Here’s a sight through my windshield that brought a smile to my face: an unrestored oval-window VW, flaunting its patina for all to see. And a sunroof, no less. I’d like to be behind its wheel right now, hearing the steady thrum and fan whine of it s 36 hp engine (assuming it still has that).
This appears to be a ’57 from the license plate, the last year for the original small windshield and the oval rear window that replaced the “pretzel” split rear window in 1953. Despite the small window, 1957 was a huge year for VW in the US, and if I remember correctly, it was the year the Beetle took the import sales crown in the US. Only eleven years later, VW would sell 423,000 Beetles to Americans.
My love for old VWs has been spewed out on these pages repeatedly, although not so much in the past year. I’ll add a couple of links to some here, including a CC on another ’57.
CC: 1946 VW 1100 – The Beetle Climbs Out Of The Rubble
CC: 1957 VW 1200 – The Beetle Takes America By Sturm
Bug Tales: Bug Tale 1: The Rolling Igloo Bug Tale 2: Timing Is Everything
Bug Tale 3: Beyond Drafting Bug Tale 4: Abrupt Change Of Consciousness
Many of us consider the 36hp models the best Type I.
Reminds me of the one i drove one summer – my dad had a 1957 with no title, and a 1963 that he hit a deer with. He moved the 57 body onto the 63 pan and put a 1500 motor in it. Nowadays the guys on the samba would be up in arms, but in the 80’s when he did this, these were just used cars. He still has a European specced beetle with a sunroof in the garage that he plans on restoring “one day.”
People still do that
This one would have been worth a follow for more pics and the story….!
I would have, except that I was returning some 16′ 4x6s to the lumberyard just ahead on the left, and with that kind of load (illegally long in terms of sticking out the end of my bed), I restrained myself. He was rolling right along, and it was a challenge just getting close enough to get a shot.
How cool is that? I’ve never seen one this old moving under its own power.
This also brings a smile to my face. My first car was an oval window VW; it was red, about 8″ long, and I provided the motivational power. The front bumper hangs down from having blasted it off the end of the coffee table.
The real ones are even better. I can only remember riding in two Beetles and have never driven one. Some day.
My dad had a 1957, after a series of several-year-old American cars (it succeeded a 1952 Chevrolet two-door sedan). It was gold (and of course we called it the Gold Bug). All went well until it broke its crankshaft. He replaced it and sold off the car.
For some reason I remember the Gold Bug’s license plate: MFN368 in the old 1950s black-on-yellow California system.
I bet some youngster is driving it or an old married couple. Nice looking Beetle that I would love to gawk at in person and since moving to the West Coast I no longer am shocked by all the old Beetles buzzing around.
In the early to mid 60s my mothers youngest brother had left the farm in Arkansas and gone to Calif. one summer he, who was a very large, should I say. Fat, man, and his equally large wife, came home driving a VW bug. All the way from CaLif to eastern Ark. I f they weren’t a sight in that car. And I think the first time I ever road in one, I was just out of Army basic and AIT and was sent to Germany for a short time before Viet Nam. I had gone off post with another soldier who had been there for a while and had an old VW. We were riding along and the car started missing and sputtering and he started kicking the gas and reaching under the dash. I didn’t know what was going on and be explained that there was no fuel gage and that he had to turn a valve under the dash to go to the reserve part of the tank. Any one else have this experience?
Right before I was born, my dad bought my mom a VW so she would have her own car to use. This article brought back all kinds of wistful memories! It was a joy to see an old VW like that one featured.
Like some others here, not sure I can recall ever seeing one this old out and about under its own power. Fun!
Visited my aunt and uncle in L.A. in the early 80s. My uncle had commited to the VW brand in the 50s. At that time he had a 61 bug, a 60 something van (almost no windows, green in color), and a 76 Rabbit diesel. My uncle was no speed demon, though he admired my nearly new Fiesta.
My aunt drove the bug, and never the Rabbit, as she hadn’t been taught to drive a 5 speed and the van sat in the street unused with “a transmission problem”.
I’ve owed a 69 bug and a 914…love that air-cooled “muttering” sound.
I drove one for a while with the smaller 1100cc engine a 55 in bright 70s rescue orange calling it slow is being kind.
I know that there are some out there but considering that looks well used I doubt it still has a 36 horse. It’s so easy to swap in almost anything and as someone said they used to be just old cars and restoring vs just fixing did not calculate. The “out of gas boogie” had to be rehearsed to do smoothly.
1954 was when VW took the best selling import in the US title. It held it for 20 years straight, losing to Toyota in 1975.
I’ve been working crazy overtime lately and I haven’t had the time to work on my ’59. I’m seriously jonesing for a drive with my ragtop slid back and that 36hp thumping along behind me.
Stock height and a rag top to boot. Tail pipes and clamps look brand new. Maybe the engine also? The top seems to be pretty new. Looks like she’s had some recent work done, and now back on the road again. I hope body and paint and a stock refurbish are in the old girls future, looks like it’s well on it’s way. Great find, looks like 1970 when this would be a common sight running around town with similar patina.
I’m partial to an old VW – as a baby I came home from the hospital in our blue ’61. I’d be happy to take that oval window Bug as is and use it as a summer daily driver. I know plenty of country roads where I could putter around all day. The paint job can wait until winter.
THANK YOU for this Paul ! .
Since that other ’56 you posted (@ $35,000.00 I nearly choked to death on my coffee) old Beetles have been on my mind….
FWIW ; this _IS_NOT_ a ‘ Rag Top ‘ !!!! ” Rag Top ” means _CONVERTIBLE_ , this is a Deluxe Sunshine Roof model # 117 !! .
It does indeed have a 36HP engine , the cylindrical muffler only fits 25 & 36 HP engines , I can’t imagine anyone popping a 25HP engine into anything not absolutely requiring it .
’57 was the last year of the single tip exhaust , also the year they (!FINALLY!) moved the heater outlets back so your toes didn’t get fried .
I grew up in New England wit these cars and if your Beetle was properly maintained , the heater was O.K. , not so much the defroster unless you placed your foot over the heater outlet and suffered hot feet .
BTW : this isn’t an overly old Beetle to me , I remember having scads of earlier Ovals and even a well used & battered ’48 .
Also a nifty ’57 RHD DeLuxe Sunshine Roof Beetle a friend of mine imported after if failed the M.O.T. inspection in England and was summarily scrapped with good original paint , working AM / Short Vave Phillips radio and original cloth headliner intact as some one _brush_painted_ it with white latex house paint ~ I had quite a few English Beetles wit this odd treatment .
There were about 1,000 ’58 Beetles made with the ‘ low brow ‘ (oval) windshield , VWOA wasn’t proud of them when new and dumped them in the deep South where every so often , one pops up and confuddles the hell out of everyone .
I’m off to go read all the other VW story links you just posted .
-Nate
We actually used to call these ‘rag top sunroofs’ as opposed to ‘sliding steel sunroofs’ that the newer Beetles came with. 70’s US slang flashback. We had a 51 in the showroom of a dealership I used to work at. It was not a sunroof model. That was the oldest one I have ever seen, did once buy a 54 Type 1 engine (25 HP) and put in into a 56 Type 2. You will enjoy reading the other great VW stories.
I usually refer to these as “rag top sunroofs” or “fabric sunroofs”, but now that I know they’re officially called a “Deluxe Sunshine Roof” model (a much better name) I’ll never make that mistake again!
You’re welcome. But where do I call it a “Ragtop”?!? The text says And a sunroof, no less Yes, a ragtop is a Cabrio.
BTW, 1955 was the lays year for single tip exhaust, on all export (US) models in any case.
Never heard of the small windshield ’58s. Got a link or something to confirm it? It might make an interesting post.
Not to throw any fuel on the fire, but we used to call it a “Rolldach”.
Break your tongues.
? Links ? you’re kidding right ? .
I’m from the pre microfiche days please to remember .
You *might* look in a pre 1968 ” bible ” (Dealer parts book) but I dunno .
If you were there working on them when they were just old (or new) VW’s you’d know and remember this and lots of other oddities like the 1961 Saxomat that had the shift points near the top of the shift lever instead of down below where they belonged , vented rockerbox covers , pear shaped 40 HP mufflers that never , _ever_ wore/rusted out , the bastard Typ II engine in 1959……..
No one called Sunroofs ‘ rag tops ‘ until the kiddies who ruined the entire VW thing for the world came along in the middle 1970’s , they alone destroyed more VW’s than anyone else before or since , stupid kids .
Mostly thieves too , that’s why I finally burned out and left Air Cooled VW’s behind ~ too much lying and stealing .
-Nate
I’ve always heard them called ragtops. I’m not old enough to remember the back in the dayI put a “deluxe sunshine sunroof” in my car I’d get looked at like I was crazy.
Let’s not get too technical here or we will have to stop calling them Beetles. This is not referred to by VW as a Beetle. it is a Type 1 sunroof Sedan.
Adam ;
I realize I was ranting , the correct nomenclature is ” Sun Roof ” not ‘ Rag Top ‘.
My point was they’re two totally different body types .
I’ve always wondered what it is that makes a very few people so angry when they see Air Cooled VW’s , always it has been so .
If they’re not for you , fine and dandy , no need to rant and make up lies because you’re irrational .
-Nate
Sorry — those things were butt-ugly.
He’s not one of us!
Good one.
The dual tailpipes arrived on 1956 models, so you could find unmodified oval window cars with the dual tailpipe rear apron.
The gas gauge arrived in 1962; I remember my Mom fiddling with the toggle switch and gas pedal to keep the car (a ’58) going when gas got low.
Never heard of a small windshield ’58 but would love to see one. Reminds me of the very late 1971 beetles that got the larger back window in advance of the 1972 models (the interior vent slots give it away).
Looking at the photo I noticed that the fenders have no holes for the overrider supports, and the taillights are mounted low. From what I read, there weren’t dual tailpipe cars in the US that didn’t have bows and overriders. So was this car originally sold in Europe or somewhere other than in the US, or has it been modified?
Just re-read the ’46 article, what an amazing find and a great synopsis of the first half (roughly) of VW’s existence. It’s almost unbelievable to think that Volkswagen’s rebirth after the war was such a grassroots effort and product of fortunate circumstance.
In the article, it’s mentioned that only 210 regular production KdF-wagens were built prior to the war. Do any of these cars still exist? I’ve tried to find information on them a few times, but it’s kind of a blurry path between the last 1939 pre-production cars and the military version that came along soon after, since all of them were designated Type 60. There are plenty of period photos out there, but all of the surviving examples I come across seem to be wartime cars.
Does anyone know if there are any left??
” Does anyone know if there are any left?? ”
I don’t know but in the 1970’s an old German Man surfaced with the third one made in 1938 ~ the VIN was 3803 , he’d hidden it during the war , not sure how he managed to steal it from VW .
He said he’d taken it completely apart and had it galvanized to prevent it from rusting .
I wonder where it is now , who owns it .
-Nate
Like this one ? Another picture on that site says it’s from 1938.
http://www.meinbezirk.at/hallein/chronik/worauf-hier-ernst-kronreif-hinweist-das-ist-ein-kdf-wagen-typ-82-e-der-ur-vw-von-gernot-kollarz-aus-salzburg-links-m1341497,189630.html
The other picture with the 1938-caption:
http://www.meinbezirk.at/hallein/magazin/ein-kdf-wagen-aus-dem-jahr-1938-m515303,73159.html
That one is a Type 82E (Kübelwagen with Type 60/KdF-wagen body), probably a prototype – and a very early one at that, if the date is correct. For all intents and purposes, a Type 82E is a Beetle, but technically they’re different models. And there are some kind of differences, because the KdF factory was still building regular Type 60 models (in very small numbers) during the war.
Porsche did some earlier cars that bore a strong resemblance to the Beetle, but if Wikipedia is to be trusted, the development of the actual VW goes something like this (excluding military models):
1935: Type 60 V1/V2 Prototype (2 built, 0 survive)
1936: Type 60 V3 Prototype (3 built, 0 survive)
1937: Type 60 W30 Prototype (30 built, 0 survive)
1938: Type 60 VW38 Pre-Production Model (44 built, 3 survive)
1939: Type 60 VW39 Pre-Production Model (50 built, 0 survive)
1939: Type 60 KdF-wagen Production Model (210 built, ??? survive)
It’s those late ’39 cars I’m curious about. They were the first Volkswagens that could actually be purchased by the general public, but there’s virtually no information on the web about what became of them. The KdF factory kept building civilian model Type 60s during the war (some of which still survive), but only for Nazi officials… so there was a brief moment right before WWII where the Beetle was on sale, and then it wasn’t available again until 1945 – still as a Type 60, but now sold as Volkswagen rather than a “Strength Through Joy Car” (which has never seemed like a very fascist sentiment to me!)
Considering the Beetle’s massive importance and popularity, I’m kinda shocked that no one really knows where any of these cars went!
Maybe this website can help you: http://www.vw38.de/home/
Go to “Überlebende KdFs”. It’s a German car, better search German websites.
….Oh wait, click on the English flag. Easier to read I guess. Not everything has been translated from German into English though.
Paul,
Getting back to your comment in the Mustang II post that a car that is a big seller does not necessarily mean a good car. I concur with that statement in regards to the VW Beetle. This is a car that was crude, slow, noisy and outdated in 1949 let alone when it finally left the US Market in 1979. I never fully understood why folks loved the things. They were not really a fuel friendly as VW would have liked folks to believe nor were they really reliable ether.
When all those cars from Japan started arriving in the 1960’s and 1970’s the VW Beetle stopped getting a second look from buyers looking for small cars. The Asian cars offered A/C(which that crapbox Beetle never offered) a true transmission and real heat.
I would rather have a Mustang II or Citation or 1970’s Corolla over a Beetle.
I don’t understand why I like them. I just do. No one needs any justification.
Dealer installed A/C was available from around 1963.
True transmission? Like an automatic? I guess that’s what you mean by that statement.
I’d walk before I drove a Pintang or a Citation (I can’t remember the last time I saw one of those on the road. I’m certain the year began with a 1 and a 9). I wouldn’t mind have an old Corolla but it would be a manual.
Leon,
You’re obviously entitled to your opinions, but unfortunately the facts you cite to back them up are pretty much all wrong.
I could rebut your facts, but I know it won’t have any impact, so I’m going spend my energy on more productive comments elsewhere.
I’ve never owned one and never will, but the Beetle is by far one of the most significant cars of last century. Read some of the linked articles and you’ll get a better picture of it in context.
What an amazing find! Love the condition, even. The rat rod guys would kill for this look, but I’m quite sure this old bug has earned it over the years. Maybe you’ll see it again someday and can get the whole story…