VW Bug Discontinued ... For Now

[cosmicfolklore]

Mentioning weird things...

remember the 1974, V8 stock, Gremlin X? Power, speed, and ugly. I had a friend whose older brother had one. 0-100 in seconds, but the car didn't always go in the direction that you intended. Squirrely as shit.

 

[warren]

One word: Simca!
My first car. It hit on two out of four cylinders when I purchased it. Had to go up a hill in reverse on the way home from the dealership. Great price though and real learning experience.

 

[mso489]

Simca. Holey-moley, that brings back memories from just after the Big Bang. Or maybe that was Simca backfiring.

 

[bluto]

Thé vw compact opposed 4 cylinder engine , designed for simplicity and lots of surface area for air cooling , lives on in the Subaru boxer engine . They wanted a flat engine for transverse mounting and a lower center of gravity and so adopted the German idea . Millions of engines later , it still works brilliantly.

 

[ssjones]

Millions of engines later , it still works brilliantly.

Subaru, not by my watch. My Forester 2.5 was the worst car I've ever owned. The valve cover seals leaked on numerous occasions, and finally, out of warranty, I replaced them myself, which required jacking the motor up out of the mounts to get clearance to remove the valve covers. My neighbor is on the 3rd motor in his Forester, two replaced due to massive oil consumption. I traded mine after making the repair.

 

[bnichols23]

Oh, yeah, Simca. Makes me think of other brands not always fondly remembered, like DKW, Borgward, & of course the two classic Italian mechanic's nightmares, Alfa Romeo & Lancia!

 

[warren]

Oh, yeah, Simca. Makes me think of other brands not always fondly remembered, like DKW, Borgward, & of course the two classic Italian mechanic's nightmares, Alfa Romeo & Lancia!

Sad but true, as over the years some of the best looking cars, to my eye, have been wearing one of those two marques.

 

[jpmcwjr]

.... of course the two classic Italian mechanic's nightmares, Alfa Romeo & Lancia!

Actually, the mechanic's dream car: steady stream of income.....

 

[checotah]

Did you guys have one of these?

Yup, had that same book, Cosmic.
Had a '73 Super Beetle & was a great car! Lost it in a divorce....
Had a '69 Beetle with reversed chrome rim extra wide rear wheels & narrow rim fronts. It sat outside during the winter and I had to put place mats on the front windshields to keep the frost off over night because the defroster was basically MIA. Regularly had to drive to work through the freezing fog with the driver's window down and an ice scraper in my left hand, scraping the window every few miles. Was really happy when I got a company car with a real heater/defroster...

 

[bluto]

Yup , I had a couple Subaru’s , my forester had the same oil issue and the dealer completely rebuilt my engine for free.
It came down to a couple problems , one was the valve cover seal leaking and the other was oil spray inside the Crankcase causing wear.
Pretty sure those issues are resolved now , Subaru also had a notorious rust problem early on , but millions in research spending solved that one also.

 

[pappymac]

The Corvair wasn’t as bad as people think. Ralph Nader killed the Corvair and then years later it was proven he was wrong. I personally only knew of one to flip over and that was because a big car rear ended it on a banked curve coming off the interstate.

 

[pappymac]

My source for the above statement was the 1972 report by Texas A&M for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.. it concludes that the Corvair was no more likely to roll over than its contemporaries in the small car market.

 

[ssjones]

My father had a '69 Monza Sypder, that he dearly loved. I was only 8, but I don't recall it having any issues.

 

[mso489]

My buddy's grandfather liked to drive us to high school in his Corvair. He was a freight solicitor for a trucking company, and he was well past retirement age. The car was sporty and sounded nifty and I always enjoyed riding in it. It served its owner well for many years. His schedule changed, and we got a little older, so the rides ended after freshmen year, and I'd often ride the public bus after that. Ralph Nader seemed to me to have many worthy insights, but he was even more eccentric than he appeared, in my opinion ... more a poetic thinker than a legal, legislative, or political one (by a long stretch).

 

[balkisobrains]

In general, Subarus open-deck stuff isn't good & is the root of a lot of head-gasket failures, although I can't say this is why some Subarus eat oil.
http://possumbournemotorsport.com/blog/subaru-closed-deck-vs-open-deck-blocks/
Never really heard of the oil consumption issues before, because I've been out of touch with that kind of thing for a while now, but most of the stuff on a list of their vehicles affected by oil consumption are naturally aspirated, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was a root cause.
Rule of thumb with the Subarus was to always avoid the N/A stuff & go for their turbo stuff, mainly due to the block design differences.

 

[bnichols23]

Right you is, pappy. The Corvair wasn't a bad car at all. Marginally competent drivers were its main problem, far as I'm concerned.
Yeah, I messed up on my editing since my intent was about how often "Lonch-ahs" & Alfas hit the garage! Alfa has always been the classic embodiment of Consummate Art On Wheels, but unreliable, good Lord!! -laugh-

 

[seacaptain]

I had this one in 1975.

 

[bluto]

Electric cars are air cooled

 

[pepesdad1]

Had 2 68 Karmann Ghias...a hard top and a convertible...loved the lines, nerf bars for bumpers, had the engine tricked out 22mil. sway bar in front 24 in rear...2 carbs and a turbo. Got stopped in Va. doing over 100 mph. Cop said couldn't be...it was a VW. Good thing he didn't ask me to open the engine compartment. Flew like a bat out of hell. Body strong as could be...all welded body on the Porsche design. Had a friend in high school that dropped his brothers Porsche engine in the bug...brother was pissed when he came home from Germany.
Yeah, had the book as well.

 

[mso489]

My wife had a delicious 'Ghia in NYC in the 70's. I visited her there on my way from Vietnam waters to Midway Island via a holiday visit home to Chicago. We were college friends but not married until she had an ex- and I was a widower in our sixties. I was making nothing as an enlisted Navy guy, and she had this magnificent 'Ghia convertible in deep red, and just to add the topping, she kept it in a garage on Manhattan with an elevator! She now laughingly admits, she couldn't afford it, but she was young and exuberant. I didn't have a car, an apartment, or anything but a seabag and a set of civilian clothes. Though she was just a young newspaper reporter, she was likely making in a week than I was in a month. But we sure had fun, setting up her Christmas tree using a bucket we found on the street for a stand, etc. Those cars bring back memories of a lifetime. We saw a Broadway play and had supper at Nathan's hotdogs.