On Sat, 10 Mar 2018 04:38:11 GMT, Wayne Boatwright
wrote:

On Fri 09 Mar 2018 05:57:47a, Frank told us...

On 3/9/2018 7:01 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
VW is ending production of the second version of the Beetle.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...kswagen-beetle
-discontinued/

Â*Â* I remember my dad shaking his head at the first version of
those
bugs passing us.
Forty horsepower is all they had if I remember correctly.

I rode in some of the old ones and had to drive one once and did
not feel comfortable with practically nothing between me and the
road. Nice thing about them was cost less than $1,000 and friend
that had one could replace the engine himself. Don't think a lift
was even needed.


I owned two Super Beetle Convertibles during the 1960s and loved both
of them. Even had air conditioning installed in both of them. The
A/C units were actually aftermarket and made in Mexico. The design
was such that it looked totally incorporated into the design of the
dashboard.
I had a 1949 Splitwindow bug back in 1974 in Zambia.
Semaphore signals, cable brakes - with the handbrake operating all 4
wheels with the same cables.

Joked about 45MPH wide open downhill with a tailwind until it "got a
breakaway" on the way home to Livingstone from Chobe Botswana on the
Naketindi highway. I think I was doing almost 70 by the time it got to
the bottom of the hill and I didn't have the courage to step on the
brake pedal as one never knew which way it was going to head when the
brake was applied, and I didn't want to be surprised at that speed!!!

Didn't need a heater or defroster over there - I think it got as low
as 38F one july night

Unlike my Peugeot I didn't need to worry about water getting in when
it rained as the floor was pretty well sandbl;assted through in a few
spots that let the water out.

Also babysat a Danish friend's mid-sixties bug, "shorty" when he went
home on furlough. It had been rolled so he took off the roof, and
while he was at it he sectioned it, shotening it about 10 inches.

Had a few interesting experiences hitting loose sand on a corner - I
ended up backing out of the corner - thankfully nothing coming the
other way.

Lots of other VW experiences in those 2 years - like the heads falling
off a 1600, and the motor falling out of the school Kombi, the spline
coming out of the rear brake drum, caburetor icing and vapor lock
within about 20 minutes or half an hour opn the '49 -
Never a dull moment with an air cooled VW in the "bush" of South
Central Africa - - -