My parents 1st Car, a 1960 Beetle with a sunroof, was gifted to them by Mothers parents, picked up in Germany, then 4 years in Italy, then to Washington, D.C., where I learned to drive it. Unfortunately, we junked it because of rust, which looking back now, wasn't that bad. Wish we had kept it. It was a treat to drive with a larger 1200 c.c.. motor, and was great on gas, always ran well. I helped rebuild the engine once at the mechanics shop. Later, I had a '68 Beetle, now I have a '72 Bus waiting on restoration after I drove it 350,000 miles, reaching 1/2 million miles total! Would still give an arm and leg for the 1960 sunroof.
My Dad liked the Beetle because it was a small fuel efficient car that had decent size tires. We went camping in a Beetle. Two adults, 6 kids, and a dog. Dad, Mom, and the baby in the front seats. 4 kids in the back seat. One kid in the luggage compartment. Oh, and the dog in the back seat. A few months later we traded in the Beetle for a microbus. The dealer wished he had a film camera showing us getting out of the Beetle and getting in the microbus. We had that microbus until 1985. Three engines, over 200,000 miles later, we finally sold it. Including being able to see daylight through the floorboards on the passenger side.
Sounds like our family of five kids but we called the luggage compartment the baby seat. That is where the youngest one went. When we got out, it looked like one of those clown cars at the circus. We just kept coming snd coming….
Companies didn't follow that motto in 1960. VW was relatively unique in a time period where, say, the full-size Chevrolet would be redesigned every single year.
🚌 My growing up in a family of six was transported in a 1959 VW bus. I was the youngest, at 6yo. Dad ordered the bus to pick up on our arrival in Europe. We went thru Europe for four months then shipped it to Seattle, where we used it to go to Alaska, then Edmonton, then home again. Not all in one trip. That bus also did everyday transporting and delivery for Dad's print shop. It handled everything a trip up the Alcan Highway dished out.
I learned how to drive on a beetle in Germany, my grandfather had a few in the 50's, and my dad and uncle had some in the early 60's. Nobody thought it was a great car, but it was better than a motorcycle and that was all they could afford. They all upgraded to other vehicles
Dad has a ‘65 type 1. Us kids in the back. Dog in the scoop bit above the engine. ⛺️ Tent on roof in a roof rack box thing he’d made. God it was slow. But it was reliable and very easy to work on. I longed for an Alegro but glad we kept the beetle. Everyone called it Herbie. Happy Days. I still own a type 2 today albeit a pick up.
I loved my two VWs. One was a standard and one an automatic. My soon to be wife’s only complaint is when we drove through a puddle the rusted floor would allow spray to come up into the passenger compartment. Always started.
I just ran that number in an inflation calculator. It's about $17,000.00 today. Still a screaming good deal for a great car. They would sell all day long and the average person could afford decent transportation.
That designer didn't try kicking the bumpers. The bumpers in mine collapsed at the slightest bump. He never had to bail out water from the rusted out holes in the floor, either
I had three different Volkswagens with five different engines. Even had one with a bus engine in it! When the cop pulled me over he didn't ask me for my license, he asked me what I had in the damn thing that made it go that fast! I love my little VW, but sure could have used some heat!!
My first car was a 15 year old "71 Super Beetle. My latest car is a 2017 Passat. There's something about German engineering that just keeps me coming back for more.
My first decent car was a 1955 VW beetle that had 120,000 miles on the clock. After I collected it I ran out of fuel but by sheer good luck a VW dealership was close by. This was 1960 - yes, I’m a bit long in the tooth - and the German mechanics at the garage were enthusing over the car and explained about the small tap down by the pedals that controlled the reserve fuel tank. I sold it to buy a mini and years later I often saw the VW which was still going strong. I had so much fun and even went away for my honeymoon in it.
In 1964, my sister married a man with a used VW. It always leaked by the windows and was a perpetual source of aggravation and repairs for them. They later went heavily in for Toyotas.
@@653j521 These 60's VW's got away with a ton of bull from their ad agency which got a ton of college kids to actually believe that these cars were "so rad". Ridiculous. Rambler and later Falcon both were far, far superior cars in every respect.
My first car was a beetle with sun roof……always remember how if you had the tape going full blast and banging out Joe Cocker one of the headlights dimmed…..😂
That is so strange. Young drivers never push their cars to the limits around corners.... or anywhere else for that matter. Pimple faced drivers are known to be careful and considerate drivers, hence the reason they get huge reductions on their insurance premiums.
In 1962 you could buy a VW in the US for $1695. I couldn't afford that astronomical sum so I bought a used one. I insisted on at least a '58 so I could get that big back window. In Germany in 1965 you could buy a US spec VW for $1250. I brought one home in 1967.
I drove a late '70s VW pickup (they had them in Europe and West Germany). Terrible vehicle. Had to get the vehicle moving to defrost the windows! No heater motor!
The two top selling points of the Beetle in the 60's was it was cheap and they had ads on TV saying you could replace the entire engine for $200. Gas was still 30 cents a gallon then so fuel economy wasn't one of them..
