The Site for 1966 VW Beetle Owners and Fans!

Hi and Welcome!

           My name is John, and I have created this site as a tribute to the 1966 Model Year Beetle (and my wife Tammy - who thought for a while in that the only reason I married her was to get to and from VW repair shops in Wisconsin).

         John Muir - Volkswagen Guru and Author of  "How to keep your Volkswagen Alive - A Manual of Step by Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot" said "The '66 Beetle is my personal favorite. The 1300 engine was powerful, frugal on gas, and could wail at high RPM all day if asked.  This is an excellent collectable that can double as a daily driver, strong and well constructed"

           If you own or have ever owned a 1966 Beetle, you probably have a feel for the things that made it special.  There were some unique changes in the 1966 model year; most I have listed on the site as “1966 Model Year Changes”.  The emergency flasher on the dash in 1966 was a one-year-only change, while other improvements, like the suspension,  were more long-term changes that were incorporated into the beetle. 1966 was also the last year of the 6-volt electrical system, and I believe that a 12 volt system was actually an option in 1966, just like seat belts. 

              My current '66 Sea Blue Beetle (above) is true to stock and remains with its 6-volt system and has its original engine as well.   I recently had it repainted, had the front-end restored to original condition, original 66 wheels installed, and had the interior restored to as close to original condition as possible. It still has the original black floor mats, owners manual, and service booklet.

             I bought my first car shortly after I graduated from high school, it was a 1966 Beetle. It had arrived months earlier from California and ended up on a car lot in Madison, Wisconsin named  “Park Bug Town Motors”.  The car had been painted the sun bug gold and I immediately took a shining to it.  The Dealership had taken a large decal off the driver’s door when they took possession of it so I had to have the door repainted to match, but other than that it really looked sharp.  My recollection is that I paid a little over $900.00 for it.  The body was very solid - not a single flaw underneath, and given the hash winters in Wisconsin I immediately bought a ton of undercoating and painted the floor pans. There were other things on the inside that I replaced over time as well, like the big "Barefoot" gas pedal - very 70's!

            Unfortunately the body of the car was the most solid part of this '66, and I was about to find that out - mechanically it was on it's last legs.  Even working full time back then it was almost impossible to keep up with all the repair bills that I had for the bug.  One of the first days I had it out on the highway I learned what re-tread tires were, as they came apart all over the road. A couple weeks later I found out what a car steers like when the front end ball joints fall apart. For the first part of the winter 1975 I had to push start the bug because the starter was shot and I had no funds left. It would be four weeks of rolling that baby down the street and popping the clutch before I could afford to fix it.   Then five months after I bought it, on a very cold morning a week before Christmas of 1975, I was driving on the highway to work when all of a sudden it sounded like I was dragging a couple of garbage cans behind the car. Suddenly the idiot lights both came on - blown engine!  I got out and walked to the back of the car and looked underneath - confirmation - lots of oil on the ground. Merry Christmas!!!  I had to have the car towed to "Tom's Barn" on the west side of Madison for a rebuild and off to the bank for a refinancing of the loan.

            There were other little odds and ends I replaced over the next few months as well - ever had your wiper motor quit while your driving in a sleet storm? One hand out the drivers window with a scraper acting like a windshield wiper! Almost everyday was an adventure - but I couldn't bring myself to give it up.  

           Then about a year after I bought the car (and after I finally had it mechanically sound) an uninsured motorist ran a stop sign at 60MPH, and the vehicle was totaled out. Above you can see what was left of the car after it was hit (It rolled as well). I ended up going through the windshield along with the seats, and ended up in a tobacco patch.  Pictures were courtesy of my roommate Mark, who took them while I was recuperating!          

           My next Beetle was a 1972 Super Beetle that I bought at Bruns Volkswagen in Madison in 1978.  I traded a 1972 C10 Pick-up truck even-up for the bug. The truck was fun but the gas mileage was terrible and being in college at the time I needed something economical.  I enjoyed that car for four years until it rotted out from under me (Wisconsin winters can be harsh).  Although I liked the 72, it couldn’t hold a candle to my old 1966.   Although it was nice to actually have a fan for defrosting!   It would be 20 years before I would drive another bug. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Then in 2003 I began to look for an old 1966 bug and found one in Georgia.  The seller misrepresented this bug to me and I ended up sinking a ton of money into the car to make it mechanically sound.  I also learned some of the places NOT to go to get your beetle fixed in Wisconsin.  Once I had it in working order (Thanks to  Terry - a terrific mechanic in Burlington Wisconsin) I had a blast with this Sea Sand Beetle including a trip to New York to visit a friend.  To the right is a picture of the Bug outside the Capital Building in Albany, New York!       

           In 2005 I found another 1966 Beetle in California that was closer to what I really wanted in a Beetle. For one thing it had the original engine! So I put my Sea Sand Beetle up for sale and purchased the Sea Blue California bug. The 1966 Beetle from Georgia has since gone to a very nice couple in Indiana who have told me they just love it!

            My Wife (Tammy) and I, and our two adult children (Jennifer and Jeff) live in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, right on the Wisconsin/ Illinois border.  We are about one mile from Lake Michigan so we get some benefits of cooler weather in the summer.  Tammy and I both have Suzuki Cruisers so we like to get out and ride when the weather permits.  We also hit quite a few VW shows last year, and plan on making the rounds again this year.

          Feel free to roam around the site and look at all the VW info for the 1966 Model year - Be patient the site is always being updated. I'm sure there is more information to put out here, so if you have something you would like me to add, send me an email!  Please don't forget to come to the forum and share your stories (I have found that everyone has at least one), favorite VW Repair Shops, VW Book Reviews, Photos, and General Chat.  I hope you enjoy the site! 

John (JMartini)