Those are the words of Tom McCahill, automotive tester at Mechanix Illustrated. He did a big write-up on the Volkswagen back in 1956 when the “Beetle” was still a novelty in America, but catching on fast.
I was pleasantly surprised to find this very original early Beetle—I haven’t seen a Bug of this vintage in the longest time. I did write about another ’56 that was stored for fifty years, which was now running and offered for sale. The example here looks to have been lowered (which I’m not happy about), but other than that it looks very original and nice.
McCahill called the VW “homely”, and even Volkswagen magazine ads called it “ugly”, but I disagree. I’m like the “famous Italian automobile designer” in this commercial—I look at it, and I don’t see how such a classic design can be improved. Finally he said, “Ingrandire finestrina di dietro.” (make the [little] rear window larger). “Solamente questo; solo questo.” (Only this—repeated for emphasis). And that change was made starting in 1958.
I found this paint chart for 1956 and 1957 , and it’s pretty obvious that the ’56 I found is Coral Red.
The TV ad didn’t mention it, but not only did they ingrandire the rear window, but they made the windshield larger too in ’58. This ’56 still has the original small one. Look at those dinky windshield wipers!
Dashboard is an exercise in well-crafted simplicity, as it should be. Interesting that a bottom-of-the-line Chevrolet 150 or Ford Mainline would look rather lavish by comparison.
OK, this is one of the reasons I love old cars so much—an exposed screw head on the tail light housing. This makes any servicing so much easier. Why do modern car designers insist that this sort of thing is verboten—and thus fixing anything becomes a nightmare!
Since 1938, Volkswagens have been made in Wolfsburg, Germany; so you would expect that you’d find a crest with a wolf atop a castle. Modern Volkswagens should have this emblem too.
At the same show I found this very original 1939 Chrysler Royal, which was designed around the same time as the Volkswagen. How interesting it is to compare this brash and luxurious Art Deco American car to the simple and “pure”—yet austere—German.
Yet today, few people know what a 1939 Chrysler looks like, but everyone can identify a classic Beetle. What is it about this car that has captured the imagination of the public for so long?
It’s hard to believe that when I was a kid, it seemed that like 1 in every 15 to 20 cars on the road was a Volkswagen Beetle. There was even a game (called “Slug Bug” or “Punch Beetle”, depending I suppose on what region of the country you came from). You’re sitting in the back seat with your kid brother and every time a Beetle is spotted, someone gets hit. Well, you can imagine what happened when we passed a Volkswagen dealership! How parents keep from going insane dealing with this kind of stuff has always amazed me.
You won’t have to worry about being “Bug Punched” these days because classic Beetles are rarely seen on the road. Even New Beetles have become kind of rare.
Ah, yes—I can hear that distinctive sewing machine engine now, a 36 hp 1200 if it’s still stock. It was fun seeing this early version of the Bug in person. When was the last time you saw one?
Further CC Reading
Vintage Review: Tom McCahill Wrings Out the 1956 VW by Paul Niedermeyer
CC For Sale: 1956 Volkswagen Beetle-Hibernating 50 Years, Now Running by Stephen Pellegrino
VW Goes To Italy For A New Design For The Beetle: Myth And Reality by Paul Niedermeyer
CC Outtake: Oval On The Go by Paul Niedermeyer
Last time I saw one on the road must have been a LONG time ago, doesn’t even register in memory! One of the collectors in the neighborhood had a real Beetle parked a few years ago.
I saw a classic Beetle on the road a few months ago–it reminded me how noisy, distinctive, and once-familiar that “sewing machine” engine is as the VW moves along! A nostalgic memory . . .
I still see an occasional Beetle, but rarely. A young woman here has a pink newer one with eye lashes painted above the headlamps. But they are almost extinct in this region. On the other hand, there were never that many in my community. In NW Indiana ANY car from a foreign manufacturer was persona non grata and most folks were driving full size cars. When one of my HS friends went to college, his parents gifted him with a new 65 Beetle. My first ride in it had me in a panic seeing NOTHING but the road in front. Naturally, the customized Beetle ,The Mini Rolls caught my eye. I think the Beetle, like so many other automobiles is a victim of today’s plethora of vehicles ruled by BLOATED SUVS at BLOATED prices .
When I first heard of the Beetle game, it was Punch Buggy. Over here any way.
Nice clean Beetle. Too bad about the lowering. Would be just perfect as original.
It was “Punch Buggy” here too. Related game was “Beaver Car”, same thing but with woodgrained (mostly) wagons instead of Beetles.
Punch Buggy here too.
Although frankly, the noun was hardly important as the main goal was to come up with an excuse to slug/hit/punch whoever was sitting next to you. It seems that kids back then pretty much exercised any opportunity available to engage in physical violence. Those were the days…
I see a red Beetle around town from time to time. New England winters have made most of them rust away. Something I realized after reading this article is that I have never seen a black Beetle.
Come to think of it I’ve only seen one black Beetle. A neighbor who was a salesman bought it because he needed to look “dignified”. Most, including the ’66 and ’67 I owned, were red. I think the VIN on mine called the color Rubin.
Nice car and beautiful color. I too am not a fan of the lowering. My 1963 Beetle has self-lowered over the years, but not to this extent.
I see air cooled Beetles every day where I live, either driving or parked but obviously in regular use. Not many oval window bugs, and not as many Beetles as aircooled Type 2 vans, mostly T2 or early T3 Vanagons, which are not at all uncommon. There are far more air cooled VW’s than any water cooled older than Mk3 Golf/Jetta.
Very sweet Beetle. I developed a case of VW fever this spring and started watching BAT auctions of them. This one would go for some $30k or more, if it’s in as nice a condition as it appears to be. My fever eventually abated but it’s easily triggered be seeing one like this.
A little and often overlooked detail: the welting between the body and rear fenders is black like it was when the factory assembled the two painted sections. All too often when Beetles get repainted the welting is just painted over. It’s an indication of how thorough the restoration was.
Did the fever pass without lasting symptoms?
I have backpacking fever now, and I’m going to act on it for the first time in 53 years. Not sure if that’s a residual symptom or not from VW fever, but who knows how these illnesses come and go.
This was on my first training hike with 36lbs. I’m targeting for more like 30lbs. Stephanie could never carry a pack due to spinal issues so after all these years I’ve decided to go for it, before it’s too late.
My buddies and I always called this, “car heat.”
Nice! I have seen one or two at shows over the years, but none this nice.
Wasn’t the welting (or beading?) color keyed for some years in the 60s?
I think that was dependant on colour, the near identical car I had use of had black, the Dolphin blue 59 I restored had black fender welting so I replaced it with black,but Paul and I have discussed some Beetle world differences American and Australian Beetles before they were not all identical across the planet .
From one VW reference I have handy (which covers the early ’60s):
August ’60 – July ’63 had black welting.
August ’63 – August ’65 was color coded to match the paint.
This may have varied by country, though.
Maybe they’re more common in California — I see classic Beetles on the road fairly often. There’s one I often see parked on the street that’s been “slammed” and “stanced” (and no, I’m not happy about that).
In my observation the Beetle never really went away at any point. When I was growing up in the 1980s and 90s they were still pretty common as a cheap daily driver. Then at some point they transitioned to classic cars that people restore. But I don’t think I ever really stopped seeing them at any point.
A VW nutter mate has been telling me about some of those slammed cars his cars are stock, now.
He used to have a cool lowered fat feet hot engine splitty van the cool wore off in parking lots when it bottomed out on speed humps and ground the bumper on driveways, it looked cool sure his wife reckoned it was a menace to use, after 17 years he sold it, missed it as you would and bought a used import early bay window van from the US and returned it to stock just like VW made it better he reckons,
They cut the floor pans out to get Beetles super low and install skid plates for sparks at night to look cool, my car goes up and down on command, I’ll stay with that
I’ve seen the commercial you linked a hundred times…it’s great! I always wondered if Volkswagen actually contracted a “famous Italian designer,” or if that was all marketing hogwash. Either way, it makes for a wonderful ad.
Famous for what?
I still see a nice original ’69 Beetle on my way to work, in the “Agave Green” or similar. Looks like a daily driver since it’s always in a different spot.
Regarding the VW games of my youth, I remember “Slug Bug” the best. My wife’s family played a variation they called “Beaver Bus.” This was for when they spotted a split-window bus, where the “V” shaped chrome in front resembled a beaver’s big teeth (or something like that). We laugh about now, but she will still come out with it on the rare occasion that we see an old VW van.
Wow somebody kept one, in highschool I drove that almost exact car if you delete one tailpipe and those strange marker lights we didnt get,
It was registered new in 55 the very first model sold in NZ identical dash the colour is close on my monitor it was slow, you could outdrive the lights on a back road below the 55mph speed limit which it couldnt exceed on the flat, I had been car watching on our street since I could see great view from our house but it was steep, Beetles, yes two used that short cut regularly, the performance wasnt a surprise,
I still dont like them much but its great to see that one salut.
“When was the last time I saw one?”
About five minutes ago! My ’62 sunroof and ’63 sedan ‘perpetual projects,’ which are, of course, not yet “on the road.” I was making pretty decent progress this spring, but gardening and other responsibilities have pushed them to the back burner for now. Hoping to dig back in now that we’re done with the summer kids camps we help run.
A buddy of mine who already has several hot rods bought this late-model-year ’64 back in the spring, so I see (and drive) it every so often as well. It has a hotted-up engine and scoots along quite nicely.
My, that black ’62 has a HUGE sunroof!
Just lovely .
I love pastels, always have .
My battered and rusty survivor 1959 DeLuxe beetle sits in my back yard awaiting me to replace the rusted out primary fuel pipe from front to back .
It’s quite the job to do correctly, needs engine and tranny out plus seats and fuel tank etc. .
Ed, your chassis looks terrific .
-Nate
I’ll take the ‘67 Marlin in the background of the last pick. My brother had one almost identical to it.
I owned a 56 small window in 1979..my daily driver..gave it to a young man that needed a car to get a job..
I disapprove of the lowered look too, particularly on such an original-spec car, but on the other hand, for real-world use, it gives the driver far less chance of parking it on its roof.
In the second photo, I wonder what that metal bar visible in front of the wheel might be?
Lowering generally hurts handling on swing-axle Beetles. There’s a reason VW’s specs have the back end a little lower than the front. Both my cars will get factory suspension settings, but both will also get sway-away bars and camber compensators, not to mention dual-circuit brakes with disc fronts.
Sway bar, it’s at a weird angle because the suspension is lowered.
These were my Dad’s VWs. His first “2nd” car was a ’59 Beetle he bought used in 1966, it was the Coral Red. Unfortunately it was a Vermont car and pretty rusty…the battery fell out from beneath the rear seat suspended by battery cables at one point. It was totalled parked in front of our house by a teenager who lived at the end of our street (we lived on a street that dead ended into Lake Champlain). He’d actually driven them in the early 50’s while in the US Army in Germany in the early 50’s, they assigned him one of these instead of a Jeep (guess the Jeeps were in Korea).
His ’59 didn’t have the “package shelf” under the dash, guess he had a base model…6V battery, no gas gauge, shift points on the VDO speedometer.
I’ve never owned an aircooled VW; they were on the way out by the time I started driving in 1974, but since 1981 I’ve owned nothing but watercooled VWs…even then, I’m only on my 3rd (2000 Golf, bought new).
I still see air-cooled VWs occasionally, but seldom on the road. In fact, around here they seem to be adopted as advertising symbols (aka, lawn art) for cannabis shops…painted up in wild “hippie” colors and patterns. Same fate exists for VW buses, although I suppose given their higher value (and need for more paint and time to deface them) I have seen more of those unmolested and moving on their own power on the road. But yeah, there are at least 3 or 4 pot shops near me (unrelated businesses) that have coincidentally come up with the same idea to use a non-running Beetle to catch the eyes of potential customers.
My first “real car” (after a ’39 Ford 2 dr sedan that burned too much oil to drive in LA, and a ’49 Ford with a ’53 Merc flathead with dual carbs and the loosest running gear every) was ablack ’56 bug. Bought that in ’62 when I worked at the Seattle World’s Fair and had to have dependable transportation to get to work. Kept it 4 years until my junior year at UCLA when I upgraded to a ’63 MGB. Drove that bug from Seattle to Mesa Arizona for Christmas and the from LA to Mesa several times for school breaks. Great car. Accidently got painted a deep red purple by Earl Schieb when I thought it would be root beer brown! Became known as the “Grape”.
Here is my 68 getting a new paint job!
Exposed fasteners went away because parts theft was a common issue for European car owners both in the US and their home markets. My cousin had a number of VWs and VW-based dune buggies in the ’70s, and everything from light assemblies to distributors used to vanish overnight. I also remember reading about FIAT changing their design approach to exposed fasteners during the era because parts theft had reached a point where European consumers were considering the likelihood of pieces vanishing at purchase time as social contracts failed.
I have a 1959 German model VW Beetle with semaphores on the door post and a 1965 Dune Buggy in my garage.