Remembering the 60's Pictures

Happened to be in Honolulu a while back and walked over to the Convention Center to see the car show. They allowed the Vintage Volkswagon Club to have a small corner in the show and they ended up being the greatest attraction. It was really neat to watch people walk past a
$325,000.00 Bently to see these old Bug's. I think it would be the same to have a restored tractor in the showroom of a new tractor dealership. What do you think?

A man after my own heart. I showed VWs for years when I was younger and redid many. I still have four. Two of them are needing to be restored and sit in the shed (67 bug and 69 Karmann Ghia) and two I used to show but now drive on nice days (69 bug and 77 Champagne Edition convertible). They really are an addiction and money pit. Showing them mirrors old tractors. Only one of mine isn't a monetary loss if I sold them. But it is good therapy.

So THAT'S where all the VWs went! Seldom see one around here anymore. I still have a luggage carrier similar to the one on "Herbie" left over from my VW days.

Do you realize that the car was designed pre ww 2 and the designer also built a tank

Bugs were BIG in Hawai'i when I was there 35 years ago.Stepson says he could drop the engine in one
in 15 minutes!!!!

I had a couple in my past. I couldn't remove the engine in 15 minutes but did in under 1/2 hr. Stan

(quoted from post at 20:22:10 03/31/15) Do you realize that the car was designed pre ww 2 and the designer also built a tank

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And post-war he was forced to engineer at Citroen, and he also made some tractors.

I never understood the whole draw to the Bug. Maybe it's a city thing. To me they were the 9N Ford of the car world- everyone had one at one time, they were cheap, they weren't really good at anything in particular. I will leave those who enjoy them to their pleasure and go look at the Dodge Power Wagons and other more useful vehicles. Not taking anything away from the work required to restore one, but they just never spun my prop.

And thats about how long it'd run before it dropped a valve(LOL)

Yup, cheap to buy, cheap to run and weird. That was their chief drawing point. The perfect hippiemobile. You had to be pretty much stoned to contort yourself into what they called a back seat. (chuckle)

Neighbor had a couple and my SIL had one. Horribly underpowered, horribly wind sensitive. But they did fill a niche and sold a gazillion of the things. Kinda like the Honda 110 of the automotive world. Just for the record Bret, I never got excited about 3-wheelers, either. Now a good YZ, CR, or KTM 250....................That's another matter. (smile)


My automotive tastes ran more to 426 Hemi Challengers, 455 Trans-Ams, Shelby Mustangs, 340 Demons and Swingers, six-pak Super Bees and Challengers, 442s.

The Ag Power JD dealership just west of Sulphur Springs on I-30 used to have a restored JD B on their showroom floor. Sometimes they would move it outside under the portico.

Unfortunately, its not there anymore. Or at least, you can't see it from the road anymore.

Not an N fan myself. Dad said You really had to have
cultivated with a mule to properly appreciate them.
Ron

I drove them all through high school and college - the front seat was bad enough, but back seat was worse...

When gas hit 30 cents a gallon in the early '60's, my dad and my uncle had a discussion about moving to smaller, more fuel efficient cars. We wound up with a '57 Beetle (oval window, but not split oval window), uncle bought a new Morris Minor. You can guess which one lasted longer. I rode in the Morris a couple of times, and it was just, well, tinny.

When I was going into my senior year in high school, I really wanted my own car. Mom wanted me to save for college, and made a deal with me- If I'd save my money, she'd buy a new VW, and I could use it whenever it didn't interfere with her use. Nice, shiny red one. I took her to her car pool in the AM, then it was mine for the day. VeeDubs were not looked down upon in those days- the head cheerleader had one, too, as well as some other kids.

One time a bunch of us lifted up the back of the cheerleader's bug, and with the swing axles, when you put it down, the back wheels tilted in at the bottom. We all stood around pointing at it, until she came out to see what was up. We got her worried enough to call the local mechanic (who knew all of us). He told her to drive it forward a few feet, as sometimes the axles "would do that" when you backed up while turning. Which of course was a bunch of bull, but he didn't want to blow our prank. He did give us "the look" when he left, and said in a low voice "You guys knock that (stuff) off. Next time I'm tellin' the truth." Of course, there was no next time.

Nancy,

I offered one of the managers of a local mega-dealership to bring one of my restored tractors for his John Deere Day program and was told "We don't sell old tractors."

I drove 2L van for a while when I was in Germany. Mine had the Porsche 914 engine in it. Didn't do too bad but you couldn't burn up the road with it. I could swap the clutch in under an hour.

But I was disappointed when I was the title I was thinking the mini skirt! :twisted: :twisted:

Rick

Nice looking cars.

I would guess that gas was more expensive in Hawaii than on the mainland, even before the gas crisis started. With limited driving distances and high fuel prices, a beetle or micro-bus would be a practical choice.