Originally Posted by Silk
I used to have a '58 Kombi, and a '59 Beetle....and one 1300 engine. I'd swap the engine over on a saturday morning on the road outside my mother's house. after I destroyed the engine, I think I gave both away. The position you had when driving the Kombi we used to call The Kombi Crouch.
A friend of mine found a pick up at the dump, dragged it home and got it going. On the side he wrote - Puff The Tragic Wagon.
Both tales are quintessentially Kiwi, showing resourcefulness and humour. My Kiwi bride and I laughed out loud at "Puff the Tragic Wagon".
Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by WobblyElvis
I had a 68 and my brother had a 71 and a 72 camper. I can't say they were good vehicles, maybe for narrow roads and low speeds but not for North America. The wind would blow them all around on the highway. Very frustrating to drive. I don't miss it.
Back in the day I owned a 66 Microbus for about a year, I bought it one summer and sold it the next summer. I had it for one Wisconsin winter, and THAT was enough. The heater was non-existent, I had to scrape the ice off of the inside of the windshield as I drove it and I had to wear snowmobile boots to keep my feet from freezing.
Having only 52hp to work with, the aerodynamics of a brick, and being fairly heavy, it was excruciatingly and dangerously slow. VW claimed that it had a top speed of 65 mph, but I can tell you for a fact that it wouldn't go that fast unless I was closely following a semi, downhill. At the time, car magazine test reports did not list a 0-60 mph time for the VW because it would go no faster than 59 mph for them.
The blowing around in the wind was absolutely frightening, but it didn't even have to be windy. When a truck passed you on the highway, the van would blow over by a half a lane as the truck approached, and sucked you in when it got along side you.
On top of everything else, it's reliability was awful. I had to buy a set of metric tools after I got it and I had to work on it continuously, mostly on my back in the cold.
Owning it was memorable, but not a fun experience.
My kind parents-in-law bought a used Beetle from a needy soul back in the day, and also experienced the tragedy of an air-cooled VW gasoline heater in a norther winter. When the New Beetle was introduced in the late '90s, one billboard here spoofed the old Beetle - "Introducing exciting new features - like heat!".
As far as the aerodynamics, we experienced similar during our year in New Zealand. We drove a '95 Mazda Bongo van (1998 cc SOHC, 5-speed manual, mid-engined, 9-passenger), a slab-sided beast with a high centre of gravity. Acceleration was leisurely, and highway driving in gusty conditions was an adventure. I'm sure it was a rocket ship compared to a VW bus though.