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Good Old Volkswagen Myths
Proud_Dad - March 4th, 2007 at 02:59 PM

Last night as I was sitting the couch sharing a beer or two with the brother in law he turned to me and said "did you know volkswagen means 'peoples chariot' in german. I quickly told him " Ahhhh no mate, its peoples car." to which he replied "No its not, the ZOO mag i just picked up say's its 'Peoples Chariot'" and showed me. Later that evening, we were watching pimp my ride. They we redoing a VW thing. The silly woman that owned it told the host "Adolf Hitler designed my car!" i think she even rambled something about it being in the war two.. (mind you she also payed 5g for it to....)

So theres a couple of good myths going round already. I've heard a couple more. Some like they used jews to make the upholstery, you know good old fashioned bizzare and stupid ones.

Anyone heard any others?


frenzix - March 4th, 2007 at 03:23 PM

yeah heaps .. about pimp my ride though.. did anyone see what they did to that late 50's panel?? it looked nice.. but you could tell it would only last for a couple of years then fall to bits.


remm340912 - March 4th, 2007 at 03:46 PM

i saw the thing one (the chick was crazy i swear to god), the panel one i didnt see but did anyone see the baja they did really early on before pimp my ride exploded into stardom. Wasnt bad at all. All the dudes in the garage were itching to do it over. Just goes to show that everyone loves working on bugs


toplessbug - March 4th, 2007 at 05:55 PM

worst myth ever perpetrated------"these things go forever with no maintenance"
and people believed it


PrettyBlueBug - March 4th, 2007 at 06:06 PM

You can fit 4 elephants in a Beetle.. :duh


koolkarmakombi - March 4th, 2007 at 06:08 PM

it will get there!


Flying VW - March 4th, 2007 at 06:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Proud_Dad
The silly woman that owned it told the host "Adolf Hitler designed my car!" i think she even rambled something about it being in the war two.. (mind you she also payed 5g for it to....)




Yeah I seen that episode. War vehicle my arse, I felt like kicking the TV in. :duh


Opaque - March 4th, 2007 at 08:24 PM

they're cheap to run!


Mr Bubble Head - March 4th, 2007 at 08:38 PM

The amount of people that said to me "Don't buy a kombi they over heat" while I was looking to buy one when I first came to Australia.


helbus - March 4th, 2007 at 08:52 PM

"Porsche motors bolt straight in"


13BVW - March 4th, 2007 at 10:03 PM

They dont leak oil they mark their spot


empi - March 4th, 2007 at 10:13 PM

They float!!/ thay are water tight!!


68AutoBug - March 4th, 2007 at 10:41 PM

Beetles float???

I found it amazing when I was a teenager,
My father used to take Me to visit an uncle in Texas Queensland....

and it used to rain and the roads would be flooded and We always made it thru the flooded roads ,creeks and rivers...

but the beetle always leaked.......

well about 50mm+ deep... every time....

so, they don't really float unless a lot of simple modifications are done... like taping up the doors etc...

Lee


MickH - March 4th, 2007 at 10:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Helbus
"Porsche motors bolt straight in"


Some do...


MickH - March 4th, 2007 at 10:50 PM

It seems strange to me that nearly everyone I've talked to in my life "used to own one"......


Proud_Dad - March 4th, 2007 at 10:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by toplessbug
worst myth ever perpetrated------"these things go forever with no maintenance"
and people believed it


I'm always amazed when people say "these things last for ever if you keep em maintained" I'm sure alot of things will last for ever if you are maintaining it


empi - March 4th, 2007 at 11:12 PM

Yes well done lee my point was that they are roumored to float as standard and yet so many i have seen attempting to do so have failed badly.





Quote:
Originally posted by 68AutoBug
Beetles float???

I found it amazing when I was a teenager,
My father used to take Me to visit an uncle in Texas Queensland....

and it used to rain and the roads would be flooded and We always made it thru the flooded roads ,creeks and rivers...

but the beetle always leaked.......

well about 50mm+ deep... every time....

so, they don't really float unless a lot of simple modifications are done... like taping up the doors etc...

Lee


oval TOFU - March 5th, 2007 at 12:39 AM

They're really fuel efficient!

right.. with the drag co-efficient of a brick!


Matt Ryan - March 5th, 2007 at 08:22 AM

It's really, really, really rare - honest!!!!!




Matt.


Dasdubber - March 5th, 2007 at 08:56 AM

....and the VW logo was designed so that it would turn into the Nazi swastika when rotated rapidly (ie. on the hubcaps).

:alien


avwboy - March 5th, 2007 at 05:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by frenzix
yeah heaps .. about pimp my ride though.. did anyone see what they did to that late 50's panel?? it looked nice.. but you could tell it would only last for a couple of years then fall to bits.


you mean because of the 2 inch thick bog all over it ? :)


avwboy - March 5th, 2007 at 05:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by oval TOFU
They're really fuel efficient!

right.. with the drag co-efficient of a brick!

soon as i turned 17 i drove a dead standard 76 beetle everyday , my mates started to drive soon after in things like swifts , camrys , falcons holdens etc .... yet none of them could seem to come close to me in fuel consumption
we would always compare k's driven / litres filled etc
and out of all of us i drove with the heaviest right foot lol :)


Proud_Dad - March 5th, 2007 at 06:10 PM

Found another good one today brought to us by the good ppl of Disney. New beetle and old beetles are the same


Herbie fully loaded, they pull an empi valve cover off the new beetle to fix herbie


Boozer - March 5th, 2007 at 09:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by empi
Yes well done lee my point was that they are roumored to float as standard and yet so many i have seen attempting to do so have failed badly.





Quote:
Originally posted by 68AutoBug
Beetles float???

I found it amazing when I was a teenager,
My father used to take Me to visit an uncle in Texas Queensland....

and it used to rain and the roads would be flooded and We always made it thru the flooded roads ,creeks and rivers...

but the beetle always leaked.......

well about 50mm+ deep... every time....

so, they don't really float unless a lot of simple modifications are done... like taping up the doors etc...

Lee



I've had my baja floating downstream fighting for traction on loose rocks several times. And it didn't leak all that much...weird. Though the big 295's on the back mighta helped...


$2.63 homebrand baja - March 5th, 2007 at 09:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Proud_Dad

Herbie fully loaded, they pull an empi valve cover off the new beetle to fix herbie


wasn't it stuck on with gaffa tape?...............:no: what a load......... obviously the scriptwriters were not very thorough with thier research.... everyone knows it's tiewire for 'heaty-up bits' and elekkie tape for the rest... Idiots :ninja:


amazeer - March 6th, 2007 at 08:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by $2.63 homebrand baja
wasn't it stuck on with gaffa tape?...............:no: what a load......... obviously the scriptwriters were not very thorough with thier research.... everyone knows it's tiewire for 'heaty-up bits' and elekkie tape for the rest... Idiots :ninja:


Apparently you can make shift rod couplings out of a wad of electrical tape!


$2.63 homebrand baja - March 6th, 2007 at 11:30 AM

.......and tiewire, don't forget the tiewire :yes: lucky I found that roll of elekkie tape on the dash, otherwise we would have been stuck for hours trying to sculpt the stupid sticky tape into the approximate shape...that stuff takes ages and keeps breaking mid roll after spending time in $2 toolboxes, gets all brittle in the heat and leaking locktite reduces its stickability :ninja:


pete wood - March 6th, 2007 at 11:48 AM

Heard this so many times and it's just not true...

"ah beetles, they never break down you know...":blah

Actually I do know. They do break down.

Then there's the paint myth...

"Dr Porsche designed the shape so they could be dipped in paint and it would run off smoothly!"

NOT true. They were always spray painted.

And then there's the 356 myth.

"Dr Porsche designed the 356 by ripping everything off the beetle."

Again not true. FERRY Porsche (Dr Porsche's son) designed the 356 as a tube frame, mid engined car using a beetle engine and suspension coz he had no money. Everything else was purpose made. Torsion bars, headlights and powertrain is where the similarities end. And even those parts are slightly different on 356s.


fenrayer - March 6th, 2007 at 10:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Proud_Dad
Found another good one today brought to us by the good ppl of Disney. New beetle and old beetles are the same


Herbie fully loaded, they pull an empi valve cover off the new beetle to fix herbie

yup my other half nearly had a psychotic episode after seeing that LOL


bus914 - March 7th, 2007 at 02:06 PM

whaddya mean they don't float??

[ Edited on 7-3-2007 by bus914 ]