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Subaru / VW ad from '84 - Spot the Mistake

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Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#760775
Does anyone here remember the Subaru Sherpa? Now there was a steaming pile. This is a full-page newspaper ad from 1984.

Subaru's importer in 1984 was LNC Industries, who ALSO owned Volkswagen Australia (or what was left of it then). LNC Industries tried to use the Beetle to sell the Subaru Sherpa!

Apart from this insult, can you spot the factual error in the text?

You would think, as owners of the Australian VW business for 30 years prior, they would know better.

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Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 ·

#760777
only off by 4 years 😂

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#760786
Exactly. For the newbies, it was only the Wolfsburg plant that stopped making Beetles in 1974. It continued on in Emden until 1978, and Osnabruck until 1980. And it was still being made in Brazil, and Mexico, when that ad was printed.

They didn't even remember that Beetles were made HERE in Melbourne until July 1976.

Also, they wrote about Beetles being 'Cheap to buy'. Wrong, they were not. in 1965 a VW Deluxe was £919 retail. Compare that with a Colt 1000 at £850; a Datsun Bluebird for £913; a Fiat 770 for £762; a Ford Anglia for £840; a Hillman Imp for £815; a Mazda Carol for £675; a Morris 850 Mini for £779; an NSU Prinz for £655; a Renault R4 for £799; a Skoda Octavia for £799; a Toyota Autromatic for £778; or a Zeta Sports for £745. In fact the Holden EH Standard was £1070, only a little more. The Deluxe Beetle, in its day, was NOT cheap. The Standard model, on the other hand, was cheaper at £819 - it bombed in the market place because it was missing so many niceties.

Hmm, plenty of VWs still around. How many Subaru Sherpas do you see on the road? So much for the Beetle replacement.

Andy Andy\'s Adventures

2,820 posts · joined Nov 2002 ·

#760855
Splitting hairs maybe but it does say 74 in Germany, wern't they only making cabrio's post '74? I guess they could be treated as a Karman not a beetle?
Looks like a Diahatsu.

DylanTheDubber Custom Title Time!

1,252 posts · joined Jun 2009 ·

#760858
Yeah i looked at the year straight away and got it. And even producing in mexico untill 2003. The NON-VW people have to face that the vw beetle was the most produced , most loved and well known , most reliable. NOTHING EVER HAS OR WILL BEAT VW'S. And even still in the new generation vee dubbs there leading the world in car manufacturing and the golf won wheels car of the year 2010. So dont tell me there no good. = )

From Dylan

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 ·

#760862
Andy wrote:Splitting hairs maybe but it does say 74 in Germany, wern't they only making cabrio's post '74? I guess they could be treated as a Karman not a beetle?
Looks like a Diahatsu.
hi andy, nah in germany they kept pumping out regular buts until mid 78 like phil said they were 1200 euro spec from memory
they stopped making the cabrios the following year in 79

dangerous 23 Windows of Awesome

5,901 posts · joined Jan 2005 ·

#760867
Joel wrote:in germany they kept pumping out regular buts until mid 78
The Germans, and actually, all countries around the world but are getting buts pumped out to this day.
Not just the regular ones but the big ones and small ones too.
Although big buts seem to be more popular these days.
westi wrote:That's mad Alan.

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 ·

#760880
😂😂

big buts on the mind.....and i cannot lie

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#760889
No Andy, Cabrios were made at Osnabruck until 1980 but Beetle sedans were made at VW's other factory in Germany, Emden - this was their main 'export' factory. Most US-sold Beetles were actually made at Emden. Passats are made there now. The last German-made Beetle sedan was made at Emden in January 1978.

This ad made me so cross that I actually wrote to the MD of LNC Industries, who were then the Subaru and Volkswagen importers for Australia. Their MD was Doug Donaldson, who had first worked at Lanock Motors in William St as a salesman in 1954, and progressed to the LNC board in the early '60s and was chairman in 1968 when LNC took over Volkswagen Australia. He had been the boss ever since; he was also chairman of the FCAI for a few years. He was responsible for LNC taking on the Subaru franchise in 1973. I figured he would know the proper Volkswagen story.

I complained about using a VW to sell Subarus, and pointed out the date error and reminded him of the Australian '76 Beetle and the Emden factory's 1978 Beetle. I got this reply.

He basically told me to rack off.

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Andy Andy\'s Adventures

2,820 posts · joined Nov 2002 ·

#760985
Ah, you failed to notice that Germany was a third world country post '74 Phil.

I'm glad I learnt something new today, and it was about a VW 🙂

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761036
I know another VW guy who found and bought a semi-wrecked Type 3 Squareback panel van in the early 1980s, and he wrote to Doug Donaldson asking about production history and various details to help with the restoration.

He got a reply saying that Volkswagen had never made a Type 3 panel van.

So much for the VW knowledge of LNC Industries.

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 ·

#761091
DylanTheDubber wrote:The NON-VW people have to face that the vw beetle was the most produced ,
until corolla beat it a while back 😂

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761099
The Beetle is regarded as the biggest selling 'single design', with 21,529,464 built between 1938 and 2003.

The Corolla is the biggest selling 'nameplate', passing the Beetle's total in 1997 and totalling 35 million by 2008. However the Corolla has be redesigned nine times between 1966 and now, with the 10th generation the current model. It morphed from an inline-rear drive layout to a transverse front-drive design. It isn't the same car, only the same nameplate.

The Golf is similar, now on its sixth redesign since 1974 and totalling almost 27 million. However at least all the Golfs share the same engineering layout. You could also count the 7 million Jettas sold since 1979 as the same model - they are just Golfs with boots.

I wonder how many Subaru Sherpas were sold?

Joel Now containing 100\% E-Wang

9,368 posts · joined Feb 2006 ·

#761102
just 4,
and you can regularly find them in RSL and bowling club carparks 😂

in all seriousness they werent that bad, granted you had to measure 0-60 times on a calendar, they park in a shoebox and make a lawnmower look thirsty

we had a that we baby sat for a neighbour a long time ago. only had 68k pm on the clock but wasnt a bad little run about

1303Steve Scirocco Rare

8,650 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761154
Hi

Well the Golf replaced the Beetle so maybe we should add Beetle and Golf production numbers together.

Steve

waveman1500 Also rides a Honda

1,346 posts · joined Dec 2009 ·

#761156
The Corolla nameplate thing is extremely silly. Each completely new design is clearly a different car. What about Ford? After the Model T and Model A, their full-size cars were mostly just referred to as the 19xx model Ford, as were many other makes of car. Does that mean you can add production numbers of all full-size Fords from 1929 to the end of Crown Victoria production next year? They're all full-size cars, front-engine, rear-drive on a separate ladder chassis, and they were all Fords, so they're technically the same car. I bet the resulting total production number would be staggeringly huge.
1972 VW S-Bug - For Sale!
1968-onwards Beetle panels and glass for sale

1303Steve Scirocco Rare

8,650 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761170
Hi

Don't take it so seriously, I forgot to say LOL, LOL.

Steve

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761174
I am sure this confusion over what makes a 'new design' or a 'different car' is why they just stick to 'nameplates' now. For example, you just count the total number for each model - Galaxy, Squire, Zephyr, Scorpio, Mondeo, Fairlaine, Mustang, etc etc, regardless of whether they share a design or components.

Same with the Golf - you just count 'Golf' models, while the other Golf-based models such as the Jetta, Golf Plus, Touran, Eos, New Beetle, Audi A3 & A4, SEAT Ibiza, Skoda Favourit, etc etc are counted separately, even though they are the 'same' car underneath. It just gets too complicated and impossible to follow otherwise.

Probably just as well. The Beetle was never sold by the same name over its production life and was known by a variety of official names - VW 1200, VW 1300, VW 1300, Superbug S, Superbug L, VW 1600, Beetle, 1302 and 1303 (UK), Superbeetle (US), let alone all the non-English names such as Kafer, Maggiolino, Coccieelle, Fusca, Vosvos, Boble, Kever, Cucarachita, Kodok, etc etc in whatever country it was sold. And of course, Beetle in the lastfew years of its US life, and in 1976 in Australia.

There is a list of the Best-Selling Automobiles at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bestselling_automobiles

1303Steve Scirocco Rare

8,650 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761210
Hi

The Ford F series is way up there as well.

I said adding the Golf total to the Beetle total in jest. The model designation for the Mk1 Golf is 171, 172, 173 & 174, so they are Type 1!

Steve

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#761235
Even the later Golfs are 1F, 1G, 1H etc on the VIN so they are still 'Type 1s' too...

Getting back on topic, the point of this post was to point out the lack of product historical knowledge by the then importers. This probably hasn't changed - the current Volkswagen Group at Botany know basically nothing about VW's Australian history. I've written a couple of articles for their glossy owners' magazine so hopefully we can fix that.

Do you remember the ad for the Touareg when it was first released, saying it was Volkswagen's 'First Ever 4x4' ?!