I think I ought to state right away, that I am not at present an owner of a Beetle.
I am a retired Englishman, married and retired in Spain, mainly for health reasons.
Way back in the 50´s I bought, wait for it, a type 1, 1945 model, split rear windows, with an 1192cc. engine that also had a crank handle! It was LHD, but I was totally smitten with it! Did many thousands of happy miles.
Then for some reason, that I forget now, I changed marques to various other brands.
Finally, after buying, brand new, one of the infamous Singer Chamois, (upmarket Hillman Imp) which spent more time in for repair than I managed to drive in it, I part exchanged it for a used 1963 Rubin Rot Beetle. RHD. Good move, unrivalled reliability!!
The first thing I noticed was that fantastic Teutonic smell inside the car. It was unique to VW, because later, I part exchanged it for a Type 3 model, which also had that smell.
So, while I do not own a VW at this time, I hope I can still enjoy the camaraderie of membership.
Thank you.
Hi from Spain!
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hercdriver
- Senior Member
- Posts: 154
- Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2012 7:55 am
- Location: Beaver, PA
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redbaron
- New Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:53 am
- Location: Santiago de la Ribera, Spain
My 1945 Beetle!!
Well, first of all, nice to hear from you Dave, if I may call you that?
Many moons ago, back in London, England, although my background was in the Graphic Arts world, I also had a love for BMW motorcycles. So much so, that after constant weekend visits to a local franchise, which entailed sometimes giving a helping mechanical hand, I was offered a permanenet position as a mechanic. Blue overalls, with the BMW motif and everything!!
Worked there four years, loved every minute!! Even learned a bit of German. Both the Company owners had new Beetles
During that period, a guy we knew, came into the company and asked if anyone was interested in buying this 1945 Split window VW Type 1 he wanted to sell?
I was reasonably new to marriage, so money was not all that plentiful, but the guy said I looked so keen, he would cut me a special deal, if I liked it after the test drive?
A couple of times round the block and I was smitten!!
I drove it home. My wife did not know about it at all. She said, after she saw it, "is it a Jaguar?" I said "no, not quite but the next best thing". Women have other attributes, so they can´t know everything!!
Well, I drove that little Bug, with no problems of any kind, apart from making sure the battery was charged. Although it had the magic crank handle, just in case. 1192 cc´s of responsive beautiful whining reliability.
It came in delphinium blue, which was OK, not the original colour I´m sure, so I had it resprayed black during its time with me.
Sold it for the same amount I paid for it, after some two years of totally reliable motoring.
As an aside, being a 1945 model, it may have been one of the early models from Wolfsburg, after the second world war? Shame the English car makers turned down the opportunity to make the Beetle. I understand the comment was "it will never sell". How wrong can they be??
Many moons ago, back in London, England, although my background was in the Graphic Arts world, I also had a love for BMW motorcycles. So much so, that after constant weekend visits to a local franchise, which entailed sometimes giving a helping mechanical hand, I was offered a permanenet position as a mechanic. Blue overalls, with the BMW motif and everything!!
Worked there four years, loved every minute!! Even learned a bit of German. Both the Company owners had new Beetles
During that period, a guy we knew, came into the company and asked if anyone was interested in buying this 1945 Split window VW Type 1 he wanted to sell?
I was reasonably new to marriage, so money was not all that plentiful, but the guy said I looked so keen, he would cut me a special deal, if I liked it after the test drive?
A couple of times round the block and I was smitten!!
I drove it home. My wife did not know about it at all. She said, after she saw it, "is it a Jaguar?" I said "no, not quite but the next best thing". Women have other attributes, so they can´t know everything!!
Well, I drove that little Bug, with no problems of any kind, apart from making sure the battery was charged. Although it had the magic crank handle, just in case. 1192 cc´s of responsive beautiful whining reliability.
It came in delphinium blue, which was OK, not the original colour I´m sure, so I had it resprayed black during its time with me.
Sold it for the same amount I paid for it, after some two years of totally reliable motoring.
As an aside, being a 1945 model, it may have been one of the early models from Wolfsburg, after the second world war? Shame the English car makers turned down the opportunity to make the Beetle. I understand the comment was "it will never sell". How wrong can they be??