Our Cars--1969 Volkswagen Bug
Submitted by Eugene Doremus
I’ve had a lot of cars. Most simply provided transportation, but there was one that I loved. It was a powder blue 1969 Volkswagen Bug.
I bought it in Pennsylvania and used it to get to work. It was all mine; my wife had a Pontiac, and the kids weren’t yet old enough to drive. When I was transferred to Houston, the Bug got me there and pulled a small camping trailer full of my gear. On the way down, I found I could get up fairly close behind large trucks, and they’d just suck me along.
Things changed in Houston--the kids were now old enough to drive, and they seemed to think the Bug was simply up for grabs. They would ask to use the Pontiac, but they would just take the Bug without asking.
My daughter did it first. She found a boyfriend and just disappeared with the Bug on a regular basis, so I hardly ever saw it. Later my son went to the University of Houston and decided he needed the Bug more than I did. No one ever asked; it just left the driveway.
Later my son tried to start a painting business, and the Bug became his truck. It just kind of deteriorated; I don't think my son ever rolled the windows up, and the rain soaked the interior. He also removed and unattached the seats so he could get more gear inside. It ran, but the appearance was unbelievably bad. One day I found it parked in the driveway. Nothing was said, but he was obviously though with it.
I was going to have to find a way to dispose of it. First, I thought to pay someone to tow it away, but figured I had nothing to lose by putting it up for sale. Surprisingly, someone was interested and offered me $175 for it.
As we left the bank, they buyer turned to me and said, "I would have offered you more." I replied, “I would have taken less.”
--Eugene Doremus
(Note from Chris: Eugene didn't have any photos, so these photos are of a similar 1973 Bug over at The Autoist. There's a pretty interesting resoration story there as well)
Mochi Mochi on March 31, 2008 at 11:38 PM
This story really tugs at my heart strings. Such an ignominious end - to just leave the car when "he was obviously through with it". Ahhh!
The Beetle has become such an automotive icon, it is sometimes hard to think of it as anything but that. Eugene thank you for reframing the story of the Beetle into a very human context.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on April 01, 2008 at 05:30 AM
One of the greatest automobiles of all time. Not a performance car, just an appliance built for basic transportation--but a reliable, nearly-indestructible appliance with an endearing personality. A Bug would do anything you asked it to, and as long as you filled up the tank and checked the oil once in a while, it would run forever.
Steaming Pile on April 01, 2008 at 05:59 AM
We had a yellow '71 Bug, and it did become the "up for grabs" car when we were old enough to drive. I learned to drive a stick with that car. My brother did manage to break the tranny in it, and that was the end of that.
steveH on April 01, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Back at the time, it seemed that not only were Bugs everywhere, but that they'd always be around.
Guess not; at least, no '69 Bugs?
The pictures above look to be of a '73 or later version. The crescent-moon vent behind the rear side window arrived in '72, and the round taillights in '73. (My first car was an orange '72 Super Beetle, and later we had a '68 and a '69.)
I'm a little worried that remembered those details.
Scott555 on April 01, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Not only *was* it one of the greatest cars ever built, it still would be ubiquitous if you could have somehow made one that didn't rust. I drove at least three of them to the junkyard; fully functional, but rusted to powder. I weep at the loss.
roux on April 01, 2008 at 12:35 PM
I had a '71 Super Beetle in HS/College as my first car. I passed it on to my little brother 8 years my junior and got it back. It was a fun car and I have fond memories. I rejuvenated it for my daughter but found I couldn't keep up with the maintenance anymore. Sold it last year for $1,000. I've had Bugs ('71 Super Beetle , '73 Convertible), an '81 Rabbit, a Thing, a Vanagon and now a '04 Convertible and I'm not even remotely Hippie like.
If my old Bug could talk I'd be in a heap of trouble.
on April 01, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Ah yes, the indomitable Beetle. It was the car that would go through blizzards and leave other cars stuck in the snow. My brothers and I had many Bugs ranging in years from 1966 through 1973. We drove some and when they weren't driveable, we'd use 'em for parts.
Not to start a fight or anything, but having built and rebuilt so many Bugs, I'm certain that your photo doesn't show a '69 but more like a '73 or '74. The front turn-signal lights were smaller; on the other end, the taillights were red and oval-shaped. The round two-color taillights were introduced in 1973.
Of course, I'm assuming - perhaps wrongly - that the car you're showing is stock. It was possible to transplant fenders between most years from about 1968 forward. Ditto the trunk lid.
Doesn't matter, really; I'd love to have, say, my 1971 back again. Or a vintage, stock '67. I never fail to turn my head at the sewing-machine sound the engine makes.
Lamont Cranston on April 01, 2008 at 12:35 PM
My own VM Beetle experience wasn't so positive. My sister had one when we were in HS and college, and is was an unreliable piece of crap.
My problem? My dad had bought a tow-bar that would fit the damn thing, and whenever the rolling mechanical nightmare left her stranded, my phone would ring, and I was expected to go haul her and her broken toy car home. If it wasn't convenient for me to do so RIGHT THEN, _I_ was the one being the inconsiderate jerk.
When she finally totaled it by ramming it up under a truck, I got to cut it apart with a grinding wheel and throw it into a junk wagon.
She said the manicial laughter coming from the back yard was more than a little disturbing.
Lamont
Chris Hafner on April 01, 2008 at 12:40 PM
Hi all, as noted in the post, since Eugene didn't have any photos of a 1969, these are actually photos of a 1973 model in the same color. Nice catch by those who noted the discrepancy.
outback71 on April 01, 2008 at 02:43 PM
I moved to Montana from Pennsylvania in 1981...me and my total rebuilt '69 Bug. For five years and 90,000 miles I plowed that baby over every mountain road in the state, going places that only 4WD were supposed to go. Finally had to ditch it right before college graduation cause the front end of the tube began to crack. Still got $500 for it from some young kid who was going to rebuild all over again.
Best memory was making love with my girlfriend in the backseat at the Billings Airport. Second best was making love to a total stranger outside the Cats Paw nightclub in Bozeman. It had good karma.
James on April 01, 2008 at 02:48 PM
You really need an editor to correct some of the obvious spelling and grammar errors before posting articles.
Chris Hafner on April 01, 2008 at 02:53 PM
James: "You really need an editor to correct some of the obvious spelling and grammar errors before posting articles."
Eugene had me as an editor, and I obviously failed him. I just found and fixed two errors--"boy friend" to "boyfriend" and capitlized one lowercase "Bug." Anything else that should be fixed?
LifeTrek on April 01, 2008 at 03:51 PM
My dad got a 69, dark blue, in 1976. It had busted a piston rod and him and I rebuilt the engine (he was and still is a mechanic). He ran it for another 4 years.
It was a very quirky vehicle.
The best was getting in and out of the vehicle, only one door could be opened at a time. If you accidentally made that mistake then everyone had to get out, lift lightly on the frame, close both doors, and try again.
DKK
JEM on April 01, 2008 at 04:26 PM
I've been involved with a few Bugs over the years. An uncle of mine had a '59-ish convertible he'd owned since new, he knew that car so well he could shift it without the clutch and you'd never feel or hear a thing. My brother bought a '69 brand-new. I still remember what that car smelled like.
About fifteen years later while I was rebuilding a car I bought a very, very, very trashed example of the breed from a friend to have something to drive; he knew nothing about cars when he bought it and he overpaid horribly - the rust was Titanic-grade, it'd been given a rattle-can paint job, and he ended up rebuilding the engine out of the Muir book.
I did a tuneup, ripped out the carpets and patched the holes in the floorpan, rebuilt the brakes and replaced the steering box, then put 20K miles a year on the car for the next three years. The heater ducts and cables were long gone, the defroster was a sponge in the glovebox, but the torsion bars had sagged just enough to make the chassis work really well.
Part of me would like to have another one, this time it'd have discs and a little bigger motor and fuel injection, but nothing too radical.
fulldroolcup on April 01, 2008 at 04:49 PM
I had a '68 VW when I lived in Wash DC. I remember feeling superior as all hell one afternoon, when a two-inch snowfall (a "storm" for DC folk generally unused to the white stuff) had suddenly slicked up the roads. I must have passed a dozen cars spinning, sliding and generally getting nowhere as my trusty green Bug chugged up Constitution Avenue and got me safely home.
Bob Baker on April 01, 2008 at 06:10 PM
My bug was my first 'new' car. $1600. A dollar per pound.
The baby tucked in behind the rear seat was usually asleep before we'd gone a mile.
Detroit learned nothing from the VW's success.
misterdregs on April 01, 2008 at 07:05 PM
Had a light blue '70 bug. In many ways the best car I'll ever own. During major snowstorms, there were three vehicles that could get out of the frat house lot and around town- a Jeep, a Chevy Blazer and my bug. As long as you didn't get high-centered in a snow bank it'd chug through about anything.
I recall giving some folks a ride home (no doubt over the limit) after an Asleep At the Wheel show at the old Lawrence (KS) Opera House with a few inches of slick, fresh, unplowed snow and doing controlled fishtails for probably 10 blocks up 7th Street with our unsuspecting guests screaming in the back seat. Nothing like a lightweight vehicle, rear wheel drive and all the weight over the drive wheels.
For a while, I needed a new battery and was left to park on an incline whenever possible. If not, two friends could push it fast enough to pop the clutch and get her going.
Great car, great memories.
My brother's '68 had a broken heater cable (remember, there was no fan, just passive heat from the air-cooled engine). He just crawled under it and opened the heat up in the fall and shut it off in the spring. This, of course, led to some underheated fall mornings and overheated spring afternoons.
Mochi Mochi on April 01, 2008 at 07:38 PM
Does anyone remember how the windshield washer was powered? Hint - it was not an electric pump. Recently I started looking at 914 Porsches and VW Squarebacks... a walk down memory lane... idly entertaining the thought of a "back up car" for fun. In doing this I have revisited some of the more peculiar and inventive aspects of VW design. I'm assuming the Beetle was not different... correct me if I'm wrong. The answer to the trivia(l) question is: the spare tire. The spare was over-inflated. A tube with a pressure limiting cap was attached to the valve stem, and the air pressure charged the reservoir for the windshield washer jets. Odd - but it worked. And the limiter valve, in theory, would prohibit a completely deflated spare tire.
Hucbald on April 01, 2008 at 08:18 PM
Ah, the memories. My first car was a DARK blue 1969 Beetle that was a hand-me-down from my dad (He had nothing but Beetles for his commuter cars since the late 50's). Of course, I did the whole Harry High School treatment to it: 2bbl Holley downdraft carb, heads milled, stinger exhaust, aluminum wheels with Mickey Thompson Indy Profile tires. It was magnificent.... I loved that car.
Paul Havemann on April 02, 2008 at 02:53 PM
Beetles had a few quirks which would bedevil the uninitiated. On a trip down South at a rural gas station many years ago, the owner's young kid spilled some oil under the front of my Bug and tried to convince me that my engine had an oil leak. It was funnier still when I told him to gas it up...
The earliest Bug imports had a little handle down by the gas pedal. If you ran out of gas you'd turn the handle, which would release a gallon of gas from a reservoir inside the tank.
My favorite was the Beetle's built-in anti-theft device. Not many people knew about this one. After you pull into your parking space, you trace the wire that runs from the backup lights to the coil, pull the wire from the coil, and plug it onto the other side of the coil. When you put the car in reverse you'd short out the coil (without permanent damage) and the engine would immediately stall. It makes a good but harmless practical joke on the unwary!
Amy on April 02, 2008 at 05:59 PM
My first car, in fall '94, was a putty-colored '72 Bug. She became Trixie, and I loved driving her. She died a too-early death when an idiot T-boned her. Sigh.
Trixie infected me with an ongoing respect for older German cars. My daily driver, since March '96, has been a '72 BMW 2002 (c:
Deebo72 on May 01, 2008 at 10:31 PM
dude there is no way that is a 69' tha fat tail lights werent introduced till 73' nd 74'
Deebo72 on May 01, 2008 at 10:33 PM
dude there is no way that is a 69' tha fat tail lights werent introduced till 73' nd 74'
dickprice on September 29, 2008 at 02:36 PM
Over the years have owned 6 vans/microbusses, Beetles from 54-71, Squarebacks and Fastbacks, 4 Karmann Ghias, a 57 Porsche speedster, and currently a 76 912-E and a '79 911 SC and a nifty ugly 1969 Bug.
Back before dirt I had to rush to the Denver airport during a blizzard from Colorado Springs, in a 50's era bug. No heat, I wrapped my right foot in a blanket and as I cruised up around Castle Rock, it died, but would immediately re-start. I ended up driving 30+ miles in 50 yard spurts.
Later, it turned out my fat blanketed foot had nudged the bottom of the fuel selector switch allowing only a tiny stream of fuel to pass...enough to idle, but only enough to accelerate for 3 or 4 seconds. The "reserve" actually was sjust a rod with two holes in it, when the fuel tank level got too low for the upper hole to feed, yu twisted it 90 degrees to allow the lower hole to line up.
I felt like I had made the entire trip on the starter motor;-)
D-Man on October 19, 2008 at 06:42 AM
Ahh man, dude I just became in need of a little transportation. U see I just got my learners license and I need something to get to school,work, and back home. Hey if u have another one that runs, I will give U $100 for it. Hey, do U know where the person who bought yours lives or if he or she might want to sell it?