Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M
The Beetle is a bad example the original generation even when new you could not park in the rain (unless it was tarped) without the engine taking in water and becoming unstartable until dried, and from every account I've heard you need two of them to have a working one....Maybe a ford model T would be a better example.
|
I believe it was 1971 or 72 when VW started putting slotted deck lids on the back. Truly a bad design and your engine did get wet if it rained. As far as not starting, if you have good plug wires and a cap that is not cracked, the engine will start and run fine. It's a love em or hate em thing I guess with the old Beetle, but they would never have sold so many millions for about 60 years if you count south of the border production which went on until somewhere around the turn of the century.
My point was that with simplicity you just have less to go wrong because there is less there. I worked in a VW shop as a kid and those cars were unstoppable if properly maintained. NOT a car for todays driver who has no concept of simple routine maintenance. No, these days it's just supposed to run forever like magic and many car manufacturers have come a long way with that concept; particularly the Japanese. There were some Toyota and Nissan trucks in the 80s and 90s that are/were unstoppable. I wouldn't know what I could buy today that is fairly simple and will be around for a few hundred K with little to no trouble. But one thing I do know is that you don't want to get your little computer engine wet or it may never run again!
