Mine was 1960 .. yellow and white .. and the funnest thing to drive.
Just passed a late 60s version on the way to work this morning. It was adorned with all the requisite markings of the day - peace symbol, flowers, etc.
They were indeed fun to drive - albeit giving the driver adequate time to compose a doctoral theses whilst attempting to get up to highway speed.
My first car was a ‘62 with sun roof and tons of windows. So much rust I could watch the road pass under my feet. $600.
I was in heaven!
And the world died not with a bang but under the weight of regulations.
Can they still survive an EMP attack?
:-)
I never would have believed that you could pull the front wheels off the ground (69 bus) by alternately mashing the throttle and clutch.
I was there when my sister managed while my dad was trying to teach her to drive. LOL!
I also remember trying to drive a 40hp bus over the ship channel bridge in Houston. I thought I was going to have to get out and push. I cannot imagine trying to drive something like that loaded to its rated capacity of 3/4 ton in the mountains.
When I was a kid if you saw a beetle you’d yell “SPUD” and get one point. If you saw a VW microbus you’d yell “STEEL” and get six points.
Got one stuck in a parking garage in Frankfurt one time in teh ‘80’s... We had to find a bunch of people to get in with us so we could back out...
FARFEGNUGEN!!!
Had a new 1970 in blue that I called “Strider” and it was a lot of fun. Except in the winter when the heat (passive) never reached the front of the van. You couldn’t keep the slush from freezing on the windshield.
Had to sell it though because the air con was behind the driver seat and living in Texas I needed it to be hitting my face and not the back of my neck.
I remember VW agents showing up after horrible crashes and buying the wreckage. They also scoured the junkyards for any bugs or buses showing how easily smashed VWs were. Really evil.
I learned to drive a stick, illegaly, at the age of 12 on a 63 bus with no back seats.
Drove my sisters and to the lake about a mile from our house. I had to park outside the park because the girls charging a dime for parking would have noticed I wasn’t old enough to drive.
The band I played in during the ‘60’s had a ‘63. I remember packing up in the snow after playing a Frat Party at Dartmouth, then heading back to Maine. I was sitting in the front with the “heater” vent next to my left foot. After almost 3 hours of riding, the snow that was on the floor from my boots had NOT MELTED!
Friend’s dad had one— and he was ace mechanic/electrician.
He eventually came to hate it== called it “Hitler’s revenge” LOL.
there is a large Kombi club travels all over the US. Great folks who are gonna be upset with this. But they like the old Kombis anyway and tweak the devil out of them.
I have a ‘72 (bought new after having wrecked a used ‘69 on a Colorado mountainside) Campmobile that has been sitting in a shed for about a decade and half. All three of my kids drove it during high school. I had it painted a kelly green, so my kids’ friends called it “the pickle”.
It needs a lot of restoration (engine & body), but I haven’t found anyone around here who does that now.
If anyone knows someone in/near the Kerrville, Tx, area who restores VWs, please let me know. :)
What about the shovels and rakes and implements of destruction?
It was my daily driver for years....Went to Baja on a few surfing adventures.
Damn thing is worth a lot of crazy money these days....
Sits in my garage..these days. Like money in the bank.