Beetle Mania

Insight on the News, Feb 15, 1999 by Eric Peters

The new Beetle is all the rage, but fans of the original model can get one too. Here's how.

Just because you prefer the rear-engined Beetle of the past doesn't mean you have to buy a clapped-out old car (the last "new" old Beetles were sold in the United States in the late seventies). Vintage Auto of Greenville, S.C., has a fine selection of the classic, air-cooled Beetles available -- all of them restored in 1998. These are like brand-new cars -- but with old-car pedigrees.

How can this be? Don Keller of Vintage Motors explains. Vintage is a specialty used-car dealer and repair shop that specializes in both older aircooled and newer water-cooled VWs. For 12 years, Vintage did a great many restorations of old Beetles, Type IIIs, Karmann Ghias and other classics.

"But we began to run out of decent, economically repairable original VWs," says Keller. "Rust is a big problem with the old Volkswagen Bugs, and after 20-plus years, there just aren't too many good candidates around that can be restored for a reasonable amount of money."

But VW continues to stamp out brand-new "old" Beetles at its Puebla plant in Mexico -- right alongside the front-engined new Beetles that have become quite the rage in the United States. Unfortunately for American fans of the old cars, it hasn't been legal to import them since the late 1970s -- the cars can't meet modern emissions or crash standards.

Here's where Vintage Auto offers a creative solution to the many Herbie fans in the United States. Vintage begins with a "core" -- a VW from 1977 or earlier that has a U.S. title and registration. The core car is trucked down to Mexico, where the chassis with the vehicle identification number is separated from the old body. The "backbone" then is restored before being fused with a brand-new Beetle body from the Puebla plant. The completed car is trucked back to South Carolina, where it may be sold as a "restored" vehicle. Vintage guarantees the paperwork.

"The end result is a vehicle with a history and great nostalgia," says Keller. "We do impress upon the customer that these vehicles, though `new' in the sense of their mechanicals and other parts, are `old' technology in the sense that there is no airbag and some of the other features found on 1999 model-year cars."

But customers of Vintage Bugs avoid the complexity and cost of a new car -- no computers to worry about, for one thing. Any decent mechanic can fix the thing when it needs service.

Vintage Motors advertises new old Beetles at $12,780 -- which is equivalent to the cheapest 1999 model subcompacts (Chevy Metro, Ford Escort, Dodge Neon).

An added plus: Vintage Beetles feature running changes and upgrades bestowed upon the Mexican-spec Beetles during the last 20 years, including front disc brakes, a larger engine (fuel-injected or carbureted) and air conditioning (optional). In addition, explains Keller, the tooling and manufacturing processes at the Puebla plant significantly improved during the early eighties. The end result is "a much tighter fit between body panels than was typical" on the original U.S.-spec cars. The paint quality is much improved as well.

Customers still must shift their own gears -- the antiquated "semi-automatic" used on some of the old cars no longer is available. There aren't any convertibles, either -- but there may be in the future if demand warrants -- and if conversion can be done for an acceptable price.