Some things will always seem timeless to me, including any of the original Peanuts holiday specials and the Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle) in any configuration. I don’t care what else is on TV when I get home from work and one of those specials is on. Around any given holiday season, watching Charlie Brown and his friends (and frenemies, like that perennial witch, Lucy) beats pretty much anything else I had planned to watch, and so it’s almost a given that I’ll be tuning in and switching my phone to “silent” or “vibrate” mode.
What’s also great is that even though many of my friends and I are in our forties, watching these Peanuts specials often becomes a long-distance, communal activity. It can take one person to start a group text to unleash our individual expressions of collective joy that come from watching these charming, old, primitively animated shows. The only things lacking from the total, childhood-throwback experience (in my household, anyway) are sweet, delicious Dolly Madison snack cakes, from the original sponsor of these shows.
While attending the 39th annual Chicago Jazz Festival at Millennium Park in September of 2017, this (very) orange Beetle came chugging along in Saturday afternoon traffic on Michigan Avenue. I very much miss hearing the distinctive, insect-like whirr of the exhaust note of these cars in traffic on a semi-regular basis. If you’re of a certain age and even you don’t care a thing about cars, the sound of an accelerating Type 1 (or any other air-cooled VW) is instantly recognizable. You may not be able to correctly identify the model name, but you’ll know that it’s a Volkswagen by sound long before you see it.
You may ask how I know this one’s a 1974 model. If it were April Fool’s Day, I might have gone on with some elaborate spiel, but the truth is that: a.) I don’t know for sure as I’m not a Carfax stalker, but b.) if its custom license plate is any indication, then yes, it’s a ’74. What I do know is that while ’74 brought bigger bumpers, it was also the last year for those nifty, front fender-mounted turn signals (except on North American-spec cars) before they were moved to the front bumper for ’75. The Super Beetle was only a couple of inches longer than the standard model, but the quickest and easiest mnemonic device for me is the Super Beetle’s curved windshield. From the factory, this car would have weighed about 1,800 pounds and would have had 50 horsepower on tap from its 1,584 cc (“1600”) four cylinder. While I’d trust this car to move me around in traffic around the downtown area, I’d still probably opt to keep it off the Dan Ryan Expressway.
In a lot of ways, the VW Beetle is very much the “Charlie Brown” of cars of its era. It was humble, honest, and likable. Its shape was round, like Charlie Brown’s head. Neither the car nor the cartoon character had a shred of anything remotely threatening about them, and as garages, driveways, and the “funnies” section of newspapers across the United States would attest, both were everywhere at one point. I felt the Jack-O-Lantern “face” painted on the hood of this one was the perfect touch of personalization. I wonder if anyone has ever taken a yellow Beetle and painted the trademark, black zig-zag pattern of Charlie Brown’s shirt along both sides. I wouldn’t doubt it if this has already been done, as these little cars seemed to invite the kind of mild (and sometimes wild) customization that only a car this beloved could inspire.
Also, like the Peanuts specials, there’s a warm feeling one gets just by seeing one of these Beetles in traffic. Whether these Vee-Dubs are a reminder of family (my parents had owned one, before my time), or favorite movies (any of the “Herbie” flicks, “Freaky Friday”, etc.), their wholesome simplicity and onetime ubiquity harkens back to a time when a brand new example of a little, lightweight, reliable, fixable car like this was within the reach of many incomes. That’s worth celebrating, with or without any candy. Happy Halloween!
Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Saturday, September 2, 2017.
Very cool!
Great tie-in! A Charlie Brown Christmas will always be my favorite Peanuts special.
+1 (and thanks)! I have it on DVD (packaged with two other Peanuts specials), and will even watch it once or twice during the year when some extra good cheer is needed.
As to the sound of the air cooled engine ,we had a Shetland sheepdog ( mini collie ) named laddy . If a air cooled v.w. Should pass us while walking him he would start barking like mad and try to run after them
No other car would phase him
I think in the U. S. The turn signal lights stayed in top of the fenders until the end
You are 100% correct about the US Market turn signals being fender mounted through the end of the run (1979)
I’d buy this is a ’74 (if only because my family also had one this color and it was a ’74) but I’m not sure you can distinguish visually between a ’73 and a ’74. A 1975 would have a “Fuel-Injection” badge on the trunklid instead of “Volkswagen”
Its quite easy to identify a ’74 (US) Beetle. Its the only year that has the large 5 MPH bumpers yet still has the twin tailpipe (carbureted engine) exhaust. ’73 would have the smaller, thinner bumpers. ’75 and later would have the single tailpipe fuel injection engine.
Nice way to start this 31st of October.
I fondly remember my grey 64 Beetle and all of its characteristics – both good and odd. I commuted to my job at Grumman Aircraft in it, right foot to the floor, fighting crosswinds, and staying in the right lane so people in real cars could blow by me. It ran and ran and ran, and had great traction in the snow but needed careful attention paid to steering in the same snow.
Thank you Joseph.
If this car cuts you off in traffic, you’re required to yell “You Blockhead!” at them out the window. While stroking your naturally-curly hair, of course.
Oh, good grief!
Is there any other car that has changed as much in the last 40 to 45 years as a VW?
Oddly, I’ve only ridden in one Beetle that I can remember. At least it was a convertible. However, I have been a long-time VW owner, having acquired a red Beetle when I was two or three. It’s parked downstairs, still recovering from the many flying leaps it took off the end of the coffee table.
Few shapes in the automotive world are as recognizable and friendly as a Beetle. Joe, this was a great way to start Halloween.
There must be a decal kit to get for your car because yesterday I saw an orange Honda element with same decal on the sides of it.
Are you sure about the turn signals? In the American market, the Beetle had the fender mounted turn signals right up to the end in 1979.
I goofed on the turn signals, everyone! And thank you, to those with that correction. Too late to fix it, and I’m on my morning commute train. Mea Culpa.
These aren’t easy cars to research, and I’m hardly the expert. There are so many sites and pictures out there. I remember finding two sites that agreed about the turn signals being bumper-mounted for ’75, so if that was the case, can any reader(s) identify the world markets for those?
I think I’ll munch on some candy now. Some good candy, not any circus peanuts or black licorice. (No offense to anyone who likes either of those. You can have mine.)
As penance for the turn-signal mixup, you should also consume a small box of black raisins, the universally acknowledged Worst Halloween Giveaway Ever back in my day. 😉
Definitely enjoyed the article; thanks for posting, and Happy Halloween to all.
Another vote for having the Geneva Convention outlaw Circus Peanuts. We all called them “Drowned Men’s Toes” when I was a kid, and we would make the littlest kid there eat them. All.
As for the worst treat, I always thought apples were the bottom of the barrel. We lived in apple country so they were everywhere- mom bought them and made you eat them because “they’re fruit and fruit is good for you” and school lunches did the same. So, you were lucky to keep it down to two apples a day, and then on the one day of the year you can have tons of candy! five people on your Halloween route want to drop one in you bag from 35 feet up so it’ll bruise the four that are already in there. Bah!
Hooray for Mrs. Mahoney who gave out little Butterfingers!
You beat me to it. I agree that apples were the worst. In “the old days” when you could still hand out fresh, unpackaged fruit on Halloween without everyone assuming they were laced with razor blades or cyanide, pretty much the only cheap apples available were those flavorless Red Delicious. Usually got tossed before we made it to the next house. Nice Beetle … I really liked the bright colors of the ‘70’s after the tans and grays of earlier VW’s.
+1 on the Red Delicious apples
Razor blade hysteria reached a peak when a local hospital was X-raying Halloween fruit!
Lokki, I had to look up what those circus peanuts are actually supposed to taste like. Apparently, they’re supposed to taste like banana. I don’t think I would have guessed that tonight! LOL
Paul, thanks, and a box of Sunmaid black raisins honestly wouldn’t have bothered me. There’s a whole continuum of good-to-nasty that Halloween treats used to onto. I’d put raisins somewhere near the middle.
Apples wouldn’t chart, because they’re not candy – they’re fruit, and as such, are immediately DQ’d.
I must also confess that I solidly believed the “razor blade in the apple” urban legend for years before someone set the record straight. For a little bit of context, I was a kid when those infamous Tylenol cyanide-poisonings were happening in the ’80s, so I think at that point, a lot of parents freaked out. As I probably would have.
The razor blades in apples thing was in full flower as early as 1969 or 70. I remember my mother insisting that she inspect our candy haul looking for slits in apples ans hypodermic punctures in wrappers.
I was having a perfectly fine day . . . and you had to go and bring up Circus Peanuts. Ugh!
I just bought a bag of circus peanuts at Menard’s. Love ’em!
As bad as circus peanuts are (and they are bad), I think the most disgusting candy is Boston Baked Beans. Candy Corn is a close second.
Candy corn, a very polarizing candy. I still love it.
Oh man I haven’t even thought about these in years. I think I’m going to have to try to find a box.
I think the bumper-mounted turn signals appeared in 1975 on most if not all Beetles outside of the US and Canada.
Thanks, Tonyola – I’m going with this. Much appreciated!
That’s what I love about this place. I would have looked at this car and said “oh, an old Beetle”. You looked at the his car and saw The Great Pumpkin. And now that you have, the association seems so right and natural.
I am quite sure I watched The Great Pumpkin special when it first aired. It was must-see TV then too. But I had forgotten all about Dolly Madison snack cakes.
A tasty treat for Haloween, thanks!
The insurance comes off my VW tomorrow, so I had contemplated one last drive in to work. However it is raining hard so I opted out, and maybe will pack it into the garage tonight.
Although many folks react to the air cooled beetle with smiles and thumbs up, my experience has shown that women in large white SUVs are more likely to honk and make gestures of impatience because their lifestyles are being delayed by the slow VW. Now that’s scary!
You need a bumper sticker that says
“Old, Slow & In The Way”.
Maybe it can be CC’s official slogan.
“I’m not broken down; I’m resting.”
“I may be slow, but I’m in front of you!”
“Women in large white SUVs are more likely to honk and make gestures of impatience because their lifestyles are being delayed by the slow VW.”
Having driven my ’64 in Atlanta, Georgia rush hour traffic as a DD for six years, let me add a hearty “Amen!”
There’s not another car quite as cheerful as a Beetle.
One of my older cousins had an orange Super Beetle as her first car. I thought it fit her perfectly, and at 7 years old I loved riding in it. Hers was the “Formula Vee” model with a black stripe down the side proclaiming just that. When she graduated from high school my uncle bought her a new ’75 Mustang II Ghia with all the Brougham trimmings. I remember thinking that Mustang was so much less cool than her orange Bug.
We owned 2 of these, a ’71 auto-stick and a ’73 4 speed. BTW, VW called this color CLEMENTINE (for the orange?). They were slow, mediocore mpg and very space Inefficient, but my wife loved them. Driving all over LA on the freeways, no problem! Up to San Francisco, no problem; the hills there: problem. Literally had to let the 4 drum brakes cool down on the ’71.
Despite the drawbacks and relatively high maint. co$t$…..rather charming lil dweeby cars…:):) DFO
Maintenance costs on an old VW. Sigh. I owned an 11 year old Super Beetle with the auto-stick when we were young and poor. I learned the truth of the Theorem:
* There is nothing on Volkswagen Beetle that can’t be fixed for $100.
And its Corollary:
* The number of things that may need to be repaired is infinite.
Happy Halloween Joseph, thank you for another great article and photos! You perfectly described some of the lasting warm memories the Bug evokes.
In Canada, a staple bad candy at Halloween are molasses kisses. They’ve been around here for decades, so the distaste for getting them in your trick or treat bag has been shared over many generations. I think even the packaging graphics remain the same as in the 70s and 80s.
You know what, I love those things.
After we’re done trick or treating I’ll trade you a little chocolate bar for a handfull of them 😛
You’re on! Those kisses are great when they are soft. Which I imagine is the case the first few moments after they leave the production line. 😉
Rockets are another Canadian Halloween treat bag ‘filler’ staple. Usually the last candies consumed… sometime around Christmas.
Thanks, Daniel! It looks like your “Rockets” are our “Smarties”. I love any candies that are tart and plentiful (like both), so I normally ate those somewhere toward the middle of finishing off my Halloween haul.
This is a ’74 Super Beetle, unless someone has gone to a lot of trouble modifying a different year car. The engine lid is the correct color (bright orange) for this year, and the rest of the car has been refinished, but what 44 year old car hasn’t had at least one trip to the paint booth.
Beetles of this era were fairly durable cars, the troubles came when years later the original parts wore out, the factory in Germany no longer produced Beetles or parts, and the new (junk) parts available wore out over and over again. I can hear those whistling, cheap, rust prone tailpipes now.
Also of note… while all Beetles with curved windshields were “Super”, not all Supers had curved windshields.
What makes a Super a Super is the MacPherson strut front suspension. It was also found in some flat windshield cars, possibly in 71-2.
One of my big automotive regrets is never driving a Beetle, although as DougD said above with the size and state of modern vehicles that may be a good thing for my physical well-being.
It was great that VW and Porsche loved bright solid colors back then. A friend’s ’73 Karmann Ghia is Zambezi Green. White, silver, grey or black were not available.
The Super Beetle color was called Bright Orange
FYI, the first 2 years of super beetles had flat windshields just like any other bug
I don’t have a drivable Volkswagen (yet), but I will definitely be on the lookout for The Great Pumpkin tonight!
Hi Joseph,
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ed, I live in Chicago not far from where you took these pictures, and I am the owner of that (very) orange 1974 Beetle!
I would also like to formally introduce my Beetle. His name is Otro, which means “other”, or more specifically, my other self. He is a reflection of me as I remember myself as a child. He is that playful child that sort of fades as we grow into adults. When I’m with Otro, it’s like I’m with my best friend from childhood.
Thanks for featuring my Beetle on your web page today!
The Jack-O-Lantern face is magnetic. I made it myself with my kitchen scissors and a large sheet of black magnetic vinyl that I purchased online. I made the face in 2015 for a Trunk or Treat car show in Morris IL that I attended.
I dress up my beetle every Halloween. It is currently in costume as I type this.
Sometimes, my Beetle even does a little BB-8 thing! Picture attached.
If anyone wants to see more pictures, please free free to visit Otro’s Flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/otro-the_orange_beetle/
Peace, Love, and VW
Happy Halloween!
Hi, Ed!
Thank you so much for dropping by and introducing Otro – truly an awesome specimen of Type 1 Beetle! Thanks also for posting that link to your pictures. This is beyond awesome – I’ve been contributing to this site for about four years, and this has happened only once before.
You did a really great job with that pumpkin decal. I remember being really happy last summer when I spotted your car in traffic and was able to get some decent pics of it on the move.
Happy Halloween to you, as well, my friend!
Joe
BTW, Otro and me even look alike!
Your friends, (o\!/o) and Ed
Thanks, everyone, for the corrections, and for sharing your favorite (and least favorite) candies.
Fortunately, my mom seemed to like all of those candies I didn’t want at the time (Necco wafers, Bit-O-Honey, Mary Janes, Blackjack gum, etc.), so usually, nothing got thrown in the trash.
Happy first day of November.