h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The classic Volkswagon Beetle is a great car for non-conformists without a lot of cash. Why be a square, when you can have a round car?

I got my blue VW beetle when I turned 16. It was manufactured the same year I was born, and cost me a mere $300 US. Like most Beetles, it had so much personality that it needed a name, a pep-talk, and frequent vain polishing of its perky eye-like headlights. I had to fix it up, of course. Classic bugs in good condition are relatively rare, as they are all astoundingly old. Luckily, spare parts for old Beetles are abundant in every car parts junk yard.

In a rare bit of bonding between a girl and her father, I learned that old VWs are grand for learning the basics of car mechanics. Although their engines are where the trunk should be and vice versa, their super-basic engine design makes it a joy to follow one hose to another -- thus understanding the basic combustion process.

Non-essential elements like air conditioning are typically not present in the Beetle, which can simplify things and make it rather hot. This is why you will notice that classic Beetle owners often have their windows rolled down. Armchair mechanics attempting to add such features as air conditioning and modern CD players are likely to make more of a mess than anything else. In my case, I had to remove several yards of useless wiring the previous owner stuck hazardously near and sometimes through the engine, tire mounts, and floorboards.

Though electrical additions are not recommended, it is possible to soup up a VW bug with a custom body, designer seats, and fuzzy dice. Such colorful add-ons to your purchase may be procured through the ads in magazines still dedicated to custom refurbishing of old VW bugs. As a warning, some of the fancier add-ons will cost you more than the car itself did.

The classic Beetle's ability to last to the present day is a remarkable feat of engineering. Unfortunately, the remaining classic bugs are notoriously unreliable on account of being so terrifically ancient. My old Beetle exploded into flames a month before I graduated high school, the victim of a previously undiagnosed oil leak. RIP, Jenny. You're still my favorite.

I recommend classic Beetles to all patient and poor non-conformists, except perhaps those who are too tall to sit up straight in the car's small compartment. They come especially recommended for first-car owners expected to be as unreliable as the car itself. I also recommend the Carmen Ghia, a small classic convertible with a Beetle-like engine also produced by Volkswagon. It looks like it's much faster than it really is, but it will amuse your friends.

Of course, today's wealthier teens and adults are lucky to have a brand new line of VW Beetles to choose from, many in rude and interesting colors. I even hear they are living up the the classic's standards of cuteness and reliability. Hurrah!

I'd love to have a classic Beetle. I constantly scar the for sale colomns of papers and search for a good one. One of thses days I will have one.

*laughs* This is the car I came here to talk about, and lo and behold, it's the first car mentioned! How appropriate! (Hi, Fragilis!)

The original VW bug is more than a car. It is part of history. It was a symbol in the 60's and early 70's, sometimes tied to the hippie movement, a change from the big car mentality prior to the compact car/gas mileage movement, and... it was cute.

I learned to drive in my parent's VW in the early 1970's, and I can still remember the feel of the vinyl, the smell of the car, and the unique handling characteristic (it WAS tail heavy!)

The heater only worked when you were moving because it required the air movement to get it into the car (no real fan system).

The original VW bug is a classic, and an important car to include here.

It more historic than that. Hitler wanted a car for the people and so was vreated a People's Car or Volkwagon. The engine in teh back was revelutionary at the time, and the shape of course still makes it seem like it has charactor. Herbie has a lot of explaining to do.

Mr Porche's classic car of the people. Ever thought about how his later 911 model looks a bit like a Beatle that's been squashed from above

What a riot! Hello, Rebbeard and Demon Drawer!

I read once that the Volkswagon engine is closely related to the engine the Nazis designed for their wartime jeeps. The goal was to reduce gas mileage so an oil shortage would not defeat their wartime strategies. This is why the VW Beetle has such impressive gas mileage. I hate to credit the Nazis for anything, though.

It did get good gas mileage, particularly for that time, and it had a relatively small tank.

As a child riding with my parents in it, I remember that gas (petrol) stations used to give away merchandise (sets of glasses, or towels, etc.) if you got a fill-up, but you had to get a minimum of $3 US worth of gas to get the free gift, and we couldn't fit $3 worth of gas in the VW even when it was empty.

Hmmm... I guess gas prices have gone up a bit since then

Not only does the 911 look like a Beetle that's been sanded down a bit to make it more curvaceous, but it also shares the air-cooled engine (at least it did right up until the 1996 model arrived) and the curious engine-hung-out-the-back configuration (not to be confused with the mid-rear-engine configuration ubiquitous in F1 and many other race cars) that can make 911s bite the unwary so badly! (I have no idea whether this is such a problem in Beetles - I would guess not as the engine weighs a good deal less...)

I was taught this by an American when she came over to Ireland. And I had a bruising summer.

Punch Bug:

The rules everyone in a car except, the driver,for reasons of safety(a rule introduced when we almost crashed once), takes part.

When you see a VW Beetle on the road to hit anyone else and say Punch Bug Colour someone keeps score for the whole of the trip.

The old beetle was a mark for the people's car: efficient, small, cheap, and it would last forever. The model never changed, so spare parts were always in good supply! It was a student's car. Unfortunately, I must now use a word coined by Harvard researchers: Disneyification. Gentrification might also work. The car got a history, a name; it was the definition of an era. Therefore Disney Corporation (not really, but you get the idea) must bastardize it for the new yuppie upper-middle class.
It's no longer cheap, it can't be repaired quite as easily, and it's not small. It's not for students, it's not the People's Car. Is this a conspiracy to kill America's history and emotion? Is this the last front before we are all truly sheep? I'm getting off subject...

DD,

Thanks for the game description! My SO and I played Punch Bug much of the afternoon while driving about town, and it was far more fun than I expected.

I bought a 6 year old Beetle in Addis Ababa in 1969 for the equivalent of $250, drove it on and (very much) off road round Ethiopia (including a 5,000 mile trip for a day at the sea-side) On occasion the cracked battery was fixed with chewing gum and after a cracked gear box caused by an invisible three-foot deep pothole it had to be ferried home on top of an articulated petrol tanker. I sold it in 1971 for the equivalent of $350. Alas, I can't even afford the deposit on a new Beetle (fortunately I don't need a car of any sort, but that was definitely my favourite)

You and DD need look no further than Dublin for a cheapish beetle (old style, of course).
They were (and I didn't know this till last week) actually manufactured in Ireland under licence which is why there are so many of them hereabouts and the recent adoption of an MOT like test for old cars means that many owners are having to get rid of them for want of the price of the welding

Thanks for the tip DJ

*DD rushes off to look up Enterprise timetable*

My first car was a beetle too. A 1500cc 1967 model.
Those '60's era beetles are still sought after too. (But finding a good one is more difficult now)
Most of the cars I have owned (not company cars) have been air-cooled VWs - the only exception is my current Vau*h*ll
Astra (nasty diesel estate - I hate it really).
These days, out of choice - I drive my 1970 VW Bus.

BTW: The old Nazi Jeep - actually *was* a modified beetle. (with a squarish body and more ground clearance etc...)