(a comment left by 67 Conti turned into a post) Irrational VW love is indeed a wacky illness. I have a similar story, but mine involved a ’73 Sport Bug. This was a limited edition Super Beetle VW, which only came in yellow or silver in 1973. Had great Recaro-like cloth seats and a special sport steering wheel. Tape stripes around the beltline, and all black trim and bumpers (with bright yellow tape in the center of the bumpers), even the tailpipes were black. Mine was bright (Texas) yellow.
Right out of high school in 1974, I got a job at a VW dealership in the parts dept, and my ride at the time was a well-thrashed ’65 Chevy C10 stripper. I decided that the wisest thing for me to do was buy this VW off our dealership lot and dump the old pickup. I think I paid about $2750 for it, of course with easy monthly payments at God knows what finance rate; I know I never bothered to pay attention, just signed the paperwork. The dealership knew how much (little) I was being paid, plus I had moved out of the parents house recently and split a small rental house with a room mate.
First on the to do list: Must have AC in hot SoCal. No problem, send it down to the docks in Long Beach, where they will install for around $500, with my dealership discount. The office manager at work worked out a weekly payroll deduction for this.
Next on the list, more power. This is where I made another great decision, pull the engine, tear it apart (great having the use of the shop and tools). Send out the case to bore for 92 MM cylinders, send out the heads for big valves and seats (this would come back to haunt me as well). Crane cam, headers with quiet muffler, Holly Bug Spray 2bbl carb (no room for duals with that big square York AC compressor.)
Hurst shifter and aluminum T handle and a set of black and gold coco mats, fake wood dash and knob inserts (these were real wood)! A used set of American Mag wheels, and painting the brake drums and engine sheet metal matching bright yellow completed the build. Except everyone at the dealership said the front end was too high, one of the mechanics heated the front coil springs to bring the nose down a little bit.
I was in hog heaven, could blast up the grapevine at 75 MPH AC running full blast windows up in August passing everyone in the little Beetle with it’s high compression 1835 cc engine. I was in ultimate VW heaven, for about a year and a half. People in late model malaise Camaro’s and the like would follow me home wondering how the VW could keep up with and even pass them. I was so proud of that Sport Bug.
Then it all began to unwind. After about 25k miles, one morning I started it and a loud clanging sound began, after a few seconds all was well. It did this a couple of times, always only on a cold start. I tore the engine down, all the techs and I inspected the engine, everything appeared to be in good condition, so back together it went. Of course, the same thing happened again, and after a couple of months a cold start resulted in a clang and then the engine seized. Pulling the engine again showed now the problem. The machine shop that installed the big intake valves and seats had incorrectly sized the bore for the new seats, and when cold the seat was popping out of its hole when the valve opened, the clanging was the valve pounding the seat back in it’s hole. Soon as the engine got a little heat, the seat stayed in place, until it got wedged between the valve and the head and punched a hole in the piston.
During this year and a half, I got rear ended sitting at a stop light (by an auto parts delivery truck, no less). This was paid by the other drivers insurance, only bent the rear bumper and brackets, fixed it my self and made a few bucks. A few months later, stopped at another red light I was T boned on the drivers side by an idiot in a Dodge Dart doing a burn out out of a gas station, he tried to take off but his battery was thrown into the radiator and cut the cables, stopping him in his tracks. Called the cops, police report faulted him, he had no insurance. Turned into my insurance, at least I had full coverage since I was making payments. The driver’s door,1/4 panel and rear fender were all replaced, the car was almost totaled but insurance decided to fix anyways. I did pay a little more and got the whole car resprayed and got rid of the stripe around the beltline, never really liked the look of it. Now the car looked great.
Until. A few months later, at a party in a not so good area, someone in a old pickup backed into my Beetle, caving in the hood, bumper and both front fenders, dragging the car half a block down the street before the broke apart, never to see the pickup asshole driver again. Another police report, turned this into insurance and once again the car was repaired.
After the car was fixed, the insurance company called me to cancel my insurance, because due to no fault of my own I was an “unlucky driver”. So the car payment got even bigger due to the finance company adding insurance to cover the not paid for car that I couldn’t get insurance for.
I couldn’t afford the car any longer, and about this time I was informed at the dealership that my services would no longer be required. So now it was a race to sell the car before the payments got behind and the car was repossessed. I sold the remains of the 1835cc engine, and built up a stock engine using a 1968 engine case. This would come back to haunt me as well.
By this time I was a payment and a half late, no job, and the car was in my driveway torn apart awaiting its replacement engine. I finally got the engine installed, and covered in grease went in to take a shower. As I was showering, I heard the car start up and drive away. Someone stole the car! But I still had the keys and the car was locked. Called the police, reported it stolen. Then I got a call from a mechanic from the dealership I worked for and bought the car from; he saw it drive in and be locked up in the impound area. The repo guys were waiting for me to finish the repairs so they could take the car!
Had to do the unthinkable and borrow the payoff from my parents to get the car back. They sold the car and I paid them the difference back. A few months later they got a call from the buyer who discovered the ’73 VW had a ’68 engine case, and were going to sue for selling a newer car with an older engine. So parents gave them $1000 to STFU, which I now also owed them.
I probably dumped in around $8000 or more in 1974/76 dollars ($44k adjusted) in the end. So yes indeed, the VW sickness can dig deep. But damn, that car was cool and so much fun for a while. Lucky for me I had no wife to answer to.
(images from the web)
“I knew that buying the old VW was a terrible idea, but I just couldn’t resist.”
(c:
(Great story that deserved to be a full post, too!)
A friend found a picture from back in the day!
Never ever saw one of these. Typical of the era though. “go faster” tape stripes and all. Didn’t know they existed. BTW, is the cartoon artwork done by someone from either MAD magazine, or CRACKED magazine? Looks real familiar.
You’re right, Jon.
Jack Davis’ signature appears at the bottom, right.
He was one of MAD’s best.
Heckuva nice guy too. Used to deliver his artwork from Scarsdale to MAD HQ.
I was thinking the same thing…the artwork has a definite MAD magazine vibe. Thanks for verifying it!
I didn’t enlarge the photo but I was thinking the same thing! Not Don Martin, but one of that “gang.”
I owned a yellow sport bug for 11 years .My came with air conditioning.
When you used the air it was very slow. I had a very vw garange remove the belt and never used the air again.I put on a black rain guard about the rear vents to the engin to keep out the rain.I had the engin rebuilt and put on side exhausts .
I wish I would of kept. It .when I bought I only paid around 2500 dollars.
Maybe someday I will buy another one.
Glad I didn’t read the comment before PN mentioned it should be it’s own post.
Great (terrible) story. I guess you were getting out pretty far on the branch with the post-purchase mods, then waaay out there when you got smacked by bad luck.
At least you got 25k miles out of it, and a great story. Also surviving three accidents in an aircooled Beetle means that every day is a bonus.
What a story! We gotta put that on the front page! I can see the headlines now:
“Beetle Mania: Bug on Blink Puts Boy on Brink”
“Sloppy Seats Spoil Sport – Broken Beetle Breaks Bank”
Seriously, I was riveted. Not only by the story itself, but by the car. I had absolutely no memory of such a car ever existing, and have never seen one, even at a show. It certainly goes near the top of the list for cool VWs.
That is a cool VW. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these either. I stumbled over the reference to the Formula Vee in the story. I wasn’t aware that designation actually had anything to do with performance mods, I just thought it was a trim package. I had a cousin whose first car in the mid 70’s was an orange over black Formula Vee, with stripes and decals denoting it as such. I’ve been around quite a few SunBugs too, and a couple of whatever that other package was on the flat windshield bugs with the blackout trim, metallic paint and “mags”, but this one has never crossed my path.
I never knew that version of the Bug existed.
In the end, it would have been better to have had the car totaled after the Dart hit it and maybe had the insurance company sue the no insurance driver for reimbursement. In Maryland insurance companies can and will go after the non insured driver to get some money back after paying out a claim.
As for the buyer of the VW that threatened to sue, you should simply told them to stick it up their ass. I doubt they would have even prevailed in getting in the door of a court room. Unless you wrote down that the car was all original then it becomes a you said/they said thing and courts don’t want to deal with it.
Insurance companies will routinely go after uninsured drivers after paying a claim almost everywhere. The problem is that they hate paying the claim in the first place. The chance of recovery is often slim against those too broke or too irresponsible to buy their own insurance.
Wasn’t my decision, I was informed of this after my parents paid the buyer. In California emission rules don’t allow an earlier engine to be installed so this was also part of the problem, though I don’t recall if these rules were in effect in 1976.
I’m stunned how anyone could drive without insurance. It’s a serious offense to do so here in Canada, with huge fines, licence suspensions and car seizure. In my province, it would be absolutely impossible to drive uninsured.
Good.
Great story! I remember the original comment. Kudos to whoever dug out the photos/artwork!
I don’t remember any Sports Bugs in my small Ohio town, but did see Formula Vee or two.
Paul did a great job digging up all these photos, the Mad Magazine find is a riot!
Thanks for a very amusing story. I had a VW once, a 1987 Jetta. Never again!
The ’86 Jetta I still drive today (bought in ’91) has treated me well, over 300k miles and still running well. Must be my payback from the VW God’s for the Sports Bug nightmare.
Glad you’ve had success with your Jetta, mine was a nightmare, everything went wrong on that car, esp. the mechanical fuel injection, and everything cost a fortune to fix. Combine that with the arrogant and dishonest dealer service, and, well I just had enough.
Moved on to Fords and have been very happy ever since!
Working for VW dealer made life easier, it didn’t take long to discover which mechanic knew what he was doing and which ones were not good. If I had a problem, good advice was only a question away. I do my own repairs, so borrowing tools or advise from the good mechanics allowed me to avoid being at the mercy of the service writer and/or bad mechanic.
But speaking of arrogant dealerships, one I worked for tried to screw me when the mechanic botched a heater core recall installation, and then tried to charge me $400 to replace the heater housing case that he broke, jamming the heater on full the first time I tried to use it after the core was replaced. This mechanic was known for being a hack, but since it was warranty work I couldn’t ask for a different mechanic. Service manager wouldn’t budge, so I called VOA customer service, explained the situation (didn’t mention I worked there in parts department). Service manager walked up to me about an hour later, red faced, asked if we had heater case assembly in stock (we did), said give me your keys and fixed car at no cost under recall warranty. Bad dealer is going to give even a good car a bad reputation.
Mark me as another who forgot all about this model of Bug. I read the comment when it first posted, but that did not take away my enjoyment of reading this one little bit. Every time I think about “improving” one of my own cars, a scenario something like this plays out in my head and I decide to not do it.
You have proved that grand karmic law. None of this stuff would have happened to your ratty old C-10 pickup. Not the mechanical issues, not the uninsured drivers, none of it.
Karma was indeed a cruel mistress with this car. My first clue was when the steering lock pin engaged (engine running, key in and turned on) while in a supermarket parking lot, locking the steering as I was pulling into a parking spot. I was able to stop before hitting anything. Playing with the key and wiggling the wheel got it to retract. Everyone at work said they never heard of this happening. I was going to replace the lock cylinder, but instead pulled the steering wheel and cut off the pin with a hacksaw blade so this could never happen again.
“Everyone at work said they never heard of this happening.”
Well now! My sister had an utterly disastrous ownership of a ’73 Bug in about ’82, and after vast expenditure, practically gave it to some kid where she worked. She was told that the next week, the steering lock locked while driving and the resulting crash wrote it off. I said, “Yeah, I wouldn’t believe that”….
Lots of people won’t admit when their car gobbled up silly money. Great story.
I had a neighbor who traded her 64 Beetle in on one of these. Compared to the old 64, it was quite sharp. They were fairly popular but I haven’t seen one in at least 30 years.
I enjoyed reading this…thanks for sharing! I have never seen or heard of an original VW Bug with AC until reading this. Must’ve been a nice car.
I test drove one of these, but in the silver-blue color, at a buy here pay here lot in the mid 2000’s, just because it was a complete Sport Bug.
Your two reliability problems were 92mm piston/cylinders. Those are known for running hot. 90.5’s are a far better choice. That coupled with the power-robbing a/c compressor, it’s no wonder it grenaded
I figured I would be lucky if the engine lasted 20k miles when I first built it, so early engine failure was expected, just not the weird valve seat problem. Even had power pulleys on it, did also have a EMPI aluminum deep sump for more oil capacity and extra cooling. The engine did hold up a little longer than I thought it would.
After working on cars from 68-73, My college summer job in ’74 shifted to selling cars evenings at a Wisconsin VW-Mazda dealer. Never saw or heard of one of these. As a temporary salesman, I may not have been diligent enough in acquiring product knowledge – or maybe this was a CA-only special trim option. BTW, very amusing story well told.
Nice pun with “buggered”. Not a common term in the US, but it is used in Canada and probably other Commonwealth countries.
“Bugger(ed)”. I think it’s from Down Under, and not restricted to HiLux drivers.
That Hilux ad is from New Zealand, and yes, the term is common in Australia too. Very funny ad.
We had a sportish version of the Bug in Brazil… They are highly collectibles now a days.
Looks like the American imagery got translated, too.
VW would do several “special edition” Beetles in the 70s, if you were really into Bugs it must have been difficult to keep up.
I had a 68 or 69 VW that was built up like this one….and the results were the same. One morning there was a loud bang and the car wouldn’t start. Mine looked like a junkyard refugee but went like a scalded dog.
I actually liked this model, but while I love a yellow car I would probably have bought the silver model.
There was a silver Sport Bug one on the lot as well, but it had high miles and didn’t look (or run) like it had been well cared for, otherwise I would have gone with the Silver car. Bees were always flying inside my car!
That was a cool car and a great story. It is amazing how life can spiral out of control with unintended consequences, particularly when you are young and broke.
This year has seemed a bit out of control automotively in my house. In February, I literally wrote a check from insurance proceeds to fix one car that had been run into in a high school parking lot. Then, a week later, I wrote almost a $1000.00 check to someone that parked at the end of my driveway across the street (thanks, the entire street was free) and my daughter promptly backed into it.
My car involved in that needed some red-neck body work from me, and I fixed the bumper cover with a tire iron and heat gun, just in time for a hail storm that technically totaled the car. Since the damage falls in the minor cosmetic category, I bought the car back from insurance for a bit over a thousand dollars. Then, I had to get the windshield replaced from a crack that appeared out of nowhere, maybe some latent hail damage or a rock chip. That car was issued new insurance from State Farm with no collision or comp.
We added to the fleet this year with a 2015 Dart for our college student, and that became our second car on Geico insurance as State Farm has become pretty brutal with less than perfect records, or “new policies.” I have good kids with great grades and our Durango was shoved out at SF in 2015 with $1100 for 6 months policies. Geico was a third that, and bettered our old 10 year accident free policy at SF. Before the Dart came along, I tried to get the Durango back on SF to consolidate my business, but now they wanted $1200 for 6 months. I wonder if that vehicle getting hit in the parking lot at school, even if not our fault, was known by SF, even if not involved in the settlement.
I tried to tell that parent to not involve the insurance company, but they seemed to be newbs at the kids and insurance game, and the kid was driving their Mercedes, for what that is worth, and they insisted on turning in a $650 dollar bumper cover claim. Then, their kid took forever to finish his interview by the insurance company. I finally had to call their insurance company myself, and turned in a very reasonable claim from a small indy body shop (first name basis there, sigh). The offenders insurance was actually very helpful in getting things done, it didn’t hurt that I was open, honest, and backed up by the Sheriff’s Deputy on duty at the school.
Managing a fleet of eight licensed vehicles, boats and trailers can be chaos.
It’s funny how insurance works. I was paying $465 every 6 months for my Titan pickup after I took my ’86 Jetta off the policy, (was $200 every 6 months additional for VW), and when I decided to put the Jetta back on the road, the price is now $450 every 6 months for both cars! I saved $15 by adding a second car. Agent told me that’s just how the insurance computer system works since they had second car policy changes, whatever that means. I’m not complaining!
It means that some of the time you’re driving your valueless beater instead of your expensive to repair or replace Titan. If you get into an accident with the Jetta, they’ll cut you a check for dozens of dollars and that will be the end of it. If you are at fault in an accident with the Titan, they could be on the hook for five figures in repairs or replacement. The liability portion probably isn’t as impacted as much, although a Titan has a much greater capacity for damaging other parties than an old Jetta does. Any time you’re driving your Jetta instead of your Titan, the risk posed to the insurance company is diminished, hence the reduction in cost to insure.
Good point, but I don’t have collision on the truck or car, liability only. I figure at 13 years old and as little as I drive the Titan (16,300 miles bought new in ’04) I’ll take the chance. Never had collision on the Jetta and took it off the Titan at age 10. Do have uninsured motorist and max liability, have 2 paid for houses and don’t want to give them to some ambulance chaser. You are right about the fact the Jetta will inflict a lot less damage than the Titan in a wreck. I’m happy to save $215 every 6 months over what I was paying before in any case.
The differences in insurance can be just a little bewildering, and ridiculous. I had our home and car policies both on Amica, but after a misunderstanding caused my auto coverage not to automatically renew, they told me the one day lapse would raise my rate by almost $1000 every six months, giving me some line about a state policy on coverage lapses.
After panicking for a moment, I settled down and contacted Progressive. Not only did they mention nothing of a surcharge, their quote was $200 lower for the six month period than the Amica policy had originally been.
Dave B, I could write volumes on the ins and outs of your insurance woes. There were a couple of “oopsies” made in your handling of this series of unfortunate events that probably led to the insurance debacle. The first thing to pop into my head as I read your post was “where was this guy’s agent?” As a 25 year veteran of the insurance game I pretty much never point fingers or cast aspersions on another agent’s business practices, as all of our actions are open to interpretation, and one man’s accounting of the facts can vary greatly from another’s, but I wonder why your agent didn’t advise you through this in order to help you avoid surcharges and penalties. Insurance companies frankly suck, and with the advent of the internet it *seems* so much easier for people to cut out the middle man and go right to the company to purchase and service their policies, but in truth nobody pays less by doing so, and they give up the benefit of an advocate when things go awry. I’m hardly tooting my own or anyone else’s horn here, as I’d be the first to compare insurance agents as a whole to used car salesmen or personal injury attorneys, but many are valuable assets to their clients when the going gets tough. Each time one of these posts pops up on CC I’m tempted to blather on and on with specific advice and interpretations. There’s so much confusing, conflicting, and frankly false information out there in re auto insurance. I’ve often been tempted to start a blog and offer advice and commentary just because it irks me tremendously that so many folks are misinformed and suffer because of it, but it presents a conflict with licensing regulations, not to mention that I’m burned out by the end of a day dealing with my own client load. Maybe CC needs a sidebar ‘bloglet’ devoted to issues of auto insurance, its foibles and pitfalls. I’d venture that JPC and Joseph Dennis could also give valuable input in this regard, although such a thing would detract from the overall lightness and hobby-centric feel of CC in general, I’d fear.
My next door neighbor had a blue one with the same stripe. I wonder how it got there. The Beetle, his third, was in very nice shape when he got it. He was also an “unlucky driver,” which was why he had so man VWs. I don’t recall the fate of the clean blue Beetle, but I’m sure it wasn’t good.
You could order the stripes, they were a tape kit so could have been put on any ’73 and later curved windshield Super Beetle. When I had the whole car repainted after the T bone accident I decided to leave them off.
Now that you mention it, he wouldn’t have had a Super Beetle. He lectured me at great length how the Super Beetle had been a mistake, how it was less aerodynamic and took more fuel to maintain the same speed as the ‘Porsche’ torsion bar cars. He did have what looked like these stripes, with the contrasting highlights and all.
As a VW Beetle “hater” I’ve never understood why people like the damn things like they do.
Signed: an irrational Ford Fox Body fan…
From the factory in late 1972 until Feb. 1973 a limited edition run of 3500 GSRs, Gelb-Schwarzer-Renner or Yellow-Black-Racer Beetles were produced for Germany only. It seems the good folks at VW were spanked for creating a 50hp supercar during the first oil crisis. The Sport Bug was the American consolation prize. In 2013, they decided a revival was in order for model year 2014. Another run of 3500 units was set, this time for global distribution. #0074 is in our driveway… my wife has that VW predisposition.
…
Wow, what a great, rare car. Hang on to that puppy (and wife)!
Maybe it was the “longer” gearing or front disc brakes that turned their turnip. I could have used the disc brakes to go along with the more powerful engine. All US Beetles only got drum brakes.
I remember these VWs. The curved windshield and different dashboard of the “Super Beetle” version were a big deal at the time.
My cousin and his wife had a “Sun Bug” – another special edition, but this one painted a light metallic gold. It was equipped with the same wheels and sported a special interior, if I recall correctly.
They didn’t keep it for very long, but not because it was jinxed. They traded it for a brand-new 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme because they wanted a bigger car with air conditioning.
…
Their Sun Bug wasn’t quite as yellow. I also believe that it came with a sunroof as standard equipment. That was part of the Sun Bug package.
I bought a wrecked Sport Bug, although it could have been a Sun Bug (Denver, mid 80’s) just for the steering wheel! I still have it. The car was missing the engine and trans and the seats were in rough shape, so off to the crusher they went, along with the special wheels (wider and maybe a different offset…a fact I did not know at the time) I paid $50.
Fantastic story – well-told… and oh, so painful at the end!
Fun story, well written .
I remember these and the Sun Bugs too, I used to buy them with blown engines (anything after 60,000 miles on the original 1600 was exceptional due to pulled studs and/or dropped valves), build up engines, wax them up and sell for $2,500 ~ $2,700 in the 1980’s through the 1990’s when the supply of them simply dried up .
The seats were super comfy although I didn’t like them .
-Nate
here
This is the week the students came back at Michigan State University, and I was pleased to see an orange Beetle parked at one of the frat houses near campus.
I suppose someday there will be colleges without old VWs, but not yet.
I remember seeing these in 1973. At the time I thought that these trim packages were an act of desperation by VW trying to keep the Beetle alive. My car at the time was a 1971 Type III fastback.
In some respects, they were, because VW’s U.S. sales peaked in 1970, and then began falling steadily. The charm was wearing off the Bug by the early 1970s.
By 1975, Toyota had displaced VW as the top-selling import in the U.S.
Thanks everyone for the great comments, and especially Paul for making a post out of my comment, I’ve been a CC fan since 2010. And have never bought another vehicle on payments since this, it was truly a great lesson learned.
Around 1979 I saw my Sport Bug one last time in downtown LA traffic, it was full of dents and filthy, missing a tailpipe and sounded bad, a young girl was driving it, still had the same license plate.
I never understood Bug Love. I recall during high school, all the “cool” boys had Bugs, and their standard conversation was how to fix them. My life has kind of always been the same: I’ve never had much time to wrench on cars. I’ve always been working at my businesses, so my major goal in life was to find a car that didn’t require a lot of fixing.
That’s never a Bug!
Excellent history, 67Conti. Some cars are just jinxed and become target material for bad drivers.
Automotive craziness reigns here @ my shack at an undisclosed location in the desert Southwest.
Soon time to put it on hold for some housing projects. But just a short hold.
Saw lots of these in LA during the period. There was a silver one a few doors down when I lived on Willowbrook & Vermont near LACC. Lots of yellow ones around in general.
Such a relatable article. There is no rationale for going back to the well for a car you love.
Neat, neat, neat car! I had no idea such a VW bug existed. It’s almost like a primitave GTI. The great looking seats look very similar to the ones in my ’85 GTI except for the upholstery. I might add that those Recaro style VW seats were some of the best seats ever in the auto industry.
Great and very entertaining story, Mr. Guest Writer. And, yes, I most certainly do remember these cars. At the time, and for maybe 5 or 10 years. And, the magazine ads. I graduated in 1973, and had been very much into cars since before I could drive. I never really was into VWs at all, until this special limited edition model came out. But, no, still have never owned any VW ever, as I’m not much of a mechanic.
Seems that some people’s automotive “horror stories” are far worse than the average guys.
I had a Sports bug back in the day but found this one in 2021. A one owner, original license plate, original California “Pink Slip” title and original paint Marathon Blue Sports Bug. It has 108k miles on it and drives very well.
Very nice ! .
In the 1980s Id find these and renew them and re sell, they were always a popular model .
-Nate
Got one. One California owner, original paint, California Pink Slip and 1973 California blue plate. Perfect mechanical and interior. Ya, I’m proud.