Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Originally Posted By: WellOiled
With respect to VW beatles. I used to work in a Volkswagen dealership in the early 70's. One fourth of July weekend about 20 VWs were waiting in the service lane to have replacement engines put in. It was 104F in the shade. Those engines could not take WOT headed west on I-80 (gradual incline) especially if the owner was not spot on with their oil changes and kept the screen clean. Oils of the time were not the quality that we have today. Factory oil change was 2000 miles IIRC. Since they are air cooled, the tolerances had to be generous. As a result they would consume oil. With a low oil volume, it was easy to run low on oil. Once I saw what was happening, my interest for VWs dropped and I have steered clear of the brand.
Yes-I actually had 2-a '64 Beetle (my 1st car, the rusty 6V electrical system death trap), and a '73 Type III Squareback. If you used straight 30HD (or HDEO diesel oil) and kept them topped up, they would survive fairly well-but several local garages made their living putting "jug kits" (pistons, rings, and cylinders) in them regularly. The '64 was a pain, it needed bump started any time it was below 30F (which was all the time in '80-'82 in winter when I had it), the '73 actually wasn't bad, with it's fuel injected 1600 & 4 speed-but those cars were archaic compared to ANYTHING built today! Aftermarket filter kits were available for them, but I didn't know enough about the VWs to get one-and they both died ugly body deaths from rust anyway.
My dad had a ‘63 and my sister had a ‘61. The rest of us observed and learned. There are no VWs in the family. And you are correct later models were improved. Just not enough to change my mind. If you put someone over 150lbs in the RR seat, there was a good possibility the springs in the seat would short out the 6v battery. And yes, I used to get them rolling, and pop the clutch in 2nd gear to start when cold. We got better service life out of the domestic vehicles (Olds, Chevy and Ford).