How Many of Us Owned Beetles in Our Youth?

[TWJ]

As a youth:

'64 Karmann Ghia Cab - First Car, called it my "Baby Porsche". LOTS of memories here!
'66 Beetle 1300 Tan/Black
'66 Beetle 1300 White/Red - did Top end rebuild, body work & paint. Drove "Route 66" from Flagstaff AZ to Chicago in 36 hours straight!

As a "Grown-up" (What's that?):

'97 Passat Wagon GLX VR6 - Current daily driver/great car!
'72 911T - Ah Yes! ("Grown-up Karmann Ghia"?)

[70flatsix]

Yeah! Had a 71 Cobalt Blue beetle beetle with pasley vinyl top. Ugly as hell. Got me thru 2-1/2 years of college. Wish my 911 ran as cheaply as that car did!

[goat43]

One of my dad's 1st cars was a '56 black beetle, plain as could be, which eventually became the trainer for 5 kids. We would push the seat all the way forward and put 2 Manhatten phone books on it, and then I, at age 10, could sit on them, see over the dash and still be able to shift, with a little stretching. Learned to drive it in a hayfield, then drove all over the farm for the next 6 years until becoming street legal at 16, by which time I knew most of what you needed to know to keep a fussy German air-cooled buggy going, including solo roll-jump-starting, no-clutch shifting (including the start-the-car-in-first manuever to roll from a stop), all your basic maintenance, as well as off-road and snow driving, and just how far you could get with the gas needle kissing the bottom. My cousins had both a camper bus and a ragtop, and 6 or 8 of us would pile into the beetle with three sitting up behind the back seat on the folded roof, and drive off to the beach. Very safe. I think learning to drive at a fairly young age was a good thing for me; driving feels very intuitive and instinctive, in a sort of second-nature sort of way.

We also had a squareback, bought used for a pittance, that used to regularly sit for 4 - 6 months at time in the dead of the Vermont winter, only to start right up the first try, or at the very worst require a push start. Also a Meyers Manx dune buggy built on a shortened rolling chassis. That was basically a glorified go-kart that would inevitably get pulled over when venturing out on the street.

I don't think we'll ever see another car that impacted so many lives for so long.

[ALFANUT]

I own one now in addition to a 993, A VW 181 (thing), 4 wheel disc, ltd slip, 2014cc 130 hp engine. I have at least $14k in it and it is worth maybe......$3500!

[rickeolis]

Yeah,
I had a '67 model that I converted to a baja bug, and put on a loud exhaust. It burned points every other week, lost it's brakes every so often, hood came up on me one day- ruining the window and hood (failed latch, broke), rebuilt the carb a dozen times.
2 engines and about $2000.00 dollars later I sold it and gave up on those. What a pile of sh*&!
I then got a '69 BMW 2002, and loved every second of it. (Aside from breaking the driveshaft coupler very often.)

[johnco]

I learned to drive a stick in my sister's VW at 13 years old. I think half the people my age here learned in a VW. I used to buy them for $25, drive them home and cut them up to build buggies. I've lost count of how many VW's I've owned. I even owned a Pink one with white wheels. Very cool at the time. I still have a convertible Karman Ghia in the back yard along with a couple Things and 3 or 4 buggies at my shop. and maybe 6 or 8 engines lying about. Nothing could catch me in my buggy tearing down trees, jumping canals and blazing trails in the woods, except maybe the occasional oak tree that wouldn't budge. for real fun get the VW up to about 50 in a wet field, turn the wheel and lock the rear brakes for the ride of your life. I think I might have to restore the Karman Ghia for my daughter to learn how to drive. Nothing beats a VW for a knock around car.

[Kiwi912]

I've had;
1954 beetle
1955 beetle
1966 beetle
1967 beetle made in Australia
1971 beetle rolled - not by me!
1974 Karmann Ghia - from LA and now for sale
1978 bus - drove from San Francisco to Seattle then down to Guatemala and as far east as Texas and many places in between! After 20,000 plus miles we sold it for over double what we paid for it - to a Porsche mechanic!
1979 panel van - Brazillian manufactured - boy did that have rust,
but it could carry one serious load!!!
I've got a 1954 beetle as a daily driver that looks as good today as it did 11 years ago when I bought it. Done around 60,000 miles in the last 4 years. Can't bring myself to part with it. Photos don't do it justice! It's much worse in real life!!!!

[URY914]

I was given a '70 pale yellow Bug from my parents so I could go to junior college.Two years later I traded it and $2,000 for a 914. Some would say I just traded up to the top of the line VW. I found the 914 in the Auto Trader for $3500. It has been 23 years ago now and I'm still driving that 914.

I did have a '67 Deluxe Bus for a little while. I wish I still had it. It was cool.

[6 Shooter]

I have to confess that I'm sick and I have:
56 Convert. beater (1600 dual port, polished case 67 trans, 7" steel rears, convert top bows- no fabric left!, owned since '78)
64 Type III Notch (another beater, since '80)
64 Type III Ghia 1500S (for sale. no room, since '82)
65 Ghia (ignition shifter, 2nd owner since '82)
65 Ghia parts car (for sale, no room)
67 Ghia convert. (3rd owner, since '82)

[pjv911]

I had a 66` all original and very slow (1300cc) with a 6 volt system. I once was given a ticket for no brake lights because in the daytime they were so dull the cop didnt care . Nice guy ha.

Kurt Williams

[1bar]

My first car - 1960 VW sunroof beetle, with one of Earl Scheib's finest $49 day-glo red paint jobs. Fabric sunroof didn't leak if you didn't THINK about touching it. What a great car. It's how I learned about air-cooled engines.

Sold it to buy my first Porsche - a 1960 356B Super. Another great car. I got to learn even more about rebuilding air-cooled engines! Wish I still had that one

Late in life I got more "practical" - I got a 1959 VW Transporter III (the single-seat pick-up truck model). Another great car - 1300cc, 49MPH top speed after 30 minutes of acceleration on a down hill slope with a tail wind (that's no joke..). But of course you could climb a telephone pole in first gear! I can still remember my wife yelling out to my little sister (14 at the time) "Hold onto your boobs - there's a bump!" Memories...

[CBRacerX]

Learned to drive in Dad's Campmobile, and got the rare chance to drive the '71 Ghia Convertible. But the "fast car" was the '75 Rabbit...

Worst part? They were all yellow...

But I kept the faith!

Most Cars I've Owned (less the most recent inventory)

Just the Bugs...

The V-Dub Water Cooled...

Read John Miur's book so many times....

-Chris

[gaijinda]

My first bug was a '66 convertable up on the farm. Cut off the fenders with a chisel and added L-78-15 snows off a Caddy. Was soon covered in mud!

Coming home from Watkins Glenn this past Friday I stopped by the old boy near Rt. 17 who sells restored bugs (and had a few Mexican ones last year). Had a '75 in silver in great shape. I would rather have that car than a new 996!

[Keith S]

Owned around 35 of the things over the years including this one:

Chrome-moly tube chassis and 450+bhp of turbo VW motor. Ran 9.87 @ 140mph in the quarter. Fun ride!

Still have this (apologies for poor picture - it's taken inside my garage/store):
Street-legal. 205bhp. Runs 12.58 @ 106mph in the quarter. Porsche 356C front discs, 356B rear drums, 1974 911S wheels, 1965 911 seats. 2160cc, dual 48IDA webers, Okrasa crank, Carrillos, Vertex, Quaife LSD etc etc. Fun! Timed Zero-to-sixty in 3.9 seconds. Way quicker than my Carrera!

Some of the Bugs I've owned that I can remember:
1950
1951 with Okrasa engine
1952 x 2
1953
1954 ragtop
1955
1956
1958
1962
1963 sunroof
1965
1966 x 2
1967 US import
1968
1970

[1Gunner]

first car I learned on and drove as a fresh-faced 16yr old was a '62 Bug. Convinced my father to paint it Dodge "Grabber Green". WOW, what a combination.

second car was an upgrade to a 64 Bug!! Which I promtly installed a killer 8 track system to crank out Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water......what early 70's memories..... LOL

[Shakenbake]

Does a 1969 Volkswagen Variant "S" Stationwagon count?

Unfortunately I didn't believe the oil light worked correctly until I was driving and watched the rpm's drop to 0 as the engine seized.....oh, to be 17 again.

[Savage]

Light Blue 1964 Bus 40hp.

[GB83SC]

Bought a new 1975 bug silver a crank sunroof,no radio,
no ac, Had a huge car payment of 79.00 per month the insurance was more than the car payment.
Also had a 68 bug that my sister blew up the automatic trany had it replaced with a 73 stick shift trany my freinds called it the freeway flyer

[Kevin G.]

1963 bug in white, where there was any paint left. Got it as a hand-me-down from my brother when I started college. 1200cc motor / 40hp. I spent a year knocking out dents, replaced the rear fenders w/fiberglass flares. Added Chevy rims & tires, and my first ever engine rebuild. Finished with dark blue metallic paint and a nice extractor. Three weeks later my cousin rolled it.

The motor and tranny were yanked and stuffed into a '65 Ghia coupe, the bug went to a friend's father to be chopped into a dune buggy. The Ghia lasted me through the rest of college - I even got 8 friends into it for a night of bar hopping. It was great watching the valet attendants expressions when we all got out (and back in).

[john_colasante]

I practised driving and wrenching on several Beetles before I evolved to 911s.

Beetle->911, the "normal" progression of things, no?