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A foot glued to the floorboard and an engine screaming for all it was worth.
A lesson in financial survival and cars of 50 years ago. Driving on a tight budget was the theme that trip. Lucky for me I found a car capable of doing the job. This 1962 Volkswagen beetle 36 HP - 4 speed manual purchased by me for 200 dollars was then sold by me to a family member. The car was sold for the same 200 price in 1970 the same year as I purchased it.. I maintained the car while it stayed in the family for 6 years with only the minimum costs of replacing tires and a battery and oil changes at 3,000 miles. There was no oil filter on that car just a mesh screen which had to be cleaned every (100,000) miles. There was no replaceable air cleaner on those models. The engines air was cleaned via (oil bath) air cleaner. The oil was changed and the 4 ounces of dirt which accumulated was wiped out of the bottom of the air filter every 3,000 miles. The job was labor intense and messy by todays standards. The generator also had a set of brushes which required changing at 1 dollar a set at (50,000 miles). Last the points had to be changed at 10,000 cost was a buck. Plugs would last about 20,000 at you guessed at a dollar a piece for another 4 bucks.
The total cost of ownership equaled 59 dollars per year plus gas and insurance. Cost of gas for this car was 2 dollars per week, @ 36 cents per gallon and a fuel economy of 28 to 33 MPG you were good for 160 plus miles per week. Cost of brake shoe replacement was under 10 dollars with my labor every 40,000 miles. PS this was a down town city car, However I did drive it from Colorado to the east coast while I owned it. The speed limit in Nebraska was 75 at the time and this car could only do a little more then 70 mph. So with my foot glued to the floor the bug screamed across Nebraska with big finned Cadillac's flying by me. Dozens of cars were available in the newspapers during that time period for 200 dollars. This one found me and got me home after 2 years in Vietnam. (PRICELESS)
Amen brother veteran, I had a 61 back in 66, bought it for 350 dollars, sold it for 250 dollars before I went to sunny southeast asia. The car cost my Father 580 dollars brand new in 61. He sold it to me when he got a company car a few years later. It was baby blue, maybe called turquoise.
The one thing about that 61, no gas gauge, only a floor lever that would manually flip to allow access to another gallon and a half of gas once the motor began to sputter from lack of fuel in the main tank. There was also no heater blower. The only air flow over the feet or the windscreen was from air forced in the vents while in motion. Car stopped, air flow stopped!
Amen brother veteran, I had a 61 back in 66, bought it for 350 dollars, sold it for 250 dollars before I went to sunny southeast asia. The car cost my Father 580 dollars brand new in 61. He sold it to me when he got a company car a few years later. It was baby blue, maybe called turquoise.
The one thing about that 61, no gas gauge, only a floor lever that would manually flip to allow access to another gallon and a half of gas once the motor began to sputter from lack of fuel in the main tank. There was also no heater blower. The only air flow over the feet or the windscreen was from air forced in the vents while in motion. Car stopped, air flow stopped!
The old bugs were a pretty basic car, speedometer, AM radio and a glove-box and the windshield wiper switch. I'd forgotten about that reserve gas lever. Yep 61 the VW cost 1,580 in 1972 the super beetle cost 1,999. Made my own snow chains for winter and with that light front end I could get to work in the worst of snowstorms. Those VW beetles weren't real controllable in weather but held together pretty well.
Amen brother veteran, I had a 61 back in 66, bought it for 350 dollars, sold it for 250 dollars before I went to sunny southeast asia. The car cost my Father 580 dollars brand new in 61. He sold it to me when he got a company car a few years later. It was baby blue, maybe called turquoise.
The one thing about that 61, no gas gauge, only a floor lever that would manually flip to allow access to another gallon and a half of gas once the motor began to sputter from lack of fuel in the main tank. There was also no heater blower. The only air flow over the feet or the windscreen was from air forced in the vents while in motion. Car stopped, air flow stopped!
Correction please, 580 dollars new was a mistake, it was 1580. Old age and lack of proof reading are a bad combination.
A foot glued to the floorboard and an engine screaming for all it was worth.
A lesson in financial survival and cars of 50 years ago. Driving on a tight budget was the theme that trip. Lucky for me I found a car capable of doing the job. This 1962 Volkswagen beetle 36 HP - 4 speed manual purchased by me for 200 dollars was then sold by me to a family member. The car was sold for the same 200 price in 1970 the same year as I purchased it.. I maintained the car while it stayed in the family for 6 years with only the minimum costs of replacing tires and a battery and oil changes at 3,000 miles. There was no oil filter on that car just a mesh screen which had to be cleaned every (100,000) miles. There was no replaceable air cleaner on those models. The engines air was cleaned via (oil bath) air cleaner. The oil was changed and the 4 ounces of dirt which accumulated was wiped out of the bottom of the air filter every 3,000 miles. The job was labor intense and messy by todays standards. The generator also had a set of brushes which required changing at 1 dollar a set at (50,000 miles). Last the points had to be changed at 10,000 cost was a buck. Plugs would last about 20,000 at you guessed at a dollar a piece for another 4 bucks.
The total cost of ownership equaled 59 dollars per year plus gas and insurance. Cost of gas for this car was 2 dollars per week, @ 36 cents per gallon and a fuel economy of 28 to 33 MPG you were good for 160 plus miles per week. Cost of brake shoe replacement was under 10 dollars with my labor every 40,000 miles. PS this was a down town city car, However I did drive it from Colorado to the east coast while I owned it. The speed limit in Nebraska was 75 at the time and this car could only do a little more then 70 mph. So with my foot glued to the floor the bug screamed across Nebraska with big finned Cadillac's flying by me. Dozens of cars were available in the newspapers during that time period for 200 dollars. This one found me and got me home after 2 years in Vietnam. (PRICELESS)
That's how I drove my '55 Bug, foot all the way down, most of the time. It would do only 67 mph, on the flat and with no tailwind. But tucked in behind a Greyhound bus on the freeway, it would hit 80 mph easily and get very high mileage. I think your '62 Bug would have had 40 HP, with a slightly larger engine. The price you stated was very low, compared to what they cost around here. I invested $40. to buy four full-moon chrome Porsche hubcaps. And Earl Scheib painted it black on a special sale, for $19.99.
I did all my own maintenance, including replacing broken accelerator and clutch cables and tune-ups. I adjusted the brakes with a screwdriver. I cleaned the carburetor and replaced the float. Fuses often had to be replaced. The book said to put the valve clearance at .004, but an experienced mechanic said that .006 was correct, so that's what I did. I also re-set the torsion-bar teeth to give a stiffer ride and made my own extractor-type muffler with cheap parts from a discount auto store. That car would drive off-road like a Jeep, with that rear engine and would float in water. There's a long story about how I got it stuck in the middle of a river, during a summertime drought and then was able to get it unstuck and back on dry land.
But then I taught a girlfriend to drive and she forgot she was the one behind the wheel and reached around to get something in the backseat. She scraped the sides badly of a brand-new Ford LTD wagon and a Citroen sedan, that were parked. They both still had their dealer stickers in the windows. Thank goodness for liability insurance, but my car was pretty well shot.
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I'd forgotten about that reserve gas lever,
