Personally, I've never liked them or their variants (small 'V', so no pun intended, VW aficionados!), but I know plenty do.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3102675.stm if you are interested.
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About time too.
Horrible horiible cars IMHO, noisy, cramped, uncomfortable and slow to name some of its attributes!
Paul.
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It is easy to derise the Beetle from today's lofty automotive engineering standpoint. What needs to be understood is that it was a car for its time (hence the name). When the British military restarted the production line after hostilities ended in 1945 it had a major impact on getting Germany's economy restarted. In an era of rickety underpowered British and French cars it was supremely reliable and solidly built (who remembers those VW ads that showed the Beetle so airtight it could float?)
Not only that their heaters used to work.
I have seen Beetles and Microbuses powering across deserts, across appalling corrugated dirt roads and through floods with almost as much ease as a 4WD in extreme temperatures and conditions without any overheating or serious mechanical problems. Any roadside wrencher in Turkey, Iran or Afghanistan could fix them if needed. Their contemporaneous British vehicles would have been hard put to match let alone beat that.
Interestingly I have just returned from Darwin, NT. There were any number of Beetles and Microbuses from the 1960's onwards laden to the gunwales with backpacker stuff after the obligatory drive around the country all travellers must do. Go into one of the internet joints and there on the board were ads for old VW's , must sell, owner leaving.
For at least 4 decades now since my Oz days the old custom has held good. Buy your Beetle in Perth or Adelaide, drive it around Oz. When you get to Darwin sell it and catch a plane to Timor or Bali. Your purchaser will do exactly the same in the reverse direction and sell it in Perth or wherever, where someone else will buy it and the cycle begins all over again. Some of those tortoises must have covered nigh on a million miles if not more.
The Beetle is not just a car it is a transportation icon, and I have no doubt will be in service for decades yet. As for GKV 12D, the interior of which was eaten by my Dalmatian, and whose oil warning light stayed on for all of the 30k or so miles I did in it, I've no doubt it's still puttering round somewhere.
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First encountered the early Beetle in Germany in 1948. Compared to an Austin 8 with which I was familiar, the thing was light years ahead. For a start, it could be driven flat out across the bumpy parts of the airfield where Jeeps had to be trundled slowly for fear of decanting occupants; the Austin would have broken its springs. And it was nippy enough for the time.
But would it have been any good if the British industry had not turned it down, and it had been thrown together in the UK?
Tomo as was!
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Well I loved them.
My first car was a 1200 Beetle (FPA 388J) my second car was a 1300 Beetle (NNU 797M) and my third car was a GT Beetle (UYG 694L)
The GT being the only one I ever managed to complete a full rebuild on.
We (club members and friends) had some great times at shows and events over the years, spending each May bank holiday on the treck down to Newquay for "Run To The Sun" and Bug Jam at Santa Pod raceway.
Yes they were cramped, slow and noisy. But we LOVED them.
There will be a small tear in the corner of my eye tonight as I look through my photo's.
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My first car was a german import LHD beetle BYE131H from about 1963 I think. I don't really remember it's noise, handling etc. objectively, I only remember it seeming streets ahead of my mate's morris minor. More comfortable, better driving position and much much better in the snow both for traction and heating/demisting, and a full-length Webasto sunroof for the summer.
The foot-operated reserve tank tap was in the middle of the footwell though, RHD drivers could kick the tap with the left foot when the engine faltered, and floor it with the right.
I think it's endemic to think that your first car was the best; rites of passage, freedom etc. But mine really was an excellent car and the best £125-worth I have ever spent on motoring.
Beetle RIP.
H.
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Stranger in a strange land
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Inevitable but sad that beetles should reach the end of the road eventually.
My first two cars were beetles. A nine year old 1300 followed by a new GT Beetle. Loved them both (especially the GT - wish I could find/afford a restored one now).
In those days (1970s) VW was streets ahead of the competition in terms of build quality and reliability.
Only the Japs, which were just beginning to appear in numbers, could rival them - but they were hideous to behold and horrendous to drive.
I also looked at Fords, Vauxhalls and so on in showrooms and was utterly appalled by the poor fit and finish of their offerings.
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The best selling car ever, it made a lot of friends :-)
According to Toyota, their Corolla is the best seller, VW built 21 million Beetles but Toyota are now on something like 25 million Corollas.
The first Beetle: www.serial-design.com/images/vw_1938.jpg
The last Beetle: www.zarwerks.com/last edition/dsc00710.jpg
There\'s only one component carried over between the oldest and the newest but it\'s still the same car.
This is the first Corolla: www.toyota.com.ve/images/tdv_cr_1rst.jpg
And the latest: tinyurl.com/if6k
Bearing in mind that the first Corolla was rear wheel drive and the newest is front wheel drive, is it the same car?
For most people a well developed modern car will be preferable so we will probably never see a car which lasts as long as the Beetle again.
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My message on the condolence card:
A Diddy car
Didnt go, didnt stop, didnt steer. From 1970 onwards a vastly inferior dog compared to those in the pack. Only the fact it was well built and reliable kept the mongrel alive (and when the Germans stopped building them, even that went out the window).
I for one will not mourn its passing.
(alas unlike Concorde - I shall miss that small noisy white bird when it goes)
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Never owned or driven one. Never been a passenger in one either come to that, but I still feel a bit of a twinge for sentimental reasons.
I wonder if the new model will now get a starring role in Herbie rides all over again? :)
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Morris 1000 was a superior car in all respects.
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A matter of opinion, surely?
They didn't make quite as many Moggies as Beetles though, did they? Could that be because the Beetle was the better car?
Technically superior, better built, more comfortable (for me) and longer lasting. The Beetle did it for me.
My late mum had 2 Moggies GWR 579C and HWR 44J (one of the last) and they both appeared thrown together. I stuffed GWR 579C into a wall one Christmas Eve, not out of spite, but by making a mistake. Cast a shadow over Christmas, it did. When it was delivered, HWR 44J had a list of faults as long as your arm. By the time they'd fitted the third dodgy fuel pump, Mum felt a need to go and bang her brolly on the sales manager's desk.
H.
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Stranger in a strange land
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Takes me back to my youth.
Riding my BSA Bantam, behind a Beetle.
He slowed down to let someone across a zebra (goodness knows what our colonials will think I'm on about there) and must have had a leak in his exhaust.
The resulting backfire made me think I'd been shot.
Stimulated an interest in VW's that I still haven't got over.
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Admirable though the latest Toyota Corolla is, it bears no resemblance to most of its forebears - whereas all air cooled Beetles obviously shared the same lineage.
Corolla is the best-selling 'name' rather than 'car'
Let's not forget here the Model T Ford which changed even less than the Beetle in the course of production.
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My second car was a 1200 Beetle in Anthracite grey. Cost new £624.00 in 1964 and was a lovely car.
So well made that to close the door you had to wind the window down to enable the air to escape.
Compared to the other cars on offer at the time the build quality was far in excess. Perhaps the best gearbox I have used and so easy to maintain. There used to be competitions on how fast an engine could be taken out and it was in minutes.
While most cars needed a decoke every 25k the beetle would run to 100k with little attention apart from oil changes.
And such backup from VW dealers. During its warranty period a part was needed and it was flown over from Wolfsburg overnight.
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Can anyone tell me one good attribute of this piece of junk on wheels?
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Erm yeah - they look like nice, friendly cars? I'd love one!
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If you're crazy enuff 2 pay the ridiculous prices that are asked 4 the things,then go ahead and make someones day!
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Sadly, Nitroburner, I am neither crazy enough nor well enough endowed in the wallet stakes....
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HF - I do think you've been on-line at the same time as me...again! Switch on your AOL!! :-)
Sorry, now, to try and say something on topic - a very old beetle used to get parked in our school car park, looked horrendous, sounded like a dog, and was in a rotten orange colour.
Basically I thought it was awful, can't say that I feel sad to see it end production... I would certainly never buy one if I had to buy a classic car...
Blue
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Yup, several. See remarks above on floods, bad roads etc. Carb way up on top of engine, good for floods, air-cooled, no boiling, engine removal around 20 mins, etc etc. When body falls apart (say about 35 years later long after its peers are taking up valuable landfill), can use the motor (still in good running order unlike your BMC's and Fords that needed a rebore and new crankshaft every 30 thousand miles, I know I sold enough recon kits) to make a trike special (Philippines).
As anti as I am towards the posturing greens with their covert agendas, I would say the Beetle is a car they should be loving along with their dustbin 2-CV's.
Oh, and yes. The designer. The eminent Dr Porsche. No Beetle to start the bloodline, no Porsche.
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