This month, chez T87, will be dedicated to the 21st Century. Stretching the “classic” part of CC a wee bit, but I’m sure there are a few modern cars that warrant an honourable mention on this website. Today’s entry, though less than 25 years old, has earned classic status. We’re not looking at a modern car in any sense of the word. But as Beetles go, it’s as new as they get. Quite the historical artifact to find curbside.
Air-cooled Beetles are popular everywhere and were manufactured in many countries. The last place where VW made their foundational vehicle turned out to be Mexico, where the little bug became a fixture of daily life thanks to its widespread use as a taxi – a job for which it was exceptionally ill-suited in many ways.
Nobody rode in the back seat of a Beetle if they could possibly help it. In Mexico, however, you paid for that privilege. Yes, the taxi version always omitted the front passenger seat, but still. Thanks in large part to fleet sales, VW were happily selling 30-40k units of their invincible Beetle every year. But in 2001, the Mexican government announced tighter emissions regulations – Mexico City’s air was dangerously polluted. And in 2002, the mayor of the Distrito Federal decreed that taxis were to have rear doors. The Beetle was being forced into retirement.
Hardly early retirement, to be fair. But with sales down to 10k in 2002, the old Sedán, as it was officially (vee-)dubbed in its final North American redoubt, was no longer viable – for the first time in 65 years. VW’s pressing question now was: How do you say goodbye to the most-produced model in automotive history? With a swanky Última Edición, of course.
Announced in June, the final special series was to be limited to the last 3000 units, built until 30 July 2003. Aside from the usual fuel-injected 1.6 litre 44hp flat-4, the Última Edición featured a number of cosmetic improvements over the standard Sedan, including carpeting everywhere – i.e. the cabin and the frunk, extra sound insulation, 15-inch whitewall radials, radio/CD-player with four speakers, chrome trim galore (door handles, taillight surrounds, body moulding, wheel covers, mirrors, etc.), colour-keyed dash and your choice of two colours: Harvest Moon beige with black cloth interior, or Aquarius blue with grey upholstery.
Our CC is the latter, with all the bells and whistles. The owner ditched the (pig-ugly) stock steering wheel in favour of a classic ‘60s item, but aside from that and locally-mandated turn signal repeaters, this young Beetle looks like it just came off the line at Puebla. But now it’s half a world away, parked on the “wrong” side of the street and being photobombed by a Mitsuoka Viewt.
It was apparently mighty difficult to get one of these last-ever Beetles, as they sold extremely quickly – probably only to be re-sold almost immediately to the highest bidder on the global market. I’m sure VW could have milked this a lot more than they did with a sort of never-ending farewell tour. Like the Rolling Stones, Elton John or Bob Dylan, but with bugs. Yes, that is an appalling thought. On reflection, VW took the right decision.
Related post:
Car Show Classic: 2003 VW Type 1 Beetle: Last of the Mohicans, by Heath
Neat. Looks like the early 70s non-Super, except for the pre-70s steering wheel and the luxurious cloth seats with pockets. I don’t know if those were regular Mexican or aftermarket.
“Mighty difficult to get” = Now in Japan.
This is a Special Edition Superbeetle from 1973 1/2. Recaro seats, Racemark steering wheel, 914 like wheels, 1600 dual port engine. It is original paint and one prior owner.
Very nice! Is it yours?
Yup. And it drives perfect.
1973 1/2 brocure
I fail to understand how VW Do Mexico failed to capitalize on these last Beetles .
During the long Mexican production run there were endless options or add on like factory gauge packages, bumper over riders etc. but the Mexican VW dealers hated them and made it nearly impossible to buy them, even when they had them for sale in display cases .
I had a 1985 Mexican Beetle, it was a fantastic car and I only sold it after the California government discovered I’d managed to direct import it and tag it, they sent me a stern letter so away it went =8-( .
-Nate
I would have told California to F-off and die. Or move to a state run by real people.
People are still getting caught out over here, you can import any car your heart desires it may or may not pass certification, any repairs are held to modern repair industry standards, the layers of bureaucratic red tape is fascinating.
We can have VW Beetles but we cant plate a Mitsuoka Viewt
Tell me another car that debuted with the only entertainment option being a very expensive, vacuum tube operated AM radio and ended with a factory installed as standard CD player/radio.
Chevrolet Suburban. Still in production tho.
It was fun to see the hordes of VW taxis in Mexico City back in the day. With the front passenger seat removed, they weren’t that hard to get in and out of. These taxis mainly served the working class; the wealthier folks all had cars, often with drivers.
But yes, the air was unbelievably foul there back in the ’80s when I was there on business.
These Mexican Beetles still had rear swing axles as Dr. Porsche intended all VWs to have.
Mate of mine has a 63 1200, somebody somewhere is now reproducing 1200 engine parts, which were hard to get new, his credit card went playing and his beetle runs beautifully now, and yes new swing axle parts are available from Mexico.
Anticidotal evidence, but had a buddy with a german made late 90s Golf, he loved that car and said it was rock solid reliable. It was totaled and he bought a 2000 Jetta made in Publea, brand new. Said that car was the biggest pos, a lot of the other people on the VW forums said the Mexican cars were junk as well.
Looks like they did a good job building the old Beetle, had no idea it ran all the way to 2003. Thought they discontinued it in the late 90s, around when the new Beetle came out
I knew these had continued for decades after they left the US market but didn’t realize it was as late as 2003. That’s newer than our own family’s 2001 New Beetle. As to Aaron’s comment about Mexican VW quality, we’ve owned four water cooled VW’s, two German and two Mexican. I’d say the Mexican cars have been pretty good, better fit-and-finish than the German ones, though some of that is comparing modern design with 70’s and early 80’s materials and design. And the Mexican ones have been far more reliable and seem more durable as well. My understanding is that many of the VW’s now sold in Mexico are imported from India.
Is this one of the ones that has No Heater?
There was a bit of an industry importing these late model VW beetles to the UK in the late 90s early 00s along with the bay window bus, scary thought that those are now 20+ year old vehicles….
They were rather well screwed together from what I understand, paint and rustproofing on the busses apparently wasn’t great though. I did buy a lot of genuine VW Mexico panels around that time to restore my own 70s beetle…. And they have been in storage since then … I aught to get on with that.
Are they still available?
I’m disappointed in how little evolution there was on the Beetle after German production ended. The car’s evolution from 1951 to 1977 was all-engulfing, even though the year-to-year changes seemed small, very few parts were interchangeable between early and late German bugs. But the same length of time takes us from 1977 (last year Beetle sedans made in Germany) to 2003 (the final-edition Mexican cars) and there’s just not much difference between the two, as if development got stunted. The main addition for me is the (finally!) available air conditioning, which I think accounts for the underdash panel seen here; the aircon equipment takes up lots of space in the rear engine compartment. That aside, the seats look updated, some trim pieces and switchgear are new, and the original steering wheel (which I think looks fine, if somewhat out of place here) was the delta two-spoke unit from the Mk.2 Golf and Jetta.
This was done on purpose, as the VW was built in Mexico and Brazil to do what the Beetle had done in Germany in the 1950s: put the country on wheels, as cheap as possible. In Germany and the US, VW had to keep improving it because of the increasing sophistication of competitors. But the Beetle had essentially no competition in Mexico and Brazil at the very bottom of the market. And it was extremely robust and easy to fix. The perfect car for the developing world.
Strictly speaking, these Mexican Beetles with their swing axles are in some ways closer to a pre-1969 US market Beetle, although they do have fuel injection.
The tooling had been paid many decades before, and sales were tapering off, so there was no incentive to invest in further improvements.
I have a 1974 Super Beetle
I’m still amazed to think Mexico was turning out these non-Super Beetles with the old suspension right up to the end.
One word: cheap. The Beetle was at the bottom of the market for basic transport; the Model T of Mexico and Brazil. Anyway, with the wider rear track and anti-camber bar, these Beetles handled just fine.
The Super Beetle was more of a dead end than the basic Beetle. Who wanted to pay more for such minor improvements? It didn’t last long for that reason.
And that’s one thing I hadn’t noticed, that the Super Beetle was so short-lived. I only really picked up on that in the last week or so! To me in the seventies Beetles were like dinosaurs, in the sense of seeming prehistoric. Like many others I suspect, I just wasn’t paying attention to anything much that VW did after about 1968 – until the Golf. Then crummy local assembly nearly made those irrelevant too.
I would pay more for such minor improvements, because they’re not minor. The Super Beetles are superb-handling cars.
Rather oddly, the last ones assembled here in ’76 (1100-odd of them) were bitzas, flat-screened with torsion front end, discs, Superbug rear, and a 1600 twin-port.