[DavGoodlin]

I bought a 74 Super Beetle 30 yrs ago, similar but with a curved windshield, strut suspension and a "defroster" fan that attempted to pull warm air through the famously leaky heating ducts to the vents under the windshield. It kinda worked. Still, I miss it just like I do my 83 Rabbit GTI. Two very different VW's indeed.

The beetle was tan and not rusted in the usual spots but instead had solid floor even under the battery(!?). It was the rocker panels and tunnel frame head that cost me $$$ just to get safety inspection, letting me know I missed SOMETHING when I looked it over initailly. No surprise that my parents had a 60 then 68 Beetle, last one tearfully replaced after Dad tried to jack it up to put snow tires on, and the rocker just crumpled.

These cars had two curses: Although you have awesome traction in snow and water-airtight doors doomed this car to collect magnesium chloride (road salt) and any rain that leaked past a window or any other shrunken seal.

The 1500 cc engine had a single Solex PICT carb, started and ran just fine. But with 138,000 miles, you needed to drop down to 2nd to climb a hill and bearings were rapping on deceleration as you coasted down the hills. Not good here at all, as its not flat. I found a $300 beetle for sale that was beat-up and a partly-broken frame horn (that holds up the engine), with a supposedly-rebuilt engine. I swapped motors, drove the "unker car and worn but running engine right to a junkyard.

Swapping engines and then sending jugs and pistons to a machine shop, then reassembling the motor was easy fun compared to my V8 cars. Don't worry if you need to pull it out with the tranny, many books and now probably internet videos abound.