Once upon a time it was a cool car. Then it wasn't. Then it was again. Now it's almost at it's end. https://mashable.com/article/vw-beetle-end-production/?utm_cid=hp-r-1#_Qci29WgqEqw
I wonder why they're discontinuing it? I mean, I suppose the answer must be that they're not making money on it, but some detail would have been interesting.
In the early days, Jewish organizations circulated pictures (like this one: http://tinyurl.com/ybe84mpn) of Adolf Hitler riding in the first one off the assembly line in Wolfsburg in 1938. We never had a beetle, but we did drive a VW van for 17 years -- the only then-affordable vehicle that could hold six people and a big dog.
The real Beetle died long ago when the Brazilians and Mexicans quit building them. The New Beetle was basically a Golf with a curvaceous body. I have owned...let's see...two Beetles, a Squareback, two Buses...and been involved with a Fastback, a 411 Wagon, and a robin egg blue Karmann Ghia. All air cooled. I've owned at least three greasy copies of the Idiot Book. When finally I escaped the cult and bought a Toyota, for the first time in my adult life I no longer needed towing insurance. It was amazing! Do I miss it? Nope.
Abner: The vans were nice! John: It served us well. But the Car Talk guys chose it as the second worst car of all time (after the Yugo). They pointed out that there was zero front protection; that your toes were 3 inches from the front of the car, and in case of accident, your safety depended on dragging your feet.
When we moved to Nashville, Marina regularly got three questions from neighbors: Which Baptist church do you go to, what does your husband do, and why are nice people like y ou driving a hippie car?
Correction...I owned THREE busses; a 1971, a 1972, and a 1977. The later two had the massive 2000 cc pancake engine that was (I admit this) nearly indestructible. Buuuut...the '77's early version of fuel injection cost me many hundreds of dollars and the '72 sucked a valve seat on a rebuilt head in Silver City NM on New Year's Eve. I got towed home and pulled the engine (300 lbs) and took the head to the local machine shop. It got replaced but when I suggested that I should replace the dented piston, the guy said, "I'll give you a similar used piston and a ball peen hammer. If you can pound a hole in that piston, I'll eat it." So I bolted the head back on, hoisted the engine into place, and drove off happily but determined never to trust a VW again. And I haven't. Hm. The 1970 Squareback also had fuel injection, an earlier, more complex version, that I somehow managed to learn to fix myself.
