The history of the Volkswagen Bug told in a way I enjoy

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/17/the-history-of-the-volkswagen.html

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Hrsprs! I love this guy he has some great video about “pop pop pop up and down headlights”!

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I’ve heard it refereed as both as a Beetle and the VW Bug, i don’t think i have a preference for one over the other. They are however really nice cars, I wouldn’t mind having one some day

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I learned a lot of auto-mechanics from this book

while I was keeping a 1970 Microbus afloat.

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Maybe it’s a English vs American English thing.
In the UK, the car is a Beetle; I only recognise the ‘Bug’ name from US media.

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:slight_smile: we have so much in common. My first car was a 1972 1303s, banana yellow. Moved like Jagger. Took me through a black ice S-bend without a fidget (but a bit of a fright), like a Rally Herbie. Noisy as all fall down. Nickname was Leo - my star sign, and its number plate.

The most characterful, lovable, enjoyable, wholesome and entertaining car I have ever been in. Everyone wanted a piece. I can clearly recall the soundtrack it made.

In a bug trips were journeys, voyages, odyssies. And they always actually started, which wasn’t common in the late teens with the variety of vehicles people bunped around in.

Shit, maybe I should go look for it!!!

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image

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Vocho!!!

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Y’all and your fancy, new-fangled bugs with 12 volt electricals and gas gauges. But at least the car we had when I was a kid had those new fangled electrical turn signals on the fenders, instead of traficators fitted behind the doors.

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My first car was a 71 in bahama blue.
LOVE that metalic tat tat tat sound, I worked late nights and would really “open it up” around the empty back roads getting back home. The corners felt like rails even with the body lean, and the screaming engine made me feel like I was racing hard but I doubt I was ever in danger of getting a ticket lol!

I also attended a “party” in a bug where the interior dome was painted in A Starry Night motif, lovely little experience that one was!

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(meta: I wish there was an easy way to fix when you hit reply on the last post instead of the thread…)

I have fond memories of the time my father drove a borrowed beetle with rusted out floors in the back seat. (with a spare battery to help give the starter a kick)

It probably won’t happen soon enough, (and we’ll see about how it fits in my budget,) but I’m dying for them to get their new electric models on the market.

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After you’ve submitted you’re busted, but if you catch it before, if you scroll to the bottom and hit the main blue “Reply” button, it switches targets…

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I always wanted a Beetle. I might still get one of the new-fangled ones; I like safety features. But you can’t beat the old ones for maintenance. Here’s a 5-second belt change:

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When I was a kid, my parents had an older one with no vents, no seat belts, and no gas gauge. We also went through two microbuses. Fifty years later, my daughter said she wanted a vintage Beetle, until my brother called them “death traps.” We’ve come a long way in automobile safety.

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My first car was a '74 orange Formula Vee. It taught me how to maintain a car. Also patience. Got five years out of it then sold it to a woman named Mercedes.

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I wonder if Disney ever toyed around with the idea of a prequel delving into Herbie’s Nazi ancestry.

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Reminds me of a song…

“Kelso of the Nine Fingers, and the Belt of Doom”

It’s soul is from a dark occult ritual the Nazi’s conducted, which leads into a crossover with Hellboy.

And i’m actually on board with this.

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My parents had a 1967 VW cabriolet that they bought new. I was really upset when they sold it and bought a giant-ass station wagon with fake wood paneling on the sides, but being only 6 I didn’t have much say in the matter. Every once in a while I have a dream where it turns out they didn’t sell it and it’s sitting in the back of their garage, waiting for me.

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Same here, but mine was a '72 camper bus. :slight_smile:

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