VW Beetle

I'm seriously considering a early model VW Beetle for my 17 year old daughter for her last 2 years of HS. I've never owned a VW and would like to know pros/cons and what I can expect to pay for a decent vehicle.

I have an 65 Corvair so I'm somewhat familiar with air cooled engines.

They rust, the heaters suck, AC doesn't exist, they're almost dangerously slow these days and the handling is so-so.

On the other hand, they're really simple, parts are readily available, and they're still kinda cool.

Of all my air-cooled VWs, I liked my Bug the least.

My first car (when I was 15) was a '69 Bug. Unless you want to tinker with her car all the time, or she likes to tinker, I wouldn't recommend it. I loved to tinker, and that car helped me learn a ton about cars...it's so easy, even a kid can figure it out. However, an early VW is an OOOOOLLLLLLDDD car, an old super-economy car at that, and will need appropriate levels of attention. The wiring alone can keep you busy for a bit of time each month, unless you put a new harness in. The good news is, parts are super cheap, so if she's working a part time job it won't be a problem to get parts if you're doing your own work.

Baxter has it all wrong. Heater = warm jacket and hat. AC = Roll the window down (or put the top down if it's a 'vert). Dangerously slow = Just right for a new driver. Rust? I can't argue that one!

While I bet 95% of young girls would like a Karmann Ghia more, Ghias go for a hell of a lot more money and she's a new driver that will inevitably punch the nose of a Ghia in...so Beetle it is.

Bryce

I've had over 30 air cooled VWs, mostly Beetles. Wiring was never an issue on pre-'69 cars, as there really isn't any. Clean the grounds well to start with, and clean the fuses and all should be fine.

The heaters can work quite well, so long as the heater tubes aren't rusted out, and you actually hook up the flexible tubes to where they are supposed to be hooked up (usually, the cars have been worked on by dozens of people before you, so there will always have been someone that simply disconnected stuff and never hooked it back up). I've had early Beetles that would bake you out of the car with the heater turned on.

Rust is the enemy of all old cars, but you can get replacement panels for everything pretty cheap, and they come apart nicely so it's usually easy to get to. Pan work is the most common, especially under the pedals and under the battery (under the rear seat).

They are only as slow as you want them to be. Stock, yeah, fairly slow. But simple mods can make them plenty quick, indeed.

If you don't try to make it a new car, you can have a lot of fun and have a very reliable, inexpensive daily driver.

I would think if it is 72* year round then a Beetle is perfect. If not invest in a 1999 New Beetle.

Chris, you have to admit that although they will bake you out of the car (eventually!) it takes a long time for the heater to become effective even in a perfectly functioning car. Start up your car on a 30 degree day and unless you're going on a road trip...you're to your destination before the car is comfy. Science wins...pump cold air through a cold engine then a long cold metal tube and it's going to take a while to get hot air coming out. First the engine has to get up to temp, then the long metal tube has to get up to temp, then the warm air has to heat up the volume of air in the car, which is a long way from air tight. My defroster was also strikingly similar to a cotton hand towel and the oh-poop bar looked strikingly similar to a towel rack.

My car was a '69, so perhaps there was some ground breaking changes made between 1968 and 1969 (???), but the problem with the wiring is poor grounds, brittle connectors, and corrosion on the fuses. It might seem like old hat to Chris, but I could see a 17 year old girl or her dad getting weary of lights working intermittently. Even being a tinkerer with a car that had very little rust, I still grew weary of it. The good news is, if you want to do a whole new harness, you can get complete vehicle harnesses for fairly cheap and they're fairly easy to install if you're handy.

Edit: I just saw that triumphcorvair is in Texas, so the heat and rust is going to be a non-issue down there. A young girl can deal without AC IMO, it gets hot down there but it's a dry heat, right?

Bryce

From Texas?
Do you have any access to the Mexican Bettles that were still manufactured there a few years ago.

I'm not sure about access to the Mexican Beetles although I am aware of them I not sure of their quality as opposed to their German counterpart.
Heat would not really be an issue nor AC for that matter although is does get hot here. I just trying to get her into something relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain, decent mileage and still have a "cool" factor at the same time.
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triumphcorvair wrote: I just trying to get her into something relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain, decent mileage and still have a "cool" factor at the same time.

I guess I'll have to be the one that suggests a miata.

My first car was a '56 convertible. The second was a '61 hardtop. The hardtop was way better as a daily driver that the 'vert, but nowhere near as cool (not tlaking about heat). Neither had functioning heat or defroster. Lights would dim at idle (generator). Dreadfully slow and the gas mileage wasn't all that great. But I was 15-16 yo and had my foot to the floor all the time. I wish I had either of them back. Most girls in VWs are driving the most recent convertibles. You amy want to look at Cabriolets. At least they should have heat and may even have air.

I've often considered a 72-74 superbeetle as a dd, but can't find a good at a price I want to pay.

Cheap, simple, iconic and for daughter.

The answer here may be a VW Rabbit Convertable. not quite as ancient as a Bettle but still quite simplistic.

I am going to lose friends here, but air cooled Bugs are complete crap. Don't do it.

Wikipedia says that they sold them until 2004 in mexico. Thats a straight trip! A 2004 vintage beetle.

I rented a new one in mexico a few years ago and quite enjoyed it - thought that it'd be great - as a toy. Mark my words, there'll be karman Ghia in my driveway soon enough.

jrw1621 wrote: Cheap, simple, iconic and for daughter. The answer here may be a VW Rabbit Convertable. not quite as ancient as a Bettle but still quite simplistic.

I'm going to second this recommendation. I've owned over a dozen air cooled VWs in the past, and I have great affection for them, but in today's traffic environment it would take a high level of defensive driving skills to be safe. A teen is not likely to have developed these skills. Also, the best ones are all 40+ years old by now ('67 is widely regarded as the 'best' year for a Bug), with the requisite fussy nature that any old car will develop.

The A-1 Cabriolet was made until '93. They are currently dirt cheap, easy to find, easy to fix, very reliable and fun to drive.

I also know where you can get a super clean, low mileage survivor, if you are willing to forget what I said about "dirt cheap".

First time drivers should not have one. Very dangerous in an accident. Yucon vs Beetle = not good. She needs a safer car to start out with. Just my opinion.

my dad bought one new and my two sisters ended up sharing a 1973 super beetle. I learned the stick and clutch while waiting for dad at a job site when I was 14 years old.

it became my older sister DD and she once filled the tank with diesel. we drained some and refilled with gas and worked the fuel out.

i have a lot of fun driving that old beetle. but then the Japanese economy cars came along and i moved on....

Here's a tip to first time drivers in a VW Beetle: Your car is a tin can with wheels. It won't protect you from a Suburban t-boning you, a tree catching you, or a cliff dropping you. Learn to respect that or you will die.

Worked for me!

For it to be safe I would put a roll cage in it. They are fun little cars. How much power dose a new driver need eny way?????

I would say the 69 is the best of the beetles.. still little emissions, better suspension, bigger engine... still classic (but not with the covered headlights) look.

Personally, I prefer the superbeetles

alstevens wrote: First time drivers should not have one. Very dangerous in an accident. Yucon vs Beetle = not good. She needs a safer car to start out with. Just my opinion.

P71

If I was looking to get a Beetle as a dd I would get something from the 70's. The earlier car are 6 volt and all the connections need to be perfect to insure it will start every time. The later cars also have more safety items like seatbelts and high back seats. The lights are also big enough that other cars on the road can see them. The samba is by far the best website for information on air cooled Volkswagens and there is also a large classifieds section with thousands of ads and a few thousand cars.

We followed a later Beetle convertible home yesterday for a little while. She was going 60mph downhill & 40mph back up. These weren't big hills.

I dunno about the unsafe in an accident part. The steel is quite strong, and I've seen them rammed into walls and trees without harm to the driver/passenger. An acquaintance of mine back in the day used to drive his into walls on purpose and laugh about it.

I was in my '71 Super Beetle lowrider, with space saver spare front tires, and got rear ended by a '69 Chrysler Newport doing 35 mph. My car stopped his car, and kept both of us from hitting the car ahead of me. I was able to drive away(!) and the Newport had to be towed.

People that worry about SUVs forget that when these cars were new, they were fodder for being hit by 5000-6000 lb full size sedans and station wagons, as well as millions of trucks that were as large as any modern SUV. I've seen them get hit by some big stuff and survive.

Swap on some Ghia or aftermarket bolt-on disc brakes, and it'll stop quickly, too.

I think these cars are perfect for anybody. Lots of people still use them safely in modern traffic. Cheap to own, operate, maintain, and modify.

Some of mine:

'71 Superbeetle (AFTER getting rear ended. Only replaced the bumper, taillight lenses and engine lid):

'68 Standard

'70 Standard

'69 Standard

'69 Standard:

'56 Oval, rolling out of the paint booth and assembled:

'66 Baja

Most of my cars started like this:

For $100-200, and I put usually around a grand into them to finish them off.

Another ACVW I like, and would love to have another of, is the Type 3 Squareback. My only Square never got finished while I had it. Just drove around in primer...

The best part about Beetles is the mix and match. Putting early bodies on the later, IRS pans is easy and common, as is putting in an alternator instead of a generator, or upgrading the early 6 volt cars to 12 volt. You can put the early fenders and headlights/taillight on the later cars, like the '65 rear fenders and taillights in put on my '71 Superbeetle. if the car you found came with a 1200 or 1500 cc engine, swap in a 1600 dual port. Easy. The 1500s and 1600 can easily be upgraded to 1776 or larger (even a 1641 slip in piston/cyl kit is easy and with a bigger carb will make good street power). My buddy had a 2180 powered beetle that his wife drove daily. Ran 12s in the quarter on street tires.

I dunno. Lots of fun to build, fun to drive around. Cool in all the right places...

My sister had a 64 and crashed it, luckily the seat mechanism in the old ones dont lock and the steering wheels are unpadded, she now has a false tooth. I guess the seat slides forward into the steering wheel in a crash on the oldtimers, but it can probably be remidied. My sister ran with the old volks people and I though about getting a 69 that was for sale cheap but she warned me that unless I wanted to always be dicking with it to pass.

I really like the oval windows and some teenager is running around town with a cherry one, damned kids!