For some reason I’ve gotten a serious hankering to own a VW Bug, something that has somehow eluded me so far. It may also just be a bit of a fleeting thought, so who knows if I will actually act on it. But I’ve realized that I’m a bit of a contrarian, as I seem to be one of the few, the proud, the Super Beetle lovers out there. Somehow those elephant feet rear tail lights speak to me way more than the older ones do (of course I like DougD’s O.G. Beetle too, and Ed Stembridge’s would be good as well), and why limit the interior volume with a flat windshield when you can have the panoramic view out of a curved one that won’t chip whenever you see a small rock on the road like with our Jeep.
I saw this one a couple of months ago when driving around looking for photo opportunities with a test car. Then today, due to a massive wildfire near our town, my favorite ersatz “Alpine Lake Handling Course” was closed by the local law so I was cruising different roads than normal and remembered having seen it nearby. So I popped by and it was still in situ and as I exited my car to take some photos realized it wasn’t going anywhere soon. However, I love those big taillights, the steel wheels of this pattern are excellent either with or without the hubcaps, and I even like the large bumpers with the overriders, which got bigger in ’74 in order to meet the 5 mile bumper regs.
There was a house just behind my vantage point with lights on inside and cars in front of it so I didn’t dare get too close to the Bug or linger too long beyond seeing that the interior was stripped out and there was a fair amount of rust on the car, i.e. not the 1600cc runner of my dreams. However, in those dreams I’d be firing up that flat four and hearing the sweet, sweet sounds of Das Vaterland emanating from the peashooter exhaust while I hand crank the sunroof open as well as nudge the vent windows to pull more air in before cruising down the road. The only Bug I can actually remember driving was a 1979 white on white on white Cabriolet that I drove down to LA from college with my friend Eileen when she injured her hand in a lab we had the day prior and thus couldn’t handle the stick that weekend back in 1990 or so. Not fast, but fast enough and a great journey, it got us where we were going just as well as anything else would have.
So, fond but fleeting memories, and lately I take a longer glance whenever I see one. Prices have been increasing as of late, but parts to repair and restore seem to be as available (and inexpensive) as ever. I’d not even be picky as to color but one of the 70’s hues like this one that weren’t on the regular (older) Bugs would be preferable. In the meantime this one will likely sit here as long as I’ll occasionally be driving by it. The least the owners could do is turn it around so it could watch the traffic go past, but for me, this rear view is the best one.
Nice find; nice location.
But unlike you, I like the Beetles less and less the further along its long life it went, with all the changes to its body. It started out so clean and sleek, a state of the art streamliner from the later 1930s.
This is how I like my VWs:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1946-volkswagen-the-beetle-crawls-out-of-the-rubble/
I’ve had the birth of the Beetle on my brain lately, and have read more about that subject, which I will be sharing here soon.
There’s an excellent Josef Ganz documentary on I think Amazon Prime about his Beetle design. Now, I don’t take a position one way or the other and the documentary doesn’t really go into the various other competing “Fathers of the Beetle” topics that are out there but it was quite interesting to learn about Ganz, his design(s) and especially the rest of his life story including the overtures or perhaps attempts at reparations that VW apparently made toward him in the latter part of his life.
I’d love to see that doco, Jim. There’s just something very compelling about his story, especially as an early Beetle-esque work of his (with a mid-mounted twin) has an ingenious and wonderful IRS that would never have tucked and rolled!
I guess there’s added interest for me, as he ended up in Oz working for Holden, and died in ’67 only a kilometre or two from where I am now. Without, I might add, the medal the German republic wanted to give him in ’66 but which was prevented by the oh-so-open-minded White-Australia-Policy Australia and its thinking of the time – a final twist in his fate.
I’ll have to check it out. I was quite skeptical of the book about him a few years back, as it tried to credit him as the true inventor of the Volkswagen. That’s mighty far from the truth. Ganz was an effective advocate for smaller cars, but the cars that he actually designed and wer built (by Standard) were drastically less capable than the Beetle. Why? Because Porsche had the resources to develop a much more ambitious vehicle, due to Hitler’s very high expectations/demands.
The Ganz designed Standard Superior had a little 396cc two stroke engine under the rear seat making 12hp (later 16hp), it had substantially less room, it was significantly slower, it was drastically cruder, and most significantly, it didn’t have a steel body, but one of wood/plywood covered with artificial leather (vinyl).
Ganz was one of a number of key influences that helped shape the direction of new small cars at the time. And yes, he was silenced by the Nazis. But that does not make him the true father of the VW. The VW had multiple fathers. Most of all, Hitler was the true father of the VW. he knew what he wanted, and he told Porsche that quite clearly. It would never have happened without Hitler.
The story is very complicated. I will try to shed more light on it in some posts.
Ganz was really just building on the very successful Hanomag 12PS “Komissbrot” which was a very advanced little car in the 1920s. Ganz owned one, and it inspired to him to design a better small light car. But the similarities, with their rear little two stroke engines and big wheels are unmistakable. At least the Hanomag had a steel body. The Standard had a better suspension, but not as sophisticated as the VW’s.
Here’s a video of one being driven. Not exactly up to Beetle standards all the way around.
In your opening shot, there’s something about the scuffed golden paint, the somewhat-matching painted wheel, the dents, and the background seemingly out of proportion to the car… it all makes this Bug appear like a well-used Matchbox car to me.
It’s a great picture, and I’m sure this VW has lots of stories to tell.
Get one! Cars don’t get any cooler or simpler than a bug.
I think all the generations of the Beetle look great. I even like the neo-retro one, even though I don’t think I’d ever buy one.
Most people would not like the big , it’s a 1930s design built into the 1970s
I went with my dad to buy one and when we got in our shoulders touched
The salesman showed us the type 3 which was much more roomy due to its wider body
Still a car from the 30s pedals mounted on the floor poor heating no power steering or power brakes
I
Sounds like what everyone says they want! No nannies or other “modern stuff” that’ll just break and takes away from the “purity” of the driving experience 😀.
Great shots. Your pics have a consistent professional and ‘art directed’ look. It’s rare this happens with cars, but the organic shape, and colour of this bug, makes it appear as part of its surroundings. Part of nature.
I mentioned this once before at CC, but I don’t know why fender skirts weren’t a more popular accessory during the late 60s and early 70s, when customizing VWs peaked. Such an affordable way to give the Bug a ‘posh’, and classic look. Especially on convertibles. Most Bugs it seemed, were just the most basic transportation to many.
Having had both a new ’71 and then a new ’73 Super Bug all I can say was there was no “truth in advertising” with that name. Even by the early 70s there was really NOTHING “super” about this vehicle. Space efficiency? About none, performance or handling? Same.
OTOH my totally NON automotive wife loved them……..to each their own. The need for valve adjustment$ at relatively frequent intervals didn’t endear them to me or my college student budget either. They did give a new meaning to SLOW however!!!
To me the much maligned ’71 Pinto HB I had was a somewhat better transportation “module”; and it had a very slick 4 speed! DFO
Jim, I believe what you have found is the limited edition 1974 Sun Bug. One of VW’s last gasps of trying to market the Beetle as a fun, if not counter-cultural, vehicle in the U.S. I happen to have the last known brochure for this icon, that I likely stole from the dealer at the age of 16, while getting parts for my ’66 Karmann Ghia. Sorry about the bad pic,my scanner is in similar condition to your find.
That’s great! I don’t remember hearing about the Sun Bug, but in thinking about it, this car does sure look like a VW special edition.
Here’s an ad for one:
The following year, IIRC, VW released La Grande Bug, a broughamified edition.
Another variety I didn’t know about. Rosewood applique, thick-pile carpeting, special blue and green colors… goodness, it’s like VW went trawling for ideas in a Lincoln brochure!
It was the warm-up act for the Pennsylvania built Rabbits a few years later. Perhaps not a coincidence the first generation is known as the MkI… 🙂
The Sun Bug was available as a Super Beetle sedan or convertible or a torsion-bar Beetle sedan, and I think the latter was the only way you could get a sunroof in a non-Super in ’74.
And in 1976-77 all US-market Beetle sedans had the Lemmerz GT styled wheels and most of the features of the Sun/La Grande Bugs (although the sunroof reverted to a separate option). They were all non-Supers, though, the Super Beetle sedan’s last year worldwide was 1975 but the convertible kept the 1303 Super spec to the end in 1979.
Sunroof model, complete with grooving ’70’s family.
And more!
90 degrees
Dammit why didn’t that work?
And…musical accompaniment!
Before “retromobiles” like the PT Cruiser, Chevy HHR, etc were cool, the late Beetles were their own retro.
I often hear enthusiasts say “If I could go back in time and buy a brand-new [Car X], that would be awesome!”.
So imagine it’s 1974. You say, “If I could go back in time and buy a brand-new 1954 VW, that would be awesome!” But in 1974, you could waltz into the VW shop and do (pretty much) just that.
Get a copy of this and learn how to keep that Bug alive forever!
I bought my oldest daughter a Super Beetle as her first car. It was her request. I was never impressed but it was the easiest car I’d seen to teach someone to drive a stick. I could never stand the exhaust note. On the positive side she still likes drivings a stick, and has kept a Mazda MX3 coupe. If I was looking for a super basic car I’d get an early Ford Falcon. Didn’t the Super Beetle ditch the torsion bar front suspension for McPherson struts?
Yes the Super Beetle had struts up front.
Nice find, I wonder if there’s any floor pans left sitting so low in the grass like that. The elephant foot taillights have grown on me a bit, I remember being horrified as a child.
If you want to get some VW experience you could come over for a visit next year, we’ll drive around the block then you can help me pull the front beam off. 🙂
We’ll have to get some Bavarian beer involved
Can’t you just get one that doesn’t need all those repairs? 🙂 What’s next, wiper blades? The horror. Toyotas don’t need all that, y’know…
I ascertained with a glance that the floor pans were in fact perforated but there was a spare (new) set laying in there, all the better to learn some welding skills with while drinking Bayerisches finest (to keep cool, of course).
Yes, I remember the Sun Bug well, and love those vintage ads! It was certainly a ‘last hurrah’ kind of approach from VW, which was by them competing with Hondas, Toyotas, Datsuns, and a bunch of American small cars. It was one of the more deluxe Beetles ever! I hope this one can be saved.
Beetles are interesting and rust free ones are plentiful in Oregon so I guess it’s an itch I need to scratch at some point but I have several other wants in line first.
If it’s contrary to the love the Bug, Super, then count me a fellow traveller.
As a kid, they looked right in ways the original didn’t, without the meaness of the flat screen and strange leaning-back eyes and the skinny wheels on an angle with bulging-cheek wheelcap domes. It was all filled out. The screen was SAAB-aero. The wheels leaned the other way – sort-of – and had sporty little holes and flat caps. The eyes looked perkily ahead, and the tailights said “modern” – which ofcourse, they didn’t. (More “desperate”, but I was a kid). Better yet, no mean sullen flat dash, but a modern one. Say, like a BMW, this is!
My sister had one years later, about ’86, and I thought it drove superbly. Hers may even have been late enough to have rack steering. Hadn’t a zot of power, ofcourse, and had the reliability of an 1899 Benz, but it was genuinely good fun to drive.
Buy one. You will regret it, but do it anyway. When the road is curvy and not too hilly, there’ll be some really good times.
You’ve taken the words out of my mouth – that’s exactly what I thought about the Super Bug when I was a kid! The first time I realised there was a Super version was when I was about 10 and read a test in Wheels magazine. Wheels compared the Super and non-Super, and oh yes, as realisation dawned upon me, I felt the Super love! I’d always dismissed Beetles as okay but old fashioned (a flat windscreen on a new car, seriously?!), but the Super brought the details right up to date!
I’m in favor. A guy with German roots as deep as yours without a Bug in your past is just wrong.
You are making me appreciate the later ones a bit. I am trying to get past my old mindset that started losing interest when the hubcaps got flattened.
I’m with Paul, the earlier the Beetle, the more I like them. That being said, I find the 1967 the most desirable to me. 12V electrics, factory camber compensator, 1500 engine, and no hideous padded dash. The ’67 just needs a stock appearing 1835 dual port engine.
Even if you don’t have an air cooled VW, you should still read the “Idiot Book”.
I’ve had one for ~ 30 years & still love to drive it. Mine was worse shape than this one when I first got it. They’re all fixable. Check out https://www.thesamba.com/vw/ to see what some people can do..
Heres mine, a 1966, still 6 volt even.
I love the style of the VW Beetles. Here are pics of my 1957 Oval window, my sons 1970 bug, my 1966 Kombi and my Daughters 2018 Turbo. My wife also has a 1970 Karman Ghia not pictured.
Its a Family Affair and a Passion for its Iconic Style…
Harvest Gold, like a kitchen appliance?
It’s a 1974 SUN BUG.