mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I actually hated those Volkswagens of old. That 40 hp air cooled engine was indeed durable. But it was awful climbing hills. I knew a mechanic, along with his brother, who specialized in fixing those bug cars. He had so many customers, he would tell them to come back in 2 weeks before he could fix their car. The shop was sold, and they both retired, and both have passed on. The repair shop, is still in the same location, but repairs all cars now. The shop still bears the same name, with a pictured sign of an old Volkswagen Bug atop its repair shop.

foodie65

I had a light green '62, later a red '64.
After our first child made the mistake of buying a '68 station wagon which was a disaster.
Never had a problem with the beetles; drove both to FLA several times.

ganmar37 Loc: Southern California

I had a '62 VW and some funny things happened in that car. You asked about the heater. I was driving home, early one morning in the rain, and hit a deep puddle of water. The first thing that occurred was that all my windows immediately steamed up and the next thing, I found that my car would float (somewhat)! All I could do was pull over and laugh, this was weird, fortunately I was alone in the car AND on the road.

KTJohnson Loc: Northern Michigan

Friends of mine had one they called the "Winnie Wagon" (for obvious reasons).

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hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

When I was about 12 or 13 my uncle came back home with us to California from Ohio in a Bug. At the time my dad had a Renault Dauphine. There was a friendly rivalry between them on which was the better car. Crossing the desert he wondered why we were not as hot as he was. Come to find out he had the heater on in his car. Part of the teasing was calling his Bug a "rust bucket". My brother and I took swimming lessons and the family could use the pool on weekends. Uncle Don came with us and put his car key in a pocket in his trunks. It started to rust from the chlorine in the pool water.

jayd Loc: Central Florida, East coast

Father had a 60 in 64, in Seville Spain. He was stationed at a receiver site at what was then San Pablo AFB.

I at that time fit and traveled in the rear cubby at the back window. We drove all over Europe.

Fond memories...

P.S.
6' 8" 350lbs. now. Sure I wouldn't fit any more

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

When I was a kid in Fairbanks Alaska back In 1958 we watched one roll down the riverbank into the Chena river. There was a kid in the car and a sack of coal in the back seat. The bug just floated there until some onlookers ran down the bank and shoved it back to shore. The owner arrived fired it up and drove it back up the bank and left.

SteveLew Loc: Sugar Land, TX

I bought a new '66 VW bug new after my '55 chevy was stolen. The battery is located under the back seat for the VW and my battery cover must have moved off my battery. One day I was moving boxes on my back seat and the springs under the back seat touched the battery terminal and my back seat caught on fire. I immediately stopped at a near by strangers home and took the hose and doused the fire. I drove my '66 VW for another five years after the fire.

DJphoto Loc: SF Bay Area

When we got married, my wife had a blue '66 Beetle that she got new in her senior year of high school. I don't remember how many miles it had on it then, but we replaced it in 1985 with a new VW Vanagon when our third child was born. The VW was my commute car for many years and was pretty reliable, but when it did break, it was easy and cheap to fix. I did all of the maintenance and repairs on it, since it was a simple car. The original engine let go at around 150,000 miles and the car had around 250,000 on it when we replaced it. The transmission wouldn't stay in second or fourth, so when we reached "cruising speed" I had a bungee cord that I had hooked onto the hand brake that I hooked over the gearshift lever to hold it in gear. The Beetle was the most dangerous car I've ever owned, but we survived it. BTW, we put 180,000 miles on the Vanagon, which we replaced with a VW Eurovan that we put 172,000 miles on. So, we put around 600,000 miles total on 3 VWs and I doubt we'll ever buy another. We replaced the Eurovan with a new Honda Odyssey in 2003, and it is the most reliable car we've owned to date (about 174,000 miles so far and still going strong). We (mostly me) have now put over 400,000 miles on 3 Mazdas so far (two Proteges- '91 and '97 and a 2006 3) and they have all been very reliable and fun to drive.

Zoom Zoom!

hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

I've had two Rabbits, one bought new and put every mile on it until it was squashed between two cars and the frame was bent (106,000 miles). Still drove it until replaced with a Rabbit diesel. That car had 103 thousand miles on it when bought, I put at least another 100,000 on it. My next car was a severely underpowered Ford Escort, the less said about it the better. The next one was a Mazda 6, my favorite. Loved that car. Had plenty of power and all the bells and whistles, cruise control, auto seats, auto windows and side windows, controls on the steering wheel, the only thing missing was heated driver seat. My elderly dad thought it was a Cadillac.