located in der Ruhr gebiedt , sales of stock marked bonds and foreign colony gold reserves .The Reichsmark whas germanees valuta at that time but had low international marked values. Germany whas the leading heavy industrial postwar country in europe but the first and second world war ruined there economy entirely. This is some of the history behind it ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen Martinius.
Beetle heating systems VW Beetle heating sirguit; The oldest beetle cars used cardboard/asbestos flexible hoses from there outlets. This soluton whas rather poor as water damp easely damaged the hoses. Later on factorees modified the hoses with steelthread inforced types. The latest 70 tees models cars used a combination of plastic steelthread inforced hoses or aluminum thread. The heat exchanger whas installed in the cars boot provided to work on the cars petrol gas. This whas an extra asssoires here in europe and expensive to buy , i am not shore if that whas the same in the US ? Without the heating exchanger the car had poor heating. Martinius.
Yeah, the same kind of heating system in most single-engine airplanes. Blew a hole in a Cessna 172 muffler one summer day, got real sleeeee-py. And, remember, the Germans also had some Bad-Ass tanks and came up with the first fighter jet.
Those Damned VOLKSWAGENS ! LOL ~ Evan , I feel your pain . VW's , like French cars are designed and built ' differently ' and until I stopped and re thought my ways of approaching Auto Repair , I too hated them , then I just did it the German way and VIOLA ! no more hassles and dead easy to fix , anywhere , any time . When Joe was driving that '71 (?) I was bombing around in a '55 Oval window Beetle with non synchro tranny and 36 HP engine . I can't say I remember going to Valley Circle back then Joe . The heaters were great in the South Western U.S.A. but elsewhere in America you have to keep right on top of them or you'd freeze . My VW's were always toasty warm inside . The Eberspacher gas heater was an expen$ive option in America, quite a few were sold as gas heaters (notably the " South Wind") were quite popular in the 1930's and 1940's and they didn't reduce the fuel economy very much . Martinus ; Cabriolets were never assembled by VW Do Mexico . Like all German vehicles , Air Cooled VW's require a lot of routine maintenance or they get unreliable quickly . 1930's Technology at it's very best IMO .
It was a '68 Nate {first year for the new style bumpers }.... back then me & my high school buddies fixed up early 50's splits & ovals & we sold them off in the special area of the Pomona swapmeet that had the south end roped off for VW's & Porsche's only. Man... I still would love to get my hands on a war era Kubel bodied VW Bug...... http://www.tankmodel.com/VW82e.htm Now days..... bugs are used as decoration more than anything you can drive around....
Historic article about VW split/kubel Joe Thank you fore the VW article . This is very intresting Reading Martinius.
Herbie my first car. Found the Picture i have been looking for today. My first VW car 67 1300 coach but with a smaller Porsche engine and twin carbs.It stil have the dutch License plates on it as i imported the car from holland. Martinius.
That's a wild lookin' fairing on the engine lid Martinius. And I like the chrome single exhaust header.
