hi im jeff what year did the last air cood beetles be in australia i after one

Hi Jeff. The answer is 1976. Welcome to AussieVeeDubbers!

76s were the last ones as wave man said. The best also in my opinion, but certainly not the easier to come by.

ok thanks any on got one for sale

With respect you might want to ask yourself what features you want in a beetle and compare models from there. In particular do you want a ball joint front end or a strut front end rather then just saying you want the latest air cooled. After all there's not much difference in age between 35 and 40 years old. They are all old!

Hi,
I had a 76 model but the quality of the car was no way as good as my 70 model, thinner panels and in my opinion a cheaper build all round, depends on what you want from the car, build a performance car, standard resto or a daily driver, the later cars a prone to rust badly around the Rear window were the air vents are, earlier cars do not have this issue, good kuck with your search.

Agreed. Nissan had already bought the factory and was controlling VW assembly. Aussie-built '76 Golf LS models were shite for the same reason. In 1977 the Golf, Passat and Kombi were fully imported.

The '76 Beetle ended production in July 1976 (it was unable to meet ADR27A), but it took until March 1977 to sell the last ones. Unsold Beetles clogged the dealer lots for months; no one wanted them. I can still remember Cloughs at Bankstown, and Swantons at Hurstville, having rows of them for sale. They were obsolete; the Golf was the star in 1976 (Wheels Car of the Year). VW Australia sold only 1,159 Beetles in 1976, compared with 4,429 Golfs and 3,945 Passats.

Read the Australian VW history here: http://www.clubvw.org.au/history/history.html 

BTW, it's 'double joint' rear suspension, not 'IRS'. ALL Beetles, even swing axles, are Independent Rear Suspension.

Well the term 'IRS' to describe the double-joint rear end is something that has only popped up in the last 5-10 years. Read old UK/US VW magazines from the '70s and '80s and they don't say 'IRS'. Volkswagen also never used the term. Their brochures of the time specifically say 'double joint rear end'. The kewl glossy VW magazines started the trend and everyone has picked up on it. No wonder VW newbies get things wrong when the experienced VW guys follow fashion rather than facts.

I think it's funny when people write 'IRS rear suspension.' That means Independent Rear Suspension Rear Suspension.

I know what you're saying - it's something 'everyone does' - but that doesn't make it right. It's just a lazy habit, and one I for one am not going to fall into. If that makes me unkewl, so be it.

All beetles are IRS

so there both internal combustion engines

They're not idiots, they just haven't been shown what is correct and what is not. There's a whole new generation of young VW fans out there (many who weren't born when some of us first bought a VW) who are happily calling double-joint suspension 'IRS' because they read it in the glossy VW magazines and they read people here using the term. Yes, we know it isn't 'stricktly' correct, and yes, we know that typing 'IRS' makes sense to we oldies and we know what you mean.

But then you tell a 20-year old with his first swing-axle VW that he also has an 'IRS' rear end and confusion reigns.

I agree with you about 'barndoors' and 'pope's nose' - US terms that have caught on, and that's all great. Nothing wrong there. Likewise, everyone refers to 'Mk1', Mk2, etc Golfs, terms VW never used. That's great too. Then there's VW terms that haven't caught on - the Type 3 sedan was promoted as the 'half-back' in the early '70s in Australia but whoever uses that name now?!

But what about the 'trend' to call the 36-bhp engine the '1100'? It's actually a 1200 - 1192cc, same as the 40hp - but magazines are now calling it the '1100'. Are they trying to 'differentiate' it in a way that VW never had to? Do they think their readers are too dense to work out that the same-sized 36-hp and 40-hp 1200 engines are totally different? Another one I hate - calling '68-79 Kombis 'Bays' or 'Bay windows'. They should be 'panorama windows' as real bay windows are mullioned, multi-paned and multi-sashed. But that UK term from the late '90s has caught on (but not with me). The Brits also call the T3 Kombi the 'wedge' or even the 'loaf' - no one has been silly enough to use those ones yet. But they do call the T3 the 'T25' - NO. The panel van is a TYPE 25 but the pickup is a TYPE 24 (check the VIN). They are BOTH T3s. Are they going to call the T4 Kombi the 'T70', or the current T5 the 'T7D' ? Didn't think so.

I talk to many young VW guys who didn't know VWs were ever made in Australia (no way! really?!) Sure most of us know VWs pretty well, and we know what's 'accepted' in our clique. But there are lots of newbies checking us out. I agree with Greg - let's try not to confuse them straight off. Why don't we set a good example instead? How hard is it to type 'double-joint' instead of 'IRS rear suspension' ?

I don't know if democracy has anything to do with it. Like the 'carbon tax' - when do we get to vote on it?

I have not called ANYONE an idiot - read it again, DOKA Dave. It was hypothetical, i.e. [What if?]

OK HappyDaze, no worries it's all cool with me, my apologies for the misunderstanding.

back on track, This just came up for sale, and looks like a good car for the money. Genuine Fuchs 16s, plus it's not yellow!

http://www.carpoint.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?Cr=3&R=10675428&... 1216 1246 1247 1252 1282 4294961272 4294962746&silo=1011

It looks like a good car in the photos. Even the dash looks to be in good nick.

Yogie

Its only worth what you can get, the yellow 76 has been for sale for months, even with the low Klms