Whereabouts of last Australian Beetle??

68AutoBug Beetle Restorer - Experience over 138\% - YIKES --

11,654 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 17 Sep 2002, 5:47 pm

#3263

Does anyone know the whereabouts of the Last Australian Made Beetle??
The LAST Mini made in Australia is in the Museum at Braidwood SA. Also the first Magna Wagon and a Leyland Force 7...
So, I have a photo of the last Mini.... but alas.. NO Last Beetle....🙁

- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---

1303Steve Scirocco Rare

8,650 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 17 Sep 2002, 9:45 pm

#3300

I have an article on it, it was very unflattering. It still had crossply tyres and would have handled like a pig.

68AutoBug Beetle Restorer - Experience over 138\% - YIKES --

11,654 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 17 Sep 2002, 10:33 pm

#3317

Do You know What Year it was, Steve
🙂 and I suppose it was sold to some one, or taken to the Wolfsburg Museum!!!
or has it just Disappeared ??:o

- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---

vw54 Administrator Always Waiting 4 Friday

16,723 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 18 Sep 2002, 8:43 am

#3357

I believe it was purchased by some one in Canberra, n recently traded hands

I read it on FACEBOOK so it must be true

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=91278&page=1#pid848630

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=63561&page=1#pid624099

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=4832&page=1#pid452603

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=60650&page=1#pid574409

Monsterbus Commited Dubber

50 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 18 Sep 2002, 9:18 am

#3364

A friend of mine had the first super bug in the country. It was on the stand at the sydney motorshow and his parents bought it. About 7 yrs ago he got it resprayed etc etc but after a few years the rust came back and it went to VW heaven, had to pay someone to take it away. He still has the magazine article on it though 🙂

decked dubby Custom Title Time!

1,046 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 18 Sep 2002, 9:39 am

#3370

Geez thats a shame.🙁

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JETTABOY Officially Full-On Dubber

210 posts · joined Sep 2002 · 18 Sep 2002, 10:32 am

#3372

Whats the big deal about cross plys...at least it would have looked original!!!

decked dubby Custom Title Time!

1,046 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 18 Sep 2002, 10:34 am

#3373

Ahhh, an original spec beetle with crossply tyres...fantastic !!:thumb

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aussiebug Officially Full-On Dubber

246 posts · joined Sep 2002 · 18 Sep 2002, 2:59 pm

#3400

68AutoBug wrote:Do You know What Year it was, Steve
🙂 and I suppose it was sold to some one, or taken to the Wolfsburg Museum!!!
or has it just Disappeared ??:o

Lee, are you asking about hte last Australian MADE beetle, or the last beetle SOLD in Aus?

The last aussie MADE beetle would have to be a 67, since from 68 they were either assembled from CKD kits (completely knocked down)...that's the manuals, or fully imported (the semi-autos).

The last beetle sold in Aus was (fading memory at work here) an olive green 1976 model which was sitting in a Sydney VW dealers window well into 1977, then I think, bought by another dealer who used it as a dispaly model for some years, and it was finally sold to Joe Public with about 25 miles on it - one of the car mags did an article on it a few years ago (wish I could remember which mag!).

If I remember right, the new owner was going to keep it as an "unused" car, so the miles did no grow - just a km here and there for shows and such.

Rob
Rob and Dave's aircooled VW pages
Repairs and maintenance for the home mechanic
http://www.geocities.com/aussiebug1970/

70AutoStik Insano Dub Head

730 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 19 Sep 2002, 1:39 am

#3454

Monsterbus: and he's still your friend???

😠

(sounds like a VW murderer!)

Monsterbus Commited Dubber

50 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 19 Sep 2002, 8:57 am

#3477

Yeah Yeah, believe me though it was to far gone for a guy who, at that stage, washed cars for a living. I wasn't really into bugs at the time but it was the first car I drove on the road. I really wish I'd stripped it down at least though and saved some of it. Maybe if he'd had it garaged it would have lasted longer as well as. Ahhhh well, they can't all last forever.

Cheers
Steve

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 19 Sep 2002, 5:20 pm

#3525

As far as I can tell, no effort was made to preserve the last manufactured Beetle in 1968; it would have just been sold to the public as normal. It would have been a 'Custom' or Standard model, as they were manufactured for a few months longer than the more plush Deluxe.

Rob I remember the article you mention - the Olive Green '76 belonged to Greg Cusack, who used to be the VW distributor in the ACT and Queanbeyan. While it's a beautiful, zero-mileage example of a '76, it wasn't the very last one.

The LAST Aussie made '76 was white and was sold in March 1977. Wheels magazine did an article on it at the time, and for a few years it was on display at Greens Motorcade, a car museum west of Liverpool in Sydney. Greens went bust in the mid '80s and the collection of classic cars was auctioned off. I read somewhere that none other than John Laws bought the white '76, and had it in his own collection for a while.

John Laws buys and sells cars regularly, so I don't know if he still has it, or when he might have sold it. He did auction off some of his cars a couple of years ago, but the '76 wasn't sold in that lot. One of his other Beetles was - a '54 with VW-1 NSW plates. He also sold a late '50s cabrio at the same time.