Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/21/1972-volkswagen-beetle-ad-shows-that-it-can-float-in-water.html
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If the floor has rusted out, it won’t float long at all.
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I had never actually seen the ad, but my high-school language teacher had a story about it (or a similar ad that aired in the Netherlands, where he was from). According to him, it was right about the time he was in the market for his first new car, so he got a VW and drove it down to the beach and straight into the ocean. As I recall, it floated well enough for him to get back out of the ocean and drive back to the dealership, but the interior still got pretty full of water.
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I remember these ads!!
That’s all, I’m old and I remember a television commercial 
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In the 80s, I saw a Beetle dive right into a canal in Amsterdam, its parking brake had failed and it rolled on the slight slope. The car was still sorta floating 5 minutes later when the tow-truck showed up and hauled it out. This sort of thing must have happen pretty regularly for such a quick response.
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I remember this ad. I also remember that this feature was crucial to the ending of the 70’s killer bee TV movie “The Savage Bees” where a woman at the end is driving a Beetle covered in swarming bees and they couldn’t get in. She eventually drives into a covered sports stadium with air conditioning, making the bees fall off. Talk about fun with science! https://youtu.be/hVmQ1gm3vX0?t=4225
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As seen in the quirky war film, Castle Keep (1969)
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Came here for that!
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Is this the “boat mode” that Elno talked about?
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I have a recurring dream like this (but not in a Beetle).
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When this fake ad came out in the National Lampoon, my uncle Paul, an antique book collector, rushed out and bought every copy he could find. He new it’d be only days (hours?) before the Kennedy lawyers moved into action. Sure enough, the issue was yanked from news stands. Unfortunately I have no idea what happened to uncle Paul’s stack of NatLamps.
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I remember being mildly traumatized when Disney decided to put a scene in a Herbie movie where he was executed at sea.
Luckily he subsequently managed to swim safely to shore, but that seemed like an unlikely feat even for a magical sentient Volkswagen.
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Have any rich relatives? Drive a vw bug.
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Besides being air-cooled, the engine is mounted only onto the transmission with four bolts. Not attached to the rest of the vehicle at all. (Learned this from a friend back in HS who had acquired one, disassembled it, and attempted to reassemble it.)
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Indeed. These folks are the mechanics I used to take my VW to, back when I drove one.
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I actually knew about the 4 bolts thing!
A college roommate (back when grunge ruled the earth) majored in automotive engineering. He was VW Bug fanatic and loved to monologue about them. It’s amazing I retained anything from back then.
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