David is still out there in Germany, living like a Kaiser, leaving me to run the show here. And Matt’s gone, too, leaving everyone to speculate about all the bonkers shenanigans I’ll get up to with dad and dad gone. Well, the truth is I have to run the damn site now! It’s hard to squeeze in all the shenanigans I want to! Besides, I’m a co-founder! I can post crazy shit all the time, as long as I, you know, maybe have an argument on Slack with David. He did stop me from posting something about a clamp and a Marx Brother not too long ago – I guess I could go back to that? But in the meantime, he’s still sending me pictures of interesting cars he sees, and I wanted to use this one for a Cold Start, because I was especially excited to see it: a 50 Jahr Käfer edition Volkswagen Beetle!
This is a really lovely example of this pretty rare special edition Beetle: they only made 3,150 of these special editions in 1985-1986, and were called Jubilee Beetles. They all came in that deep metallic gray color, though originally those wheels were silver and the bumpers and trim were chrome. I really like how this one has blacked all of those parts out, because it looks really sleek.
These were actually Mexican-built Beetles (you can tell by the distinctive bumper brackets, for one thing), and had the Golf four-button steering wheel, seats with movable headrests, and these “50 Jahr Käfer” badges.
There’s some interesting choices at play in this special edition Beetle, too. For one, it’s based on the lowest-spec Beetle you could get at the time, the 1200 model that still used the old 1192cc/36 hp motor, which always shocks me that this engine was still in production in 1985. VW was selling Beetles with the 1600cc dual-port engine that nearly doubled the power of the smaller engine, and I guess I’m just surprised there were still takers for a sub-40 hp motor. You know, I’m an American, so maybe my perspective is skewed. I suppose there were still places where 36 hp was just fine? Maybe it just feels weird to use the bargain-basement engine on your special edition?
Then there’s the matter of the 50 year anniversary. Things must have been different in the 1980s, because now VW’s own Autostadt museum starts at 1950 because of, you know, reasons. Big reasons with funny little moustaches.
So, if this 1985 special edition Beetle is commemorating 50 years, that puts it back to 1935, which is even before the VW Beetle design was finalized, which happened in 1938. In 1935, the Beetle was still in its larval stages, as the V3 series of Beetle (well then KdF Wagen) prototypes, which looked like this:
See! It wasn’t finished yet! And Volkswagen as a company, as we know it today, didn’t even exist. So, what exactly is the 50 year point they’re commemorating here? There were prototypes that led to the Beetle before the V3, even, arguably starting from 1934, so I’m not sure it’s the start of prototypes, either. And Ferdinand Porsche’s “Memorandum on the construction of a German People’s Car”, that was submitted to the Reich Ministry of Transport was 1934 also, so it’s not that, either.
It’s a mystery! I should dig into this, even though VW is especially dodgy about talking about anything before 1950.
Love that color! David is living like a Kaiser. Guess he’s on a roll.
As a new VAG owner I had to buy a t-shirt.. I found it humorous when it arrived: “Volkswagen 1949”
but… didn’t..
1949!!!
@Black_Peter, maybe your t-shirt commemorates VW’s entry into the US market in 1949
That makes more sense.. I assumed the post war production didn’t start until 49..
The turn signals in the bumper instead of atop the fenders helps it look sleeker and cleaner.
I can see the logic of making the commemorative edition as close to the old ones as possible, flat windshield wimpy 1200 engine and all. The mid 30s KdF Wagen datum is still weird
Yeah, I love this idea. Literally impossible for any other manufacturer or car model to do this, except maybe the Morgan (not sure of their whole timeline). But it’s not as if the Corolla or Accord are still made in any form that even vaguely recalls their origins. Whereas this one—setting aside the 1935 nonsense—could have cruised the Autobahn in 1950 without shocking everyone. Attentive people, sure, but, especially from this angle, it’s pretty similar to the early models.
As well they should be…dodgy that is.
“He did stop me from posting something about a clamp and a Marx Brother not too long ago – I guess I could go back to that?”
Please do!! Zeppo Marx is actually a pretty interesting person to read about and there’s sadly not a whole lot out there about him compared to his brothers. In a well-known book about the Marx Brothers the biographer noted that he interviewed many friends of Zeppo and that they all said Zeppo was one of the funniest people they’d ever known but the problem was that Zeppo’s brothers were even funnier.
IIRC, in addition to the aforementioned clamp, Zeppo’s engineering company produced small engines for use on bicycles, similar to the Whizzer, in the 1940s and ’50s, and he also patented a device worn on the wrist that could monitor heart rates. So anything you do end up writing about Zeppo would indeed be worthwhile reading.
Are those ROstyle wheels from an MGB on that beetle?
I think they’re stock Super Beetle wheels.
It looks cool, but it is a bit of a shame to modify a rare special edition like that when the regular cars are literally the most plentiful on the planet.
Or maybe he’s someone like me who doesn’t believe that marketing-driven “special” editions are sacred, and that what I like is more important than what a corporate committee likes.
You probably put pineapple on pizza, too.
Do you top your pizza to make internet critics happy? 😀
You got me! In addition, I only drink beer that conforms to the Reinheitsgebot rule. Some things are sacred……Not really. Pineapple is fine. Not a fan of white sauce or big chunks of mozzarella like those “internet critics” like. Overly fruity/sweet beers are awful, too. At some point it isn’t beer anymore.
I remember talking to one of my friends who is a Ford owner about getting a VW, and he said he liked them, but his Jewish wife wouldn’t appreciate it. I had to educate him on Ford and GM’s contributions to the German war effort. Some shady shit went on during the war years between them and the Nazis. Nobody is clean!
An old boss of mine (also Jewish) would never be caught in, or talking about purchasing, a German car. “Nazi Sleds” he would call them. Often.
Unlike you, I never chose to go down the rabbit hole with him on that topic. It didn’t seem worth the hassle.
That’s why the Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English defined “Jewish Mercedes” as a nickname for a Jaguar, borne out by observing the parking lot at our shul.
Yeah there were a lot of Not Sees working with Nazis.
That is a weird year to commemorate…. As for 1933-1945, they were all on vacation! Stop asking about it!
Siterunning/shenanigans reminds me of an interview with the Aqua Teen Hunger Force guys wherein the interviewer posited that they must just be high all the time, and their response was basically “Well, maybe Friday afternoons, but we’ve got a show to write!” I’m glad I don’t have to choose between creativity and productivity. Keep up the good work!
Yes, dig away please!
Needs an EJ swap, that fixes the HP problem in a jiff!
Nah. Keep it all VW with an air cooled 2.3L flat-4 with multiport EFI, electronic ignition, and either turbo’d or supercharged.
A rare VW Beetle found in….. Germany.
No… how did that happen.
/fakeshock
It is one of 3150 total. It was made in Mexico and probably one of the last Type 1’s (special or not) to make the boat to Germany, so it is pretty special.
36 PS (German horsepower, baby!) is irresponsible for 1985.
May have also had something to do with emissions, as Mexican-built Beetles were mostly used for domestic consumption.
Yeah, back in high school (in 1986) my DD was a Dune Buggy. Yeah, at times it was cool, but it mostly sucked (it wasn’t my choice, but it beat walking.) Anyway it had the 36 HP 1200. It was slow. I didn’t even think it could go 55, but according to the local police I managed to get it up to 56 going downhill with a tailwind one day.
My stepfather (the person responsible for me driving it) also forced me into a 69 Bug for a year or two in college. I started to work on cars, and put some dual carbs and a sweet dual exhaust on it. It wasn’t really fast, but it sounded good and could beat any other stock bug off the line. I finally managed to talk my mom into letting me get a real car with AC, and due to a spare engine laying around I put the dual carb motor in the dune buggy. Doubling the HP really helped the old Dune Buggy out, I could now lift the front end of the ground when taking off! Stepdad wanted me to keep the Dune Buggy, but I had already moved onto 4x4s that didn’t get stuck nearly as easily.
I see what you did there with the Jeep aficionado living like a Kaiser.
Wasn’t 1985 the final year of official Beetle sales in West Germany & Europe? If so, maybe they just wanted to rush out some special editions while they still could, and chose an arbitrary date to celebrate, since the Beetle wasn’t going to be on sale there for the “real” 50th anniversary in 1988.
Obviously, Beetle continued to be privately imported until the end of production in 2003, because you can do that in countries other than the US
That’s a decent theory. Mid ‘85 was when the last boat from MX unloaded its last batch of Type 1’s in the fatherland if I recall correctly…
At least you haven’t renamed the site “X” or something stupid like that while the responsible (?) adults are away.
Well, yeah, now we all want to know about the clamp and the Marx brother.
Wasn’t there a story about something on the old site that was too disturbing and too weird during the pitch and never got published? Nobody would give any details what that was about, and I’ve been curious for years.
I just assume that 25% Jason’s content here is from the old site’s “too disturbing and too weird to publish” file.
Seconded!!!
We demand to know more about Hollywood motoring habits of the 20s and 30s!!! What happened with the fan belt and one of the Stooges?!? Which Keystone Cop did something scandalous with a radiator cap?!? And don’t get me started about Buster Keaton!!!
I read something somewhere about it, one was an inventor, had a business, the joint where two pipes meet with a ridge at the end if each of them, and a band tightens around that to pull them together, that’s his. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marman_clamp
Come on, now. I’m sure we all know the story of Zeppo Marx’s role in dropping the atomic bomb.
(I’m not kidding. Look it up.)
“These were actually Mexican-built Beetles (you can tell by the distinctive bumper brackets, for one thing), and had the Golf four-button steering wheel, seats with movable headrests, and these “50 Jahr Kafër” badges.”
Captain Pedantic reporting for duty: it’s “Käfer”, Torch. An “e” in German can’t have an umlaut over it, only an ä, ö, or ü.
That’s a very cool little Beetle! I respect that they went with an engine more applicable to a 50-ish year old Beetle than a more modern one.
Interesting model and look.
So far Torch had not burned down the website or traded it for magic beans. A win in my book.
The magic bean acquisition press release is coming later today.
Great. You how much it was a paint to get it back the last time this happened?
That looks really good!
I saw the first pic and thought “Hey, those are Super Beetle wheels”. They look much better in black, because in silver you can see the design (of which I’m not a fan).
The blacked-out trim looks great with that body color and complements the black sunroof.
The brownwall tires are quite interesting. I hadn’t seen those before.
Part of me wants to sneak up to the car and paint the wheel weights black so they blend in. 🙂
Does anyone else think the 1935 versions look like “big [things] with funny little mustaches?”
I really want to pick up an 80s or 90s beetle from Mexico just to have one of the newest old cars out there. But yeah, 36 hp… I really should look into that. Anyone know if they came with adequate HVAC? It’s not the biggest deal if not, but it’s always nice to have.
There’s pretty much no such thing as a Beetle with AC. The heater is a weak wheeze of hot air literally coming off of the exhaust pipe.
Don’t worry, the 36hp was only for older 1200cc Beetles. Later 1600cc and especially Mexican fuel injected Beetles made like 60hp. That’s plenty enough to go 50mph or so.
Remember, it doesn’t matter how new it is, it’s still a German economy car from 1938. Hate to break it to you, but you’re not about to be smoothly and quietly cruising down the freeway at 85 with the AC blasting and your tunes bumping in an economy car from almost 90 years ago.
Fair enough. I wasn’t expecting to be going 85 in any beetle, I rarely even get on a highway these days so 50 is about my max most of the time. Good to know though, 60 hp and fuel injection should be plenty, just gotta decide if it’s worth losing AC. Did they make convertibles through the later model years or is that long since stopped being an option?
AC was a dealer-installed option for Super Beetles! And, you can get aftermarket A/C units today. It’s possible! Also, Beetle top/cruising speeds were the same, and with the 1600 engine the official top speed was 81 mph. Of course, you very much FEEL every mph you’re going there.
Nice. Yeah I will have to look into it. An aftermarket option would probably be best, then I can be less picky about the car I get.
I managed to get my 69 Beetle with a dual port up to those speeds from time to time. You had to be patient, though.
I did max out the 85mph speedometer in a 74 Super Beetle decades back, but it was on a very long downhill stretch. And, though 17yo me was rather proud of that then, I now suspect there was a fair delta between indicated and actual speed.
The two Beetles I have been around that had AC didn’t do it very well—and they taxed the motors quite a bit. The aftermarket one was better than the dealer-installed one in that it did ok cooling the cabin. After seeing those, I was happy with the just wing vent windows
Well, Mexican Beetles were available with air conditioning up to the end of production in 2003 for the 2004 model year, as, really all Beetles had technically had a/c available from the factory since 1968. However, even in the 2000s, the setup was much more like a 1950s/1960s dealer installed aftermarket system than a modern integrated one. Vents and ducts that bolted up under the dash. I’m sure it worked OK, not a big volume to cool, but it certainly sapped noticeable power, they were still only 44hp up to the end, so not like you had any excess horses to give up
There are modern aftermarket kits you can put in:
https://gilmore-enterprises.net/mexican_beetle__1967_2003
You’ll want more than 36 HP though or stick with a swamp cooler.
With $8 a gallon gas, 36hp engines that sip fuel are just fine for around town. Wouldn’t want to take it on the Autobahn, though.
Kraftwerk would disagree on whether you could drive it on the Autobahn (in the 1970’s).
https://classicalbumsundays.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/kraftwerk_autobahn-front-wwwfreecov.jpg