Brittany, France, 1980. A tourist with his VW camper takes a nap on a camp-bed on the Brittany coast.
Been a while VW.
Brittany, France, 1980. A tourist with his VW camper takes a nap on a camp-bed on the Brittany coast.
Brittany, France, 1980. A tourist with his VW camper takes a nap on a camp-bed on the Brittany coast.
We’re on our 10th VW, I think. Its a TDI Golf. There’s a reason its called a “hot hatch”. It also gets almost 50 MPG. I learned how to drive on a ’73 Bug, and owned a few other Bugs (not the new model though). The utility of the air cooled VW’s is without compare-run for ever, easy to fix, etc, but I am totally lost on the nostalgia of them. They are ugly, slow (stock)-esp in the mountains, and lack cargo space. I’ve owned a couple TDI’s and they are far the best of the best. If you’ve got a Ford turbo diesel pick up and a VW turbo diesel scooter car, you can’t ask for much more than that.
What .. no pics of a Thing? I have a fondness for The Thing …
I do too, but haven’t found any new ones that I liked recently. But I will, I collect them and then post ’em…
This one and the pacification Thing post are both great CederQ. My ‘ol thang needs a lot of TLC, but it is all there except the vinyl top (I do have the frame).. I also have a practically new set of side curtains in the covers for it. I keep thinking I’ll “fix it up”, but I have that motorcycle sidecar and right after my liver transplant, my wife bought me ’73 Corvette convertible. I guess one can’t have to many hobbies, but those automotive projects get in the way of my other forty-leven interests. LOL. If you are serious about the Thing, contact me offline.
I forgot to add the link to the wartime variant in the earlier post, but here it is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Kommandeurswagen
I know right where Santa’s flying UA beetle is (or used to be). Used to pass it every trip home from TN to the Loveliest Village on the Plains (Auburn AL).
There were and are a lot of cool VW’s in production. The concept was genius. Here is one of the wartime variants. I’ve seen some of these as repros, but never a “real” one. I’ve owned several VW’s. I bought a Fox brand new in ’88. I still own a 1973 VW Thing. It is parked in the barn. I bought in in ’92. I haven’t cranked it in years, but am satisfied I could pour some gasoline in the carb, put and hot battery on it and it would fire right up. I need to sell that ‘ol thang!
I’ll make an offer, don’t mind Brad in IL!
I keep thinking I need to get an old VW bug before WWIII goes hot. In the event of an EMP, it should still run, and isn’t that difficult to push start.
Had a friend at the base I was stationed at outside of Athens Greece back in ’68 that had a VW Bug with a blown engine. We went looking for am engine and found one in an Athens junk yard. It was out of a 411 VW and the junk dealer said it wouldn’t fit into a Bug. We looked it over and couldn’t see why it wouldn’t fit. Took it back to Nea Makri and had it in the Bug in about 15 minutes. My buddy had bought an oil pressure gauge and was looking for a place to mount it. He noticed a nice flat spot in front of the gear shift and got his drill out and drilled a hole……right into the gas tank
I loved those VW Bugs. 4 bolts, an electrical connection and the fuel line and it dropped right out.
I have a buddy that bought up diesel Rabbit trucks when they were in production. He still has 3 or 4 in an old barn. He has been driving them since the 80’s.
What do the signs taped to the windows of the “half bug” say? Can’t read ’em…
I blew them up before I posted them and they were even blurrier, I think the larger print said For Sale.
Says “For Sale and then the phone number”
That Ukrainian upgrade made me laugh
Love my Bugs, all thirteen of them. My 69 and 72 are on the street, the others in my boneyard for parts. Bought my first one in 73’ and never had any regerts. Sez, 1st ANGLICO
Only 16 Beetle prototypes were hand built before the war and were issued to top Nazis as a publicity stunt to encourage the layaway sales program. The factory produced kubelwagens and schwimmwagens for the German military throughout the war. The first VW beetles were built for the British Army units occupying Germany.
https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/how-major-ivan-hirst-and-the-british-government-saved-vw-after-wwii/
As I understand it, Hitler needed money for his war machine. So they built a few Bugs so the population could see them. He promised the folks if they would accept “chits” in lieu of a full paycheck, they could cash them in and buy a new “Peoples Car”. Remember, Germany was trying to get out of the Depression and money was tight. So the populace accepted the “chits”. The promise went unfulfilled and one could state “that Hitler gave the Germans the “chits”.
I really miss my two 1973 Super Beetles… and I don’t know why!
Oh yeah, old man Porsche wanted to name the Bug the Peoples Car. Hitler named it “The Strength Through Joy Car” after the labor union’s name.