cleaning out some of my old mans old books and stuff.. (he has the biggest collection its ridiculous) anyway i stumbled across this..
published in 1967 and a good read.. but what was cooler was a newspaper clipping that was tucked into the back page...


the first clipping.. 21/5/77



and the second..



thought it might be some interest to someone..

Jono.

The old add looks great, should put it in a frame and hang it in your garage.I have a few repro adds done in frames they look good in the garage cheers shane.

Love the quote in the clipping "The beetle with it's flat four, air-cooled, rear mounted engine, was a car you either swear by or at."
Damn I can relate to that.
Great posting - Thanks for sharing.
- Adam

Great clips, never seen either of them before. Walter Henry Nelson's book was originally published in the late 1960s, and was probably the first detailed 'VW history' book to be published. Much of the info has since been retold and recycled endlessly! A newer, updated version was published more recently. Both versions are generally available from second-hand sellers on the net. The original version, above, is better as it has a chapter on VW's Australian history (as well as South Africa, and the UK) that the newer, updated version does not.

That first clipping by Peter Gavaghan is interesting - I wonder what funky Australian magazine it was from? Some of his information is not quite right. He says that 'now 20,000,000 Beetles have been produced.' Wrong. This article was published in 1977, and the 20 millionth Beetle wasn't produced until 1981. Also he writes that 'in 1971 German and overseas factories produced 5,900 models'. Huh? I think he has misunderstood a press release or something - 5,900 would have worked out as the average DAILY production of Beetles in 1971. 'Several B-grade films' ?? The Love Bug was a major mainstream release, not a B-grade film. The Love Bug was actually the highest grossing film on the market in 1969. There are also lots of 'Americanisms' - all his anecdotes about dressing up the Beetle, and particularly the classic story about the guy whose fuel tank was filled and drained, came from the 1960s magazine 'Small Wonder', published by Volkswagen of America. He even spells 'color' in the US style.

I suspect this was originally an article about the demise of the Beetle on the US market, and simply adapted locally for a local magazine. Note the date - 21-5-1977. Beetles had ceased production at Clayton in July 1976, 10 months earlier, and the last Aussie Beetle had been sold long before this was published (by March 1977, as I recall). By May 1977, local production of Golfs and Passats had also ended, and all VWs sold in Australia were fully imported.

The newspaper clipping is more factual - it refers to the end of German Beetle (sedan) production at Emden, in January 1978. Cabriolet production (based on the Superbug) would continue at Karmann, though, until 1980.

im pretty dang sure that the longer article came from a paper.. as the reverse has current news and it is also on newpaper.. ill have a closer look.