VW Bug Discontinued ... For Now
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The Beetle has been out of production for a few years Tom. The Mexican government changed the laws regarding taxis (which they were primarily used for), something about emissions and four doors I think. I was lucky enough to see one of the last ones in the Vatican Museum of all places. There is a small annex with carriages and whatnot, and there in the middle was this white Beetle, a gift from Mexico to the pope.
Beetles started my interest/obsession with VWs. That was 30 years ago. I'd love to pick up a classic one someday.
Beetles started my interest/obsession with VWs. That was 30 years ago. I'd love to pick up a classic one someday.
Mike, I think he is talking about the new Beetles, the water cooled version. They will still make them up and through this year, and stop.
Did you guys have one of these? I was working nights at Kinkos and made posters from some of the cool graphics to hang in the barn where I used to keep the spare Bugs and did most of the big mechanical work.
BTW, never weld a VW air cooled engine. It is made of magnesium and will burn as hot as the sun, with no way to put it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65d_pNVdcrM
Did you guys have one of these? I was working nights at Kinkos and made posters from some of the cool graphics to hang in the barn where I used to keep the spare Bugs and did most of the big mechanical work.
BTW, never weld a VW air cooled engine. It is made of magnesium and will burn as hot as the sun, with no way to put it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65d_pNVdcrM
Hey , I think I may have read that book. Some cool stories , folklore , about guys swapping engines in minutes and rolling the bug on its side to work on it.
Anyone remember the Corvair , air cooled mid engine experiment from the 70s. They were nicknamed ‘flipper’.
Anyone remember the Corvair , air cooled mid engine experiment from the 70s. They were nicknamed ‘flipper’.
Ah, my apologies Tom. Yes the end of water cooled models as production ends this upcoming summer.
If I did not already have a classic Mustang, I’d find a restored Bug or a mid sixties Lincoln...I love how bugs are easily modified and unique. The newer bug only appealed to me with the current generation. The previous was a bit too feminine.
My first car was a Kubelwagen. Bug engine... and same issues with accelerator and clutch being activated by wires. I had a spare accelerator wire in my car all the time, in case it snapped on me in some faraway place. Loved that car. My mum recently had it restored.
When I was a young copper I had silhouettes of the bug on my car door, one for every ten citations issued. For some reason, "bug" drivers merited a lot of tickets. Chief made me stop after ten. I never figured out if the VW attracted poor drivers or poor drivers were attracted to the "bug." But, anecdotally, "bug" drivers ranked right up there with GTO and SS Chevelle drivers for attracting attention with their driving techniques. I can't think of a speeding citation for a "bug" though. The only common denominator was the youth of the drivers.
We had '73 and '74 Super Beetles. The '73 was lowered, had Empi wheels, nerf bars, Cal-look theme. It was our daily driver in the 80's. I need to dig up a picture. I used to go to the Richmond VA annual "Bug Out" VW show every May. One year, I bolted on a newly purchased exhaust right in the parking lot.
I dropped the motor in my gravel driveway, on my chest and wrestled it out from under the car. Installed a new clutch and put her back in place.
I dropped the motor in my gravel driveway, on my chest and wrestled it out from under the car. Installed a new clutch and put her back in place.
Here's a pic of a 2004 Mexican Type 1 Beetle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle_in_Mexico#/media/File:Sedan_Ultima_Edicion_2.jpg
Link to the A1 Citi Golf made through 2010. I'd like an R model, please!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Citi_Golf
Looks like they stopped making the Chinese A2s in 2010 or 2012, tough to find info on these.
The facelifts look pretty bad.
Cut & paste this link including the (China) part...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta_(China)
Problem with bringing any of these in to the USA when they are less than 25 years old, is that you're probably not going to buy enough of them to first let the gov't crash-test them. And then they still probably wouldn't let any of these in, at least not without extensive safety modifications. Otherwise people probably would bring them in and do post-date engine & harness swaps with no problems passing emissions if done right. That stuff's relatively easy to do.
More fun stuff: There were originally plans for an A2 VR6 for the showrooms, but it liked to flip itself in testing during hard cornering, due to the extra weight up front. You can find factory pics out there of an A2 engine bay with a VR6 in it, and factory pics of the test car mid-air above the test track, doing a barrel-roll.
There were also plans for a US A3 2.0 16v with the ABF ECU, but the 2.8 VR was barely quicker & probably didn't handle as well due to the extra weight out front, so that would have looked pretty bad when the VR car would have cost relatively more. I think that's why the A3s in Europe got a 2.9 VRs a year after the 2.0 16v came out over there. Although they might have been reserved for the Highline models with the 4WD Syncro system, I don't remember. I know that some of the later Euro Corrado Storm editions got the 2.9 with the special high-flow intake manifold. The US A3s got the 2.0 8v, & the 2.8 12v VR6 with the more restrictive intake mani compared to the unit on the Euro 2.9s, and you could get a 2.0 16v engine in the US for at least a couple years in the B3/B4 Passats, although I don't think that it had the desirable ABF electronics. I used to know all of this stuff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle_in_Mexico#/media/File:Sedan_Ultima_Edicion_2.jpg
Link to the A1 Citi Golf made through 2010. I'd like an R model, please!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Citi_Golf
Looks like they stopped making the Chinese A2s in 2010 or 2012, tough to find info on these.
The facelifts look pretty bad.
Cut & paste this link including the (China) part...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Jetta_(China)
Problem with bringing any of these in to the USA when they are less than 25 years old, is that you're probably not going to buy enough of them to first let the gov't crash-test them. And then they still probably wouldn't let any of these in, at least not without extensive safety modifications. Otherwise people probably would bring them in and do post-date engine & harness swaps with no problems passing emissions if done right. That stuff's relatively easy to do.
More fun stuff: There were originally plans for an A2 VR6 for the showrooms, but it liked to flip itself in testing during hard cornering, due to the extra weight up front. You can find factory pics out there of an A2 engine bay with a VR6 in it, and factory pics of the test car mid-air above the test track, doing a barrel-roll.
There were also plans for a US A3 2.0 16v with the ABF ECU, but the 2.8 VR was barely quicker & probably didn't handle as well due to the extra weight out front, so that would have looked pretty bad when the VR car would have cost relatively more. I think that's why the A3s in Europe got a 2.9 VRs a year after the 2.0 16v came out over there. Although they might have been reserved for the Highline models with the 4WD Syncro system, I don't remember. I know that some of the later Euro Corrado Storm editions got the 2.9 with the special high-flow intake manifold. The US A3s got the 2.0 8v, & the 2.8 12v VR6 with the more restrictive intake mani compared to the unit on the Euro 2.9s, and you could get a 2.0 16v engine in the US for at least a couple years in the B3/B4 Passats, although I don't think that it had the desirable ABF electronics. I used to know all of this stuff.
American car makers struggled for decades to manufacture subcompacts that could compete with the VW bug and some other "foreign" subcompacts. Most were pretty awful, like the Pinto and the Cavelier. The Corvair had a fatal flaw or two, literally, but had a worthy air-cooled engine and some other virtues. The U.S. makers could never make any money with small cars, or not enough. GM made a valorous effort with its Saturn series, and some of those cars ran well past ten years on the road, but never turned a big profit. I smile today when six cylinders is mentioned as a big engine. Those were the family car work horses when my dad was buying a long series of used cars as family transportation. Other than the Lincoln, I think Ford is out of the car business and everything is trucks and SUV's. Not a compact, but Ford Taurus was an unheralded work horse, and many of those cars reached the twenty year mark and beyond, long after they were consigned to fleet and rental use. Car mags and CR dissed them almost from the beginning, but they hung on, and some still do.
I read The VW Beetle Is Dead Because They Made It Too Good article a week ago and thought about my favorite ad which was also included in the article:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGN4J6F_vI
I remember watching a documentary (in the beginning of 2000s) about the world's bestselling cars. Beetle was the 2nd place right after Ford Model T. Apparently, during the WW2 Hitler asked Ferdinand Porsche to work on a simple car and his team came up with the idea of Beetle. The car was designed as a square box, but the sharp corners were replaced with round edges by Hitler himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGN4J6F_vI
I remember watching a documentary (in the beginning of 2000s) about the world's bestselling cars. Beetle was the 2nd place right after Ford Model T. Apparently, during the WW2 Hitler asked Ferdinand Porsche to work on a simple car and his team came up with the idea of Beetle. The car was designed as a square box, but the sharp corners were replaced with round edges by Hitler himself.
Speaking of Corvairs, back in the 70's, a friend of mine had 3 of them in various conditions in his back yard.
We spent one long week-end in Silver City, Ms. overhauling the engine in a '69 Monza. We started on a Friday and come Monday, we had the motor back in and running. We also had a large coffee can crammed full of various sized sundries and bolts.
Mind you, there may have been some alcohol involved in this.
Regardless, our work held true and that Monza burned down Hwy. 49 for years to come.
We spent one long week-end in Silver City, Ms. overhauling the engine in a '69 Monza. We started on a Friday and come Monday, we had the motor back in and running. We also had a large coffee can crammed full of various sized sundries and bolts.
Mind you, there may have been some alcohol involved in this.
Regardless, our work held true and that Monza burned down Hwy. 49 for years to come.
Absolutely right, Cosmic, how could I forget to mention that?! And the smart-aleck bumper stickers: "You have just been Volkswagened - passed by 40 hp."
I know bluto's comment about the Corvair must have been a 1-digit typo, since they were actually early 60s. The Corvair was great (Monza/Spyder in particular), but like the bug & Porsche ("Por-sha," if you please.) they just weren't for the average American driver, who'd been coddled by wretched-excess understeering marshmallow-ride bulgemobiles***. Push a Corvair too fast into a corner, & if you were lucky the rear end was the *only* thing that broke loose! For people who actually Knew How To Drive, though, it was a lovely machine.
*** -- I know there have to be a few people who automagically thought of Bruce McCall there. McCall, God love him, is a writer/artist for Car&Driver, National Lampoon, & New Yorker. He's great at retro-futurism & parody, specifically his series on "Bulgemobiles" in the early 70s NatLamp. You can see them & some of his aircraft renditions here -- bruce mccall, natlamp, bulgemobile, national lampoon Trust me, they're funny!!!
Yep, there has yet to be a car that was as easy to maintain yourself as a Bug, or even the vans. Even motorcycles nowadays are more complicated and difficult to maneuver than a Bug. Every year, more complex computers, complex everythings. Tuning up a Bag was as simple as loosening the screw on the distributor, and turning it till the engine sounded like it was running smoothly, and then tighten the screw, voila. Now, you need a computer and special tools that cost a fortune.
Yeah, Michael, & before there were bee-on-steroids "tuners" there were the bugs & Formula Vee. With them there was always a place for the hobbyist, even one with a thin wallet. The exhaust note on those things was unmistakable, a flatulent chainsaw. Serious Fundays.
In fairness to American auto makers, some of the subcompact imports were absolutely dismal. Yugo comes to mind. And my all time least favorite, the Renault Dauphin, which came apart fifteen minutes after it left the dealer; the interior of those transcended cheap. Sorry if there are any Dauphin fans here; I'd be interested to hear any redemptive details. I think they sold as being alternatives to the VW bug, NOT!
Oh, God, the Dauphine. Where to start? The doors wouldn't stay open, not the car to drive if you wore anything over a size 9 shoe, underpowered/rotten gearing ("highway speed"? HA!!!!).... Still, it WAS cute, quintessentially French (with all the good/bad that connotes), & different. Lovable in the sense of a pitiful orphaned 3-legged puppy, but like the 2CV Toad drove in American Graffiti, definitely not conducive to any kind of respect from anybody.
There were some really cruddy imports back in the seminal day; the Dauphine was two of them.
There were some really cruddy imports back in the seminal day; the Dauphine was two of them.
For its own consumption, France produced some sturdy frumpy little cars that needed continual patching but last forever. But I have to suspect that the Dauphine was a joke by France at U.S. expense. It didn't last long, but I think I heard distinct hearty gaffaws in the background. No one close to me every owned one, but i had an acquaintance whose dad bought one, and a few rides made it clear what it was. It was worse than the Yugo because everyone knew the Yugo was a loser, and a few bought it perversely for that reason. The Dauphine was sold as a continental treat. OMG.
Got it dead-on, Tom, 100%. Renault made some good cars, but it seemed like every decade they had One Really Bad one to foist on us. Remember Le Car? (I don't count Alliance since it was made in Kenosha.)
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