Wow, some very interesting cars here! I think some of you may be missing the original point, and that was the "best" car. 427 Cobras may be very fast and impressive, but they would never have had the impact on the world motoring scene that the Beetle has had because they were not built in sufficient numbers. The Beet1e's success is its simplicity, and its affordability. It brought motoring to many millions of people for the first time.
I bought my first Beet1e last summer! The reason I bought it was because I admire its history. But
"I loved them all, and they are great cars considering when they were designed. By today's standards though, they are crap." I don't entirely disagree with that statement. They
were crap. The original glovebox was made of some sort of cardboard which lasted about 5 minutes. Sound deadening material around the engine was made of a similar material, and the windscreen washers were originally powered by air pressure from the spare tyre!!!
I could not buy one from Mexico because I needed one with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
Last month I got some bad news about my bug. The inner panels were corroded and needed replacing - an expensive job. Before going ahead with that, I wanted to know if there was anything else that might be lifed out. The heater channels were tested by tapping them with a hammer. Oh dear, the hammer went straight through.
The problem with cars designed back then was that rustproofing was not something that was given much thought. And in this country, with our damp climate, rust is what kills most bugs. The inner panels are made of mild steel, with no rust protection.
Repairs would cost more than the car was worth in its current state, so common sense might be to have the car towed away. But I could not allow that to happen. That would be a crime against motoring history. So I am having my Bug rebuilt - at great expense! The inner panels will be replaced, and new heater channels fitted. The wheels will be sand blasted and will look new when done. And the car will be repainted. The new inner panels will be treated with some sort of gooey rust inhibitor. As far as I know, this was not done to the original cars.
I call my Bug
Jacob, because its colour scheme is orange with black interior, and reminds me of a package of Jacob's Cream Crackers.
I created my Aces High game ID with this car in mind, with an email address which begins with
orangebeet1e.The heater/demist functions of this car are crap, partly because there's no booster fan at all. Nowadays, cars have a fan with at least 4 speeds!
My "other" car is a new VW Golf V6 Four Motion, by the way
