RIP: Volkswagen Beetle

[zinfamous]

My Grandfather opened one of the first VW dealerships in Michigan in the 50's. Well before I was born, of course he also sold several other brands too. I remember riding around in a ton of Beetles, buses, Things, etc. as a kid in the 70's. He made a fortune off them. Biggest mistake they made was dropping VW in 1996 due to reliability issues ruining the dealerships reputation, so they missed out on the new Beetle cash grab.

I never cared for the Beetle, thought it was ugly and slow and uncomfortable. I always wanted a Karmann Ghia, I thought they looked sooo cool. My uncle started restoring Karmann Ghia's in the 80's, and when I got my license he let me drive one. It drove pretty much just like Beetle, including the complete lack of power and handling. I never wanted one again! I won't miss the Beetle.

I grew up with a guy whose dad also had the same Karmann Ghia fettish. He had like...3 empty chassis in his yard and garage, and his son (my age) of course developed the same. ...the one that he restored and basically built himself was actually his highschool car in ~1993-96. That wasn't something that I properly appreciated at the time, even though I "liked it" without understanding it, but today, 30 some years later, I would love to be in a position to force a child to do the same thing with an even older car, lol. ....OK, I don't have a kid at all so none of the standard "OH MY GOD IT WILL DIE IF IT STEPS OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE" thoughts really apply to my claims...

 

[zinfamous]

I thought the beetle handled great, and even felt kind of sporty considering its low horsepower.

it drives like a porsche of the same era, except slower, uglier, falling-apart-er, spinnier, but it probably won't kill you.

 

[Muse]

to be fair, they were always pretty shitty--beetles were notoriously poorly built cars. The people that love them love them because of that, which is fine and all. Nothing wrong with that. And if you had a certain level of expertise, you could do all sorts of things to the car and of course take care of its many expected failures on its own...all well and good, but it still has had a preposterously shitty chassis its entire life. Absolutely no way around that.

Interesting. My 1961 bug was my first car and it was involved in an accident (don't hand anyone your car keys unless you know you can trust them!!!). It was "fixed" by a joint in NYC (probably Queens), but was judged to have frame damage that wasn't fixable in the first place and it should have gone straight to the junk yard... I never drove it... was totaled. It was a bad year...

 

[Fritzo]

Yea, due to the backlash against their intentional cheating on the emissions standards.

::shrug:: Bet they won't do it again, and we got a reliable, efficient, and amazing vehicle out of the process.

 

[SKORPI0]

R.I.P.

 

[Muse]

Killer video! Thanks.

 

[nakedfrog]

to be fair, they were always pretty shitty--beetles were notoriously poorly built cars. The people that love them love them because of that, which is fine and all. Nothing wrong with that. And if you had a certain level of expertise, you could do all sorts of things to the car and of course take care of its many expected failures on its own...all well and good, but it still has had a preposterously shitty chassis its entire life. Absolutely no way around that.

It's a great car for its history and the irrational human ability to love things because they are as shitty and charming as they are. It is a terrible car for all the reasons that it is a beetle. I think these are both true at the same time....and I think the later model beetles were just worse overall (none of the mechanical, whathefuckever charm of the early beetles, and overpriced for what they are supposed to be). Honestly--the day the Golf chassis first ran off the line in 1975 or whatever it was, it was always, always, always the better car in any kind of quantifiable category.

Man, you really, really hate Beetles. It's a shame you never learned to work on the air-cooled models, maybe then you'd have a greater appreciation for what you're slandering. You can label it a "terrible" car but consider it against the competition of the era, it actually had a lot of things going for it.

 

[zinfamous]

Man, you really, really hate Beetles. It's a shame you never learned to work on the air-cooled models, maybe then you'd have a greater appreciation for what you're slandering. You can label it a "terrible" car but consider it against the competition of the era, it actually had a lot of things going for it.

I think my comments are being misconstrued--which I totally understand. I think objectively, the beetle was just a terrible car in many many ways. It was also an awesome car for some of those same reasons, and many others. A great car can also be a horrible car. Also fair to say that perspective on what is a "good" car has changed dramatically over the decades since the Japanese pretty much invaded the market and introduced car owners to the novel concept of serious reliability. (meaning, change the oil regularly and you're pretty good to go. Car won't fall apart, even if it's a "simple" fix. This is a big deal for many car owners). That was certainly a new perspective at the time and the "quaint" issues that made the Beetle as charming as any other shitty car of the time started to look like a real detriment; more so if you are of a generation that didn't honestly experience the pre-reliability era (guilty). There's a reason that VW first retired the beetle and replaced it with the Golf when they did.

Hell, I'd love to have a 40 year old beetle drive to around from time to time. I love shitty cars.

 

[Fritzo]

I think my comments are being misconstrued--which I totally understand. I think objectively, the beetle was just a terrible car in many many ways. It was also an awesome car for some of those same reasons, and many others. A great car can also be a horrible car. Also fair to say that perspective on what is a "good" car has changed dramatically over the decades since the Japanese pretty much invaded the market and introduced car owners to the novel concept of serious reliability. (meaning, change the oil regularly and you're pretty good to go. Car won't fall apart, even if it's a "simple" fix. This is a big deal for many car owners). That was certainly a new perspective at the time and the "quaint" issues that made the Beetle as charming as any other shitty car of the time started to look like a real detriment; more so if you are of a generation that didn't honestly experience the pre-reliability era (guilty). There's a reason that VW first retired the beetle and replaced it with the Golf when they did.

Hell, I'd love to have a 40 year old beetle drive to around from time to time. I love shitty cars.

They're a lot of fun to drive- especially the later 70's models. They feel like one of those amusement park cars at places like Cedar Point where you press the gas and it takes a second or two for the engine to rev up and get you moving. The interior is engineered well enough to give you JUST everything you need, nothing more. The battery in these could also put out enough juice to add a 12V lighter socket for your phone/accessory (highly recommended- a visor mounted window defroster/heater).

 

[Muse]

A cool thing about the old beetles was the 4 on the floor. I don't know about later beetles, but automatic trans didn't exist for those old cars. They were basic. They predated the Japanese compacts, but were, is seems, precursors. Cars that didn't change much year to year. It's intuitive that a car that doesn't change much can and should and probably will fix the problems of previous models rather than create a bunch of new ones. As soon as I saw the Japanese compacts (late 70's I guess) I could tell that they were revolutionizing the automobile industry with their common sense approach. I think it's obvious that the Japanese are going to have a great summer Olympics 2020. That is, assuming the weather cooperates.