This is an image that’s been floating around the interwebs for a while, but I couldn’t resist using it as one last “parting shot” for VW Week (I missed the weekend fun here at CC, helping Son Number One with some out-of-town car and house repairs). The General Electric GAU-8 Avenger is the primary weapons system around which the Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog is designed, and it weighs 4,029 pounds (1,828 kg) fully armed – that’s 2-1/3 times the weight of the pictured Beetle.
The GAU-8 generates about 10,000 pounds-force (45 kN) in recoil (that’s more than one of the A-10’s engines produces in thrust!) and current versions fire 3,900 RPM (rounds per minute), typically limited to short bursts. For comparison, the 1966 Beetle’s 1300cc engine makes an enthusiastic 50 hp (gross) and 69 ft. lb. of torque at 2,900 RPM, and can run full throttle all day long. Approximately 715 Avengers were manufactured, and it’s still in service in the A-10 today. A whopping, 1,168,146 copies of the 1966 Beetle (CC here) were made, and I suspect quite a few of those are still in service, too.
Unless someone swapped the wheels, that looks exactly like a 1965 Beetle. But isn’t trying to pin down the year of Beetles half of the fun?
But if had said ’65, I wouldn’t have been able to link to your ’66 CC post!
Call it “editorial prerogative.”
(c:
Reminds me of an airshow I made quite a few years ago, still during the Cold War. A couple of A-10’s had flow in and I was talking to one of the pilots. As an avid sandtable wargamer who had run multiple variations of Fulda Gap, I get to talking to the pilot regarding armor, battlefield viability, etc.
His comment to my questions? “Buddy, if it’s on the ground, moving, and I see it . . . . . it’s dead.”
My first thought was: Didn’t the 66 have flat hub caps? Why does this stuff stick in your head 40+ years?
CC effect in full force: have been seeing more Beetles all week in SoCal. Yesterday a 62 in mint condition and in mint green, white walls, gorgeous bumpers and paint, driven by a young woman in heavy traffic.
Too bad there’s not a shot of the rear of that Beetle. If the hood says “1300”…it’s a ’66.
Depends….since the wheels aren’t original, then even if it said “1300” how would we know it’s not a ’65 with a 1300 deck lid? 🙂
The reality is that it’s a ’65 if the wheels are original, but it’s possible to change stuff around: wheels, 1300 badges, engine lids, almost anything.
I just hope the CC effect doesn’t extend to ground attack aircraft because I don’t want to look in my rearview mirror and see a Warthog!
+1
LOL!
I was 17 years old driving my father’s brand new VW for the first time. We lived in an army base in Germany and this was my first outing in snow. I knew to break early for the stop sign, but the breaks locked and I could see I just keep sliding past the intersection.
I glanced to my left and saw a long convoy of military tanks rapidly approaching me. I somehow shifted down to second and floored it with a few feet to spare.
That car could do amazing things.
The 65/66 wheel thing applies to U.S. Specs. When I bought my 66 it was in Canada and I could have bought a 66 1200 with the old style shoes. I just couldn’t bring it back to the US. Also, as Paul said previously you could put the old caps on the new cars but not the newer caps on the older cars.
Having owned plenty of both I think I prefer the baby moon look.
Also note that the VW had to have been at least ten years old in the photo, probably older… Plenty of time for stuff to have been changed out.
I guess that during the first gulf war, a couple of Sadam’s choppers got to met a Warthog.