Air cooled Volkswagen appreciation thread
- Thread starter leesonic
- Start date
1971 VW Squareback. Picture from the web, mine also had a roof rack.
I bought one of these for the princely sum of $600 in 1972 from my brothers neighbor in Chicago whom I knew well.
This was our weekend camping vehicle for several years and was extremely reliable and I did all the maintenance.
I could drop the engine in this car in less than 45 minutes making most of the major maintenance easy.
https://www.jbugs.com/store/graphic...Your-Volkswagen-Alive-Front-Cover_540x540.jpg
Only drawback was with no air conditioning it saw limited use after moving to Florida. Compared to the bug, the engine noise was minimal.
Those were super neat cars!
1971 VW Squareback. Picture from the web, mine also had a roof rack.
I bought one of these for the princely sum of $600 in 1972 from my brothers neighbor in Chicago whom I knew well.
This was our weekend camping vehicle for several years and was extremely reliable and I did all the maintenance.
I could drop the engine in this car in less than 45 minutes making most of the major maintenance easy.
https://www.jbugs.com/store/graphic...Your-Volkswagen-Alive-Front-Cover_540x540.jpg
Only drawback was with no air conditioning it saw limited use after moving to Florida. Compared to the bug, the engine noise was minimal.
There’s been a few Type 3’s on BaT recently. Squares and Slants. Still dreaming of a Type 34 Ghia in my garage someday. I hope another one pops up soon. The last nicely restored one I had a shot at was $47k a few years back. Timing and market conditions are great- I’m ready.
Good luck! When I think of Ghia, I think of Iron Oxide galore.
And 34s are so rare compared to the Karmann bug chassis.
Using the spare tire in the trunk to pressurize the windshield washer tank was brilliant, thus ensuring that the spare was always fully inflated.Those were super neat cars!
The other part is the two part pulley for the alternator, one added or removed shims to adjust belt tension.
And it was fuel injected, whereas our 1974 VW Passat was carbureted and keeping this adjusted was a PIA.
There is a guy in the UK called Keith Seume, he was the editor of a magazine called Custom Car. I think he also used to edit Volksworld magazine, similar to Hot VWs and VW Trend in the USA.
He owned an orange Type 3 Fastback, which was the subject of several articles in the magazine. I personally felt the car was a bit out of place in the UKs "Hot Rod" scene, but then what do I know. When he talked about VWs, he referred to them in the US vernacular as "Bugs", whereas most people in the UK would call them "Beetles". I also felt the original look with the Empi style wheels was better, compared to the Compomotive wheels he put on it. But again, what do I know?
He owned an orange Type 3 Fastback, which was the subject of several articles in the magazine. I personally felt the car was a bit out of place in the UKs "Hot Rod" scene, but then what do I know. When he talked about VWs, he referred to them in the US vernacular as "Bugs", whereas most people in the UK would call them "Beetles". I also felt the original look with the Empi style wheels was better, compared to the Compomotive wheels he put on it. But again, what do I know?
Seen a few of the Razor Edge Ghia's around over the years and never warmed up to any type other then one's. Owner operator of a 70 Ghia since 76.
The two's look cool and all choose to have a Econoline Van back in the day due to liking heat and a defroster.... My Brother kept a propane heater in his and it was still fkn cold.
The three's and four's never liked the way the engine was placed. Guess having all type one base cars was use to them maybe.
EMPI’s of course. If there were EMPI style wheels to fit my ‘14 R-Line Beetle Convertible they’d be on it.
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I think it’s the greenhouse look. I also love BWM 3.0 CSA’s which are hard to come by in one piece if not local cars.
Adapters? I often thought that older VW wheels would look cool on a newer VW. There is a particular style of wheel on the newer Beetles that evoque's the style of the old ones. They have a very similar hubcup, and the rest of the wheel is painted, usually black, but when they are white on a white car, they look great IMHO.
I had a beige 1966 1300cc Beetle at university in the 90s. It overheated one day driving to the beach and started making a fair bit of smoke, so I switched it to a 1600cc piston kit. I added a rear shelf with a speaker unit that could drown out the air-cooled engine. I still feel guilty that I took a car that was original with just a little wear and didn't really look after it... then sold it to a friend who trashed it.
I wish I could get another one. It was just fun to work on. I still have my "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" book on the shelf. Unfortunately the price of Beetles seems to be going up faster than my ability to buy one. Even more so for Kombis!
I wish I could get another one. It was just fun to work on. I still have my "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" book on the shelf. Unfortunately the price of Beetles seems to be going up faster than my ability to buy one. Even more so for Kombis!
Have a set of EMPI's painted to match the Toyota Super Red of our Ghia.
any bug heads here?
Not a bug, but this is my 1977 Deluxe Campmobile. It has the 2.0L fuel injected engine. It is mostly all original, not restored. I am the second owner. The original owner took very good care of it. It is not a show car. I keep it in the garage in the winter since the salt would quickly kill it...
audiokarma.org
Those are the base “Classic” wheels. Nobody makes the EMPI wheel in 18” or 19” by 8”to fit the R-Line Beetle. They came with 245’s in 40 or 45 series depending on the wheel dia. Mine has 18’s and the DSG trans which were optional. I think the 19’s came with the manual transmission. With the lower sport suspension they’re a tight fit, I had to sign a no chains waiver. Back to the luftgekult VW’s.
Love this design study for an unfinished vintage Okrasa engined, Karmann Ghia roofed late 50's - early 60's special:
The thread about the actual thing by it's builder Steve Wright is here:
Steve went for a different design than the proposed one above, this is how it ended up:
The thread about the actual thing by it's builder Steve Wright is here:
TheSamba.com :: Beetle - Split-Window/1938-53 VWs - View topic - Okrasa Special
Classified ads, photos, shows, links, forums, and technical information for the Volkswagen automobile
www.thesamba.com
Steve went for a different design than the proposed one above, this is how it ended up:
The nose and tail look a lot like a Porsche 904.
