Air cooled VW's

[Lippy]

Anyone running any air cooled VWs as a high day, holiday type vehicle. I've got space in my garage and have looked at number of cars...

Not driven one before, but would want to use to travel around country for some shows etc how feasible are they for a couple of/few thousand miles a year?

Type 3 fastback currently flavour of the month... Appreciate any views

[Ruggertech]

In the early noughties I ran a 1974 bay window as my only four wheeled vehicle alongside a motorbike for about two years. So it covered quite a few thousand miles for camping, shopping, going to the tip, and icy and snowy weather etc. The only breakdown was a snapped clutch cable, apart from that only basic maintenance was needed.
When I bought a static holiday caravan I sold it and replaced it with a 1971 1300 beetle which I kept about a year. This never broke down.
In my opinion in the classic world air cooled vw's provide the most diverse choice of vehicles (from trikes, through to buggies, bugs, campers etc), and are definitely the easiest and cheapest to home maintain.
As usual, buy the best you can afford, and if not already done make a couple of improvements like electronic ignition, twin weber etc.

[Balance wheel]

I had a air cooled beetle back in the late 80s early 90s , long story short garage that did a engine change for me blocked the air intakes for whatever reason and first drive out the engine blew up

[Ruggertech]

Oh and a type 3 fastback is a handsome vehicle. A Karmann Ghia would be my choice if I was buying today.

[JasonM]

I have 77 bay window T2, had it for 13 years now, its been pretty reliable, its quite the experience driving it though, very fuel inefficient, noisy, slow as a snail, would be like a wet tissue in a crash, but its a lot of fun. used it as a actual camper when the kids were small, and its not great for that, only in the most best summer days would you call it a good experience , we haven't used it much in the last few years and we have said that this year is either use it or lose it.
The club scene is very good, lots of forums for each type out there, bit of a rabbit hole though.

[Bonzodog]

I owned this for a few years,once you get an Air cooled right and look after it problems should be few and far between.Laury Pettit build a new engine for me,1600 sp,balanced,lightened,put together with care,I fitted twin carbs ,electronic ign.Kept up well with modern traffic and returned about 40 mpg on a run.

[sweets]

My workshop is in the same yard as a pretty good VW specialist, in fact I have made or restored quite a few camper interiors for them.
In anything related to standard trim, all air-cooled VWs are slow, inefficient and tedious to get anywhere a decent run away in (no AC as well, less than comfy on many days).
Those guys travel to a lot of shows all over and they have invested heavily in things that make the run more entertaining (mostly excellent CB sets so that they can chat to the whole group in all their vehicles all the way there).
Mods to get round the shortfalls have to be sensible and can be limited depending on your standard engine (you simply cannot get too much out of an air cooled VW unless you start taking major risks), or you could ditch the engine and fit a scoobie flat four in the back instead. You'd keep up with anything then.
AC will effectively never be available unless you really go to town with the mods, or have one of the really cool window-mounted steel shells that you fill with ice and that funnel cool air into an open window for a few hours.

[Eddiex]

I owned this for 6 years. Despite the negativity of ‘they always breakdown’ we never had a breakdown. We kept on top of the servicing and I paid for the stuff that I couldn’t or didn’t want to do myself. Everything that JasonM has mentioned is true. We loved ours and went all over Europe in it and did about 6000 miles a year. The only reason we sold the bus was because we wanted more space and to go a little quicker in order to travel much further in a bit of comfort. We now have a motorhome : (

The other reason for selling was rust! I don’t have a garage big enough to put it in and it was suffering in the UK climate. I’d have another aircooled but it must be garaged to keep me happy!

Like most classic cars they can be a huge money pit. Some people love them, others hate!

Some great forums (and some excellent shows to go to) out there who are so enthusiastic and a great ‘scene’ if that’s your thing!

Vzi is a good forum.




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[Eddiex]

…….. we added this to it and it went even slower!


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[Lippy]

Thanks for all the responses. Very helpful

[thieuster]

I try to stay away from this thread. Too addictive. I absolutely love the air cooled VWs.

I looks as if the Air Cooled Fraternity is well represented on social media as well. One example. There's a lady in Canada, who's singlehandedly restoring a bug. Check Annies_VW on Instagram.

Have you considered a VW Type 3 Variant? I think these look even better than a Bug! Sub-zero cool. And this one isn't even slammed!

[K9david]

Back in the day I used to love my air cooled VW's

Over time I had 2 1600 fastbacks, 2 of the 1600 estates and rarest and finest of them all were the 411 and 412.

They were large 2 door rear engined air cooled oddities that never caught on, but they were so comfortable.

Looking at how many left there are just 39 412's left. Most would have rotted away

[K9david]

In case you're wondering, this was the 4 door

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[Tifa]

I had an aircooled beetle in the late 70's.
Brilliant motor, easy to service, did 170,000 trouble free miles.
Go for it.

[JonRA]

I had an air-cooled Beetle from 1975-77 - my first car and it never missed a beat.

[Lippy]

I try to stay away from this thread. Too addictive. I absolutely love the air cooled VWs.

I looks as if the Air Cooled Fraternity is well represented on social media as well. One example. There's a lady in Canada, who's singlehandedly restoring a bug. Check Annies_VW on Instagram.

Have you considered a VW Type 3 Variant? I think these look even better than a Bug! Sub-zero cool. And this one isn't even slammed!

Yep the type 3 fastback is what caught my attention, but keeping them rust free is interesting. Garage will help but unsure on maintenance and longevity.

[Bonzodog]

Yep the type 3 fastback is what caught my attention, but keeping them rust free is interesting. Garage will help but unsure on maintenance and longevity.

I got mine from so cal,no rust issues ,that’s if you don’t mind lhd.

[Lippy]

Presume under sealing and chassis treatment a must for any import? Assume floorplan is solid and not needing any work

[Bonzodog]

Presume under sealing and chassis treatment a must for any import? Assume floorplan is solid and not needing any work

Yes

[JasonM]

Yep the type 3 fastback is what caught my attention, but keeping them rust free is interesting. Garage will help but unsure on maintenance and longevity.

There are loads of aircooled parts specialists and restorers out there, parts supply is good and relatively cheap but most are now pattern parts as original parts are drying up. Mine has been garaged and has played a big part in keeping the rust at bay. As has been said, buy the best you can afford and one that has had the work done already.

[thieuster]

https://kieftenklok.nl/en/

35 mins away from me. The village where the shop is, is more or less the area of WWII's Market Garden.

[Faiz]

I had a Karmann Ghia as my sole form of transport from 2008 to 2010. Was the greatest time of my life in terms of motoring enjoyment.
I would never daily an air-cooled classic or probably a classic through winter again. Mine was heavily modified and has no heating so was not easy but very fond memories.
I modified the engine into a 1776cc, brought parts over from America in my suitcase and it was genuinely rapid. Would beat the mk3 golf gtis in my car club off a standing start and get wheel spin through second gear. Topped out over 100mph which is far more than enough! By the time I had finished with the mods it might as well have been oil cooled as I had added an external oil cooler with fan plus deep sumpto take capacity up to 8 litres.
I still own it, unfortunately it is in Uganda but getting restored and hopefully I will bring it back here. It was the yellow colour but have since changed it to be silver, not quite finished but getting there. Very special/sentimental car to me.



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[higham5]

Ran a 1300 Beetle in the 80’s. It was an OK car not stunning
Apparently the 1200cc was the better engine , peppier
Heavy on fuel , low 30’s mpg
Went through two exhaust / heat exchangers in my tenure, modern day SS should have solved this
Front spare wheel space rusted as the screen wash was pressurised from the spare wheel and any leaks sat in the well below the wheel.

Buy with your eyes wide open , more a case of buy the owner, what has been done to the vehicle , rust, engine mods interior. Lastly what will you use it for.

Steve