Fifty Years Ago Today

[Addie]

They were not hills, Addie...we are talking a Mile High at the start and climbing another 2000-3000 feet on steep grades.

At those altitudes, the VW had a hard time getting enough air to breathe.

I'd even have a hard time getting enough air at that altitude.

 

[RPCookin]

My uncle went with me to negotiate a price. Back in '66 that was a 'loaded' VW with both the sunroof and opening rear windows. It had the 4-speed manual transmission. I paid $1,893. for it.

Your life situation must have been a whole lot different than mine was in 1966. I also bought my first car that year, but it was a 1959 Chevy Biscayne 4 door sedan, 6 cylinder with 3 on the column - at $500 it stretched my budget right to the limit. And it had no radio. My tunes came from a 6 transistor AM portable wedged between the dash and the windshield, that I earned selling Christmas cards door to door when I was 14 or 15.

 

[RPCookin]

You had to learn anticipatory driving with a Bug. The you're on the highway and you see a hill up ahead yo floor it to gain speed so when you hit the hill you can get to the top at a decent speed. I spent a lot of time in 4th gear with my foot to the floor and just steering as needed.

A friend had a '66 VW bus, and it topped out about 45 mph on a flat road. Hills were done in 2nd gear usually. I was never impressed with VW, then or now. Never even considered owning one. I've had Datsun (now Nissan), Toyota and Honda - Chevrolet, Ford, and Oldsmobile. Had a Kawasaki motorcycle for a while when I was still young and dumb. Never owned anything from Europe, although I have driven a few - Lancia, Mercedes, Lotus, and VW a couple of times).

 

[Andy M.]

Your life situation must have been a whole lot different than mine was in 1966. I also bought my first car that year, but it was a 1959 Chevy Biscayne 4 door sedan, 6 cylinder with 3 on the column - at $500 it stretched my budget right to the limit. And it had no radio. My tunes came from a 6 transistor AM portable wedged between the dash and the windshield, that I earned selling Christmas cards door to door when I was 14 or 15.

No doubt our circumstances were somewhat different. That VW was my first NEW car.

My first car (4years before the VW) was a 1958 Chevrolet four door sedan (a step or two below the Biscayne) with a 6 Cyl. engine and two-speed automatic transmission. The front suspension had been broken and welded, there was a hole in the floor covered by a piece of paneling. The radio only worked occasional and I had to reach under the dash to turn the windshield wipers on and off.

Thanks for stirring up that memory.

 

[RPCookin]

No doubt our circumstances were somewhat different. That VW was my first NEW car.

My first car (4years before the VW) was a 1958 Chevrolet four door sedan (a step or two below the Biscayne) with a 6 Cyl. engine and two-speed automatic transmission. The front suspension had been broken and welded, there was a hole in the floor covered by a piece of paneling. The radio only worked occasional and I had to reach under the dash to turn the windshield wipers on and off.

Thanks for stirring up that memory.

LOL! My '59 had a hole in the floorboard right where your heel rests when your foot is on the gas pedal. In '59 the Biscayne was the bottom model, and mine was the most stripped down Biscayne. I think the name was dropped in '62 or '63.

My first new car was a 1974 Toyota Corolla SR5 - SR5 meant no more than that it had a 5 speed manual and and a vinyl roof for "style".

 

[Mad Cook]

Fifty years ago today I bought my first new car. A 1966 VW beetle with a 50 HP engine. Color = Sea S and, black vinyl interior, sunroof, opening rear windows and an AM radio!

Ooh, that takes me back. My first car, bought in 1972, was a 1966 beetle with a 1200cc engine . She was white so I christened her "Jemima Puddleduck", after Beatrix Potter's duck of that name.

She took me all over England, Wales, France and Spain including a trip on the ferry from Barcelona to Mahon, Menorca, where she was loaded onto the ship in a sling. They didn't have drive-on ferries on that crossing back then. She was finally written off in 1978 when a LandRover of the "Defender" type crashed into the back of us demolishing Jemima's body and twisting her chassis. Sadly she was killed but my dog and I walked away completely unscathed apart from the dog having a slightly bloody nose!

It could be a bit hairy driving her if you weren't used to her style but once you got used to the weight being at the back (for the uninitiated that was where the engine was) and the rear-wheel drive she was fine but she could have a mind of her own on sharp bends if you weren't used to handling the combination!

Wonderful times, wonderful car and wonderful fun to drive. (sigh!)

 

[Mad Cook]

You had to learn anticipatory driving with a Bug. The you're on the highway and you see a hill up ahead yo floor it to gain speed so when you hit the hill you can get to the top at a decent speed. I spent a lot of time in 4th gear with my foot to the floor and just steering as needed.

I never had that problem with Jemima, even driving through the Pyrenees.

However, when I passed my driving test after professional lessons in the 1960s, My father took me on one side and said "Right, you've learned how to pass your driving test. Now I'll teach you how to drive properly!". He'd driven since the 1930s and during his army service in WW2 he'd driven everything from a Norton motorbike to heavy goods vehicles in both England and North Africa. So I got a good grounding in handling the vehicle and dealing with all kinds of road conditions.