It’s still winter in the Northern Hemisphere, so for today we’ll revisit Beetles with a frosty twist thanks to this short gallery. The images feature Wolfsburg’s famous Type 1 surrounded by snowy environments in various locations around the world.
The dates on these are varied, from the 1950s to somewhere in the 1970s. And in a good number of the images, the cars are clearly providing the commuting service for which they were known for; being used either for work or pleasure.
Oh boy, does this bring back the memories; that white one could be one of my two, a ’64 and a ’63. VWs were made for the snow, and I never got stuck in one, even without ever having snow tires.
My favorite memory is a big overnight snowfall in Baltimore, and the city was essentially shut down, as it is not in serious snow country and was not well equipped to deal with it. Also it was a Sunday morning, IIRC. I headed out for a grand tour of the city, often all alone on what were some of the busiest streets in the city. The sun came out; it was a winter wonderland. Kids were playing in the streets, and I was tootling through the 4-6″ of soft fresh snow without the slightest problem or worry. I just kept driving, all over parts of town I hadn’t been to for a while, or never before. It made me realize just how different a city is when there’s essentially zero traffic, and covered in fresh snow. It was just so beautiful!
The one in #5 appears to be a Canadian market “Standard” with its small bumpers.
And the cabriolet is an example of how the VW was a “classless” car, as these cabrios were typically bought in Europe only by higher income buyers. Its owner would not feel inferior in the company of Mercedes and such.
What year was that? I lived outside Baltimore from 1962-1966. It was either winter 64-65 or 65-66 where we got so much snow we were out of school almost a week. Our streets weren’t plowed for quite awhile so we were essentially confined to the house with snow somewhere around 3-4 feet, on flat ground, blocking the doors. Drifts were ridiculously as high as 20 feet against homes. My parents were away so grandparents watching which meant no one was shoveling snow much less of that quantity. I know a max of 1 hour outside was enough for me before getting cold and a bit wet. Has to be same storm.
I was a kid during the ’65-66 blizzard; that was epic! The event I described here was in the early ’70s; I can’t remember which year. It wasn’t all that huge of a dump; just enough to keep everyone at home that morning.
Yes the ’66 blizzard kept Balto. County schools closed for an entire week iirc. I remember being able to sled down the middle of our street from the top near Joppa Rd all the way down to Eton for days, it was awesome. Took the plows days to do our street, lots of people getting stuck, despite some of them still using snow chains… remember those noisy, inconvenient things? Our next door neighbor had a ’64 VW and had no trouble getting around and commuting down to Ft Holabird.
We must have just missed the ’65 Blizzard, we moved from Catonsville to Burlington Vermont in June 1965 (my Dad moved around a lot in his younger years due to his job, we actually moved to Vermont twice, his employer moved him to Manassas VA than back to Vermont). During the first move, we’d just left our home in Catonsville and were staying in a Holiday Inn on Rt 40 when my Dad was returning from work to our motel trying to turn left when he got hit by another car when a guy in one lane waved him through but the guy in the other lane didn’t…it totalled his ’63 Rambler Wagon. Not sure how he made it up to Vermont for his job, but he ended up buying a ’65 Olds F85 in South Burlington at Val Preda’s and picking us up at our grandparents who we were staying with (we never lived closer than about a 4 hour drive from our grandparents though). We only lived in Catonsville a few years (sometime in ’62 to ’65).
Anyhow, not even a year after moving to Burlington, my Dad bought his first “second” car, a ’59 Beetle. He’d previously driven early 50’s Beetles while in the US Army stationed in Germany where apparently they assigned them instead of Jeeps (guess the Jeeps were all in Korea by then?) and he liked them, but unfortunately the ’59 Beetle was also totalled parked in front of our house (someone ran into it), but it was a bit of a rust bucket, the battery fell out of the bottom of the back seat with the battery cables only thing keeping the battery “with” the car. The 9th picture down really rings a bell with me about his ’59, which had great traction, but instead of getting another Beetle, he bought a new ’68 Renault R10, also rear engine/RWD and pretty good traction as well (it was his first car to have radial tires…and 4 wheel disc brakes.
(Know it sounds like my Dad was an unlucky driver, but these were the only 2 vehicles he ever got totalled, but they were pretty close together on the calendar so they both fit into the story (and he wasn’t even inside his Beetle when it was totalled).
Well, Dad sold his R10 in Virginia, and about 10 years after we’d first moved to Vermont we were back there once more, but it was mid 70’s. You could still get a Beetle, but by then even though most cars still had RWD, FWD was becoming available, but the cars that had it were still pretty pricey…watercooled VWs and Hondas weren’t inexpensive FWD cars, and Saabs were more so. My Dad looked at a Datsun F10, but got spooked by seeing a vent on the front hood that to him looked like a last minute engineering change; he ended up buying a Subaru DL (1976). That year Subaru had an AWD wagon, but most of their offerings were FWD. The Subaru lasted “most” of the time he had left up in Vermont until he moved to the sunbelt and retired (after which he wasn’t very concerned about winter driving of course), but also it was the time when most auto makers had made the transition so most of their offerings were now FWD anyhow.
I know many people have no problems with RWD in snowy climates, but it seemed that smaller, lighter cars had a bit better traction with FWD…I had a ’74 Datsun while I was going to college in Vermont as a commuter student, it did OK but I mostly didn’t drive it much distance during the winter. It did end up rusting pretty much, after 7 years I replaced it…with a watercooled VW (I’ve never owned an aircooled one, my Dad never owned a watercooled)
How I miss those days when Beetles were everywhere, and you could buy them super cheap. Sigh…
I was born a few years after the last Beetles were sold in the US, but it seemed like they were still common throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s as just cheap transportation. In my observation they never really went away, but at some point they transitioned from cheap transportation to lovingly restored classic cars.
What a great collection of shots! Here in the great white north VWs were legendary for thier abilities in snow. You’d freeze your a** off, but you’d get there! A buddy of mine had a ’59 or ’60 with a gasoline heater that he wouldn’t use so he could stretch 2 bucks of gas for the whole week’s driving back and forth to school. With recapped snow tires it would go just about anywhere.
I like the shot of the convertible with the ski rack, VWs were a common sight at our local “bunny hill” ski operation back when.
On a cold morning here in California before I knew what black ice was, I was climbing a hill in be Beetle. The car ahead of seemed to stop, what the heck! I came up on him and fortunately he got going again. The VW sailed right over the ice with the weight of the engine over the drive wheels I had enough traction to make it over the small ice patch.
I never had the pleasure of driving a Beetle in wintry weather, but apparently they were just amazing on snow and ice. Makes sense.
And of course there’s the famous “have you ever wondered how the man who drives the snowplow gets to the snowplow?” commercial:
The snowplow driver’s house is gonna be freezing when he gets back, as the house door is a foot away from closing…
I always assumed the snowplow driver keeps the snowplow wherever they live, much like how local police officers park their cruisers outside their homes overnight.
“Amazing”? Bit of a stretch. They were “to the capable”, side. Not a lot a power, so not a lot a wheel spinning.
Some weight in the front helped. Otherwise sometimes the car continued in the direction is was headed before. Got stuck one time, put it in gear and pushed then ran and got in.
Yep I had 4 VWs all loved going in the Snow in Western Pa. A 64,67,71 and a 75 FWD Rabbit
Ken D
You get one of those “New Stanton PA, Rabbits”?
I had a VW almost identical to the one in photo #8, which I think has “Wash.” plates.
It got around very well in the snow.
In photo #5, the littlest guy looks like he has a cigarette ready to fire up. Must be a trick of the light.
Thanks to the water tower, Picture #10 is easy to place – it’s Williamston, Michigan, about 20 mi. east of Lansing.
Looks like the water tower was moved sometime in the last few decades; it’s now in another part of town. The Chrysler-Plymouth dealer in the background was Harold Pletz Motor Sales – that building had been used as a car dealership since the 1920s, and before that was a tack and saddle shop. Pletz operated there until about 1971, after which the site served as a used car dealer, eventually becoming a restaurant. Fortunately, the building has been preserved.
Then-and-now comparison (without the snow) and Google StreetView link below:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/b38SbUoZHQDgngWt7
From the ’66 license plates and the Jan ’67 date on the photo border, I am assuming that this is the aftermath of the blizzard that hit Mid-Michigan that month. It is still considered to be one of the worst storms in the area. My Dad’s VW would have been buried in snow in East Lansing about 15 miles West of Williamston.
Just lovely ! .
These pictures bring back memories of going places in VW’s that only warmed up if they were fully loaded with people .
-Nate
Great photos! We have over half a meter of snow on the ground currently, my 64 VW is snug in the garage. Maybe sometime I’ll get out in the snow before the salters come around.
No one mentioned the Corvair in the 11th photo. It had some of the same advantages as the Beetle.
I saw the Corvair – neat, as I have a friend with a Greenbriar.
I’m looking at my Ghia sitting outside covered in snow. You are correct regarding traction in the white stuff, but braking is tricky – the fronts like to lock up!
Donuts can be had though….
I owned my ’64 for six years in the 1990s and never let snow or Georgia ice storms slow me down!
Mom and Dad only owned one new car between them (even after their divorce after 25 years of marriage) – a ’59 Beetle, shown in the attached photo, and documented more fully here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-1958-volkswagen-type-i-deluxe-my-first-ride-in-a-beetle/
Some of the best times driving in the snow were in various Beetles. Owned a 63 with the fabric sunroof, and two super Beetles a 71 and a 72. They drive great in snow, especially with good tires. Donuts Galore. I remember driving home once in a big snowstorm, having to stop every 15-20 miles to kick the slush and snow out of the wheel wells. My 60 Westfalia is very good in snow too, but it’s a little too valuable to risk someone hitting it in frozen conditions.
I had a 65 that during the late 60’s and early 70’s. Went through many snow storms in NY. Great memories. My wife and I fell in love in that car!
A good friend from HS had a 65. Parked in 1.5 car garage. We’d sneak in and turn it sideways in the middle of the night.
Your comment reminds me of my college days. There were never any parking spots available anywhere anyone would reasonably want to park. Even by the dorms. (You had to park by the field house several blocks away.) Beetle owners (and the owners of other small cars) faced special problems. If they were lucky enough to find a desirable parking spot fairly close to anything, other people would come along and pick up and move the VWs to the campus lawns and steal their parking places. And then the poor VW owners would get parking tickets for parking on the lawns.
Been cold all day. After these pics, “frozen”.
In January, 1975, one of Minnesota’s worst blizzards in state history closed most roads (some for 11 days) and piled up 20-foot drifts. At the Northfield radio station where I worked everyone who had to report in went by snowmobile. Except me. My ’70 Beetle managed to negotiate the gravel roads to the studios and transmitter which were out in the country cornfields. I made it but I never should have challenged that storm. Young and bulletproof.
I have fond memories of driving my VW to school in the snow of northern Indiana. The car would go through nearly anything, but my buddy riding shotgun had to continuously scrape the inside of the windshield so we could see out. On this cold morning in Illinois (-4 F!), I’m reminded of how soft we’ve all become with functional defrosters, rear de-icers, heated seats, heated steering wheels, AWD, cup holders for our hot coffee, and remote starters.
I guess running the engine to defrost the windows wasn’t an option in these, if I’m correct the standard heating setup had no blower. Stories here confirm these cars were decent in snow though. Probably the Corvan in one of the photos was as well.
Yeah, the heat just “oozed out” when it came. Under “50 degrees”, basically no heat. Some had an auxiliary, blower heater. Very inefficient, hard on the electricals.
My parents first new car was a 64. They kept it as a third car after my sisters and I came along. It became a loaner car for niebors and family mostly. When the snow came and New Jersey got snow in the 70’s it was the go to car. You had to make sure you had a full tank of gas or it wouldn’t steer. You had to dress warm too. The heat was just awful and the defroster barely worked.
In other words, all those years later, the heater /defroster worked like new!
I remember seeing my first VW in 1957. It was owned by my teacher Mr. Oliver. It was a 1955 with a split rear window. I remember one of my classmates dad just bought a new 1958 Buick Roadmaster 75. We used to say that we could put that VW in his dad’s truck. My neighbor’s son had a VW around 1961. It had a reserve gas tank no gas gauge. During the winter he drove it out on the lake and it sank. It was very slow to sink but the good news was he got out ok. VW has some very good advertising back then.
I recall a Wisconsin TV reporter testing VW’s rumored ability to float. He was quite surprised to find they actually did float – for awhile anyway.
The car was pulled back to shore before it fully sank. It even started and Mr. Siegal was able to drive it off.
Even in the days before the internet, this short news video caught the attention of VW and they later turned it into a print ad.
With good snow tires my bug could climb a tree.
2 in the morning, as far from civilization as one can get in my neck of the woods, I ran off the road into a deep, snow filled ditch. Resigned to the 5 mile walk to my cabin, a car full of rowdy farm boys appeared. I doubted them when they said they could get my buried bug out of the ditch. One of the happiest moments
of my life was watching those 4 farm boys literally pick up my beetle and set it back on the road like it was a toy slot car. Paid less than $2000 for that brand new VW in 1973.
My dad had a 63. He loved to honk and wave at the rear wheel drive American cars spinning their tires as he flew past them. Also, Volkswagen had some of the most clever ads. My favorite is the funeral procession.
From all my life until today, I never noticed the similarity between the “teeth” of a ’50 Buick grille, and a VW front-bumper-guard.
The Buick, being older, is longer-in-the-tooth. But the shape is surprisingly similar.