Aircooled owners drop year and model 👇🏽👇🏽69 Baywindow

My grandpa bought a VW BEETLE brand new in February of 1959. He drove it every day until he had a stroke in 1984 and could not shift gears anymore. He gave the beetle to my dad and he kept until 1998. At that point dad the beetle to me and I still have it to this day. We estimate that the little beetle has had at least 5 engines. 3 transmissions. A dozen or so clutches. Hundreds of tires. I drive it when the weather is nice. Sometimes I look at it and I'm totally amazed. I can remember Grampa dropping me off at kindergarten in that little car, now I drop my grandkids off in it. Maybe one of them will have it someday. Oh I forgot to mention that we're pretty sure that it has well over a million miles on it.

My first car was a 10-year-old 1958 VW Beetle with the 36 hp engine. I loved that car and maintained it myself. As a young man, it gave me the independence I craved and the versatility I needed. Removing the rear seat back gave me more space in the passenger compartment and reversing the rear wheels gave me a wider stance and a sportier look. Equipped with a surfboard rack, I drover over the Santa Cruz mountains regularly to hit the waves. Years later, a friend was driving it and returned it with a blown valve. It broke off and embedded itself in the top of the piston. I disassembled the engine, hoping for the help of another flaky friend to turn the cylinders so I could reassemble my baby. Long story short, I was left high and dry and had to sell it in pieces for $100. I later saw my old car driving arcing town. Broke my heart! Thanks for this vid!

Almost equally iconic is the how-to repair manual, “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, The Complete Manual for the Complete Idiot”, published by John Muir. The hand-drawn illustrations by Richard Sealy are as incredible as the animation in this video. Every VW enthusiast must have this great book!

Some VW factory engineers who visited the USA were absolutely amazed how VW mania had added so many performance upgrades to the engine , to the body and to the handling this was expressed in an Automotive Magazine in Germany and inspired a lot of respect towards American VW aficionados

I had an uncle who lived in California who had a home business rebuilding VW engines. The engine was held in by six bolts, He had a "loaner" engine that he would swap into the client's car while he worked on the rebuild. He also would do performance upgrades dealing with carburation, exhaust, pistons for increased compression, valves and other features.

Amazing donks. I once seized my 1600 on the Nullarbor after the engine breather blocked pushing out the dip stick and all the oil. It bent #4 conrod snapping off at the crankshaft around the main bearing cap. I purchased a second hand con rod and replaced all the main bearings. Flushed the engine with fresh oil and that motor did another 30,000 kilometres and run better than new. Eventually the crank shaft cracked in half but still managed to get me home 400 kilometres like this. No other engine comes close to the simplicity of the VW boxer. If they had a diff lock they would be unstoppable. I used to drive my 74 VW camper 1000 kilometres one way to work in the gold mines and another 1000 Kilometers home for RnR.

The engine was used on a popular type of very portable fire pump in Denmark by the CF (Civil Protection). It could be carried by two men or equipped with a front wheel moved like a wheelbarrow by one man. It worked!

When my late father married my Swedish mother, her mother bought him a VW around 1952, was fitted with the traffic lights that popped up and even travelled way down to Tuscany with my little sister as well. Well when I arrived and already decided that the luggage space on top of the engine was my saloon and I had a perfect view around with my toys and my much needed biberon/feeding bottle. Life was cool then 😎 and all I had to do was listening the lovely sound of the the engine to fall asleep! Thanks for sharing this very interesting video 👍 👍👍

The vacuum advance system actually advances the ignition when cruising and the throttle position is nearly closed. The high vacuum in the inlet manifold pulls the diaphragm and advances the ignition as the mixture has leaned out at this throttle position (lean mixture has a slightly longer burn time).

I’ve built 50+ Type I/Type II motors, I still dream about them in my sleep. The sound is just lovely. My last one was an 1883cc with a few fancy bits. It made ~90hp which was great for my ‘71 Bus. The 6v to 12v switch was in 1967 not 1975 btw.

This was the car of many young soldiers stationed in Germany over the years. A new soldier would buy the car off someone in the unit who was leaving. This hand off technique was used during all 4 of my tours in Europe. Greatest little car in Germany.

Had a boss some years back with a 73 Type 2 and he daily drove that thing. One day he came into work all stoked--his mechanic had just gone over the bus and found that it was down 2 cylinders. Homie had been driving a FLAT TWO bus for months and months and months and he didn't notice. Mechanic brought the other two cylinders around and he drove that thing for YEARS more, every day, until selling it for gobs of money, because some people genuinely want to spend $16 000 on a 50 year-old, gutless rustbucket. To each their own, I guess? :)

@4:24 What you indicate as a generator is actually an alternator. Earlier engines did indeed use a generator, while later ones had an alternator; the engine shown in your video is an earlier engine that's been retrofitted. The generators that were used were either a 90 or 105mm cylinder - roughly the same diameter as the pulley. Alternators use a much larger stator diameter to house the three phases of windings, so the housing has a bulge at the pulley to enclose that. The rest of the housing is still the same diameter as the late (larger) generator so they didn't have to redesign the interface with the fan and fan shroud, and only required a minor modification to the generator stand to serve as an alternator stand.

BTW: the water cooled, front wheel drive "Beetle" was a Golf with a rounded profile -- it was not a Beetle.

I had a few of those back in my college days, 1960s models - easy for a 'shadetree' mechanic with basic tool to maintain so it kept my transportation costs low. The only issue I had was overheating on summer drives, so I replaced the original oil cooler under the fan housing with an aftermarket exterior oil cooler mounted on the car's underside in back of the transmission brace and that solved the problem. Great cars if you just wanted basic transportation.

My brother once bought one of these beetles, used from a farmer. It was ancient, I think a 1970 1200 model. It had been standing outside next to his barn for about 5 years and he was glad to get it out of the way. It was winter when we went to pick it up and was freezing cold weather. We had planned to tow it home since it had been standing for so long, but decided to try and start it, just for fun. My brother put some fuel in the tank and connected the Beetle's battery to my car and what do you know, after just a few turns of the motor the car started. I couldn't believe it. My brother actually drove it home under it own steam, which was a bit risky, not just because of the technical condition of the car, but because it wasn't insured. But I doubt any other car would have started like that after years of disuse.

I have been driving the classic air-cooled VWs for the past 32 years, and will never stop owning one or more!

As others have noted, this engine was once favored by homebuilt plane enthusiasts. Some of them even "halved" the engine into a two-cylinder setup, though I never saw a cutaway of how they handled that internally; I only saw it from the outside.

Our family drove a 1954 VW and I later used it to drive to university. First gear was crash but synchro on 2,3 &4. I believe that 1954 was the first model imported into Australia. 1100cc with single exhaust pipe with super small oval rear window. The panels were very strong. The handbrake adjustment was up front between the two torsion bars. Everthing was greasable. Indicators were solenoid activated arms which swung out of the B pillar. Fuel tank was 8.8 gallons with a foot activated spare gallon as there was no fuel gauge. As soon as the engine started spluttering the lever was swung over by 90 degrees with the left foot. 6 volt battery under right rear passenger with very dim headlights. Very reliable car.

My dad drove a 73 Super Beetle for many years, and took great care of it. It had no rust issues and ran like new. For a long time after he sold it he regretted getting rid of it. Even worse, somebody local bought it off the used lot and my dad often saw his own car around town being abused by some muppet. If he had kept it, I'd probably be driving it today.

For me, the Beetle is primarily one thing: childhood! I still know the number plate of my dad's Beetle when I was 10 years old. I remember the smell, I know how it feels to open the glove box. The "Käfer" was a family member, like a dog. Reliable and always be there when you need him.

I was a young engineer in Detroit at one of the Big 3 OEMs in the early '70s. I remember following some older engineers into an SAE presentation at COBO Hall where one asked what a foreign manufacturer could teach Detroit? Well, I guess they've learned.

I built dozens of these things. they were elegant, simple and you could pull one with just a floor jack. 4 22mm bolts kept it attached to the car.

This is my favorite of any engine I've ever owned. My slightly modified Beetle would go practically anywhere. I never hesitated to drive it up a mountain fire trail to unknown places. And back in the '70's my father and I built a dune buggy with a shortened beetle frame. With total weight of around a thousand pounds and oversize tires, it seemed limitless. We drove it to Chaco Canyon, NM and explored ruins.

not trolling--but you might want to find out how the designer pronounced his name! that said, this is the best review of the VW engine i've seen on youtube! graphics and voiceover, and a few old clips--i get emotional! my first car was a blue 61 with big old cloth panoramic roof. those were the best days behind the wheel for me....

I had a 73' beetle that I bought in 87'. I rebuilt the engine in 88'. In the summer of 89' I noticed higher than normal operating temps and the oul level was dropping. On a short overnight trip it vapor locked. Upon close examination I discovered the engine temperature sensor ceramic body was cracked that caused the oil leak and the overheating. Iwas lucky and found a new sensor replaced it myself topped off the oil, and it continued to run great. This was a great video.

I bought a neglected1959 Beetle in 1972 for $200 when I was 18. Me and Dad stripped it down, did a little welding and repainted inside and out. We renewed the suspension and rejuvenated the steering and braking systems. All the add on equipment for the engine we made working to spec. The engine/ gearbox we put in for a rebuild at a pretty reasonable price. I remember going shopping for tyres because the Beetle had these old style non-radial tyres. And I found some really cool radials that were going to be great for my 'off the tar' trips. My first car. Sweet.

I was self taught and used to rebuild these engines back in the day and they were just fun to work on. I also owned a number of beetles and one transporter. In fact it was the transporter/microbus that I learned to rebuild the engines with. I was very young and newly married with no money and the Microbus engine blew. Couldn't afford to have it fixed so I bought a Haynes DIY repair manual and holding my breath through the entire process came the moment of truth...I turned the key and the engine started right up on the second try!. Great video, brought back many memories.

the 3-speed "autostick" transmission is a really interesting solution. It was brought to market to compete against the three-speed slush boxes that were starting to become popular in the late 60's. designed to require little additional engineering, it used the same gear ratios as the 4-speed manual, with the manual transmission's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear becoming the autostick's "low", 1st, and 2nd. it's not really an automatic, but something in between a manual and automatic. while it had a torque converter (like most automatics), it also had a clutch that had to be activated by the driver. this was done by putting a switch in the shifter! as you would put force on the shifter, it would go down and click a button that would activate a solenoid. this solenoid would connect a vacuum booster to the intake manifold, which would then pull back on a lever attached to the clutch. additionally, the ATF pump for the torque converter was run off the same shaft as the oil pump. it was an interesting and cheap engineering solution that we've never seen anything like since. (It did sell poorly. The half-manual-half-automatic aspect of it didn't satisfy drivers who were used to driving a manual gearbox, and was still too cumbersome for people who liked driving automatics. Most autostick beetles have been converted to manuals).

The above average off-road capability wasn’t just due to its light weight. It was also because the engine was positioned at the rear of the vehicle, giving it a very good weight distribution for a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Most rear wheel drive vehicles at the time had the engine in the front.

My dad's air-cooled VW's were a '60 bug, a '61 Karmann Ghia, a '64 bus, two '71 square backs, and a '72 square back. His water-cooled stable included a '76, a '79, and an '82 Rabbit. My bugs were a '61, two sunroof '62's, a '63, and a '66.

as a teenager in 1960's Frisco, i owned over a dozen different VWs, everything from miniVans to 911 porshe, from 800cc to 2L engines, and must have rebuilt 20 VW engines from the crankShaft up. at the age of 70, i still have dreams about my VW life history. by the way, ur graphics were FANTASTIC!!

with a few modifications, the vw engine make a great light air plane power plant. a testament to it's bullet proof design, one of the greatest engines of all time.

You did a really great video on the VW air cooled motor but there are so many modern modifications that companies are doing that have improved this little motor . I have a 1979 convertible that’s a 2180 cc putting out around 150 hp and I’m building a supercharged one for another car I’m working on .

Back in the day, I drove a VW beetle('67), and then later, three different Transporters('68, '69, '72). The vehicles had good fuel economy. but sadly no modern pollution control devices so they were pretty dirty. Over the years, I did three engine rebuilds myself with the machine work done at a local shop. You could remove the engine in < a couple hours using only a floor jack. The only modification I did was removing the engine oil cooler which partially restricted air flow to the number 3 (?) cylinder and installed a much larger external oil cooler.

My father had a beetle in Africa 50's when the roads were at best dirt tracks .... on many occasions he loaned his car to people who's cars were unable to get to where they wanted to go. Brilliant car.

Surprising no mention of Formula Vee! They take these engines and other parts from the Beetles and use them to make open wheel race cars! Very cool entry level racing available to basically anyone! So cool to know more history about the engine, thank you!

Very significant design, and yes it worked,simple and easy to maintain and overhaul. Thanks for the visualisation of the engine working parts.

I have had 11 different VW's over the past 43 years. Now I have my first Ghia!👍✌️

Number 3 cylinder often had problems because airflow was affected by the oil cooler placement. During a rebuild I would often see cracks in the cylinder head between the spark plug opening and the valve ports.....

Fantastic video! I was blessed with the opportunity of owning and driving a F/V (Formula V) in the late 60's. Nothing like moving at 100 mph down the straightaway, propelled by a 40 HP bug engine. I remember, once we rebuilt the engine overnight for a Sunday race. Those were the days... 🤠

They also float. Once I accidentally drive into a flooded part of the road. The wheels l didn't touch the ground in the deepest part, but It just floated to the other side and I was able to keep going. Using the compete idiot book, I was able to keep mine going all through college and kept it a few years after I got a real job and was married. Great car.

I once drove 1000 km on my '74 VW Sedan (Beetle) in the heat of the dessert and through mountain ranges. At some point it went over 3 hrs with the gas pedal all the way to the floor, hitting about 120 km/h on a few downhills. I experienced brake fade and nearly wiped out on more than one occasion. When we finally had to stop to refuel, the engine shut off and refused to start again. I thought I killed it, but it finally did start after it had cooled off for a bit. At some point it was using way more fuel than it should have, so I went to open the engine bay and found the fuel line had developed a leak and it was dumping fuel all over the engine. It was a miracle we didn't go up in flames. Finally, a few miles before our destination, the whole muffler fell off and a few days later the clutch cable snapped. I asked my dad to come tow me and he tied the front bumper to his big ole Dodge Dart, went to get rolling but he took off way too fast and he ripped the bumper right off my Veedub. In the end I ended up selling it for parts, but I'll never forget that car. It was my first car.

Had a couple as a kid in the 80s.... 68 Cal Bug w/1776 and single progressive. 69 Cal Bug w/2180 and dual Webers.... Loved those cars and now I'm a 50 something, I would love to get back into the air cooled V-Dub scene again!

My first car was 1967 beetle. I loved that car. I wish I could find another beetle that was affordable.

Great video, and animation. Ver many years, I've built many of these great engines from 36hp to a mild 1800, and never ceased to be amazed of the clever and simplistic engineering. Properly built, it is bulletproof reliable.

I have a lot of experience with these! Keep the tappets adjusted, oil changed and adjust the timing at least every two thousand miles, and it'll last a long time! Even if you needed to install cylinders and pistons it was only a few hours from start to finish. Heck, I did it in a parking lot at a Dead show while tripping on plastic fantastic and didn't miss a single song of the show! No miracle needed.

My #4 valve burned out in San Diego. My roommate showed me how to replace the heads. I think it was four bolts to uncouple it from the transmission. Used a floor jack with a wood block to drop it down. Put motor onto a skateboard and rolled it into the garage. The hardest part was finding a torque wrench to put the new heads on.

I had a couple of the beetles, then a '71 bus. The 1600cc engine was strained in that, and required frequent valve adjustment, especially to #3 cylinder. It also required the valves to be replaced every 50,000 miles, or risk one dropping in the cylinder. But I loved that bus ...

This is the best video I’ve seen in a while. That boxer engine looks spectacular.

I had 5 VWs - 2 Karmann Ghias, 2 busses and a Squareback. I haven't bought another VW since they went to water cooling. Those were such great cars, and I could fix them with the Haynes, and Clymer books as well as John Muir's "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive". The engines were bullet proof, but the heater(s) stunk for cold weather. I had all but one while living in Hawaii, so it didn't make a lot of difference, but when I had a bus in Denver - it was rough in the winter.

Yup, having worked on them plenty enough, I still consider this engine the best ever. Runs forever, easy to maintain, easy to fix or overhaul or rebuild. As long as folks took care of the basics, you were good to go.

Had a ‘69 bug, loved it, miss it. Today we need another affordable “people’s car!”

@00:20 and @02:36 a correction: Ferdinand Porsche DIDN'T designed the VW engine. The inventor was a young engineer called Franz Xaver Reimspeiss (who designed the VW logo, as well). The engine he designed was the 5th prototype (E-Motor) Porsche was experimenting. After being enhanced with an oil radiator it becames the basis for all the engines until 1959. @00:38 The crankcase was made of elektron (magnesium alloy), the cylinders was iron and heads was aluminum.

In 1963 my dad bought me a 1959 beetle. It had 36 horse power. The mechanical valves, brakes and clutch had to be adjusted every 2,000 miles. The VW dealership charged $16 for the adjustment with oil change. I delivered 350 college newspapers every morning for two years. I wish that I had kept it.

In the '60s last century the company I was working for had 5 beetles all driving on LPG in the Netherlands.

I drove a 1967 Beetle as a daily driver for 20 years about 600,000 + miles as I kept a log. A decent engine would last about 100,000 so. 1. The fan belt must be kept properly adjusted. If it flies off it often knocks of the fuel line over the distributor resulting in a fire. 2. The valves do not loosen and rattle - they tighten. Proper 3-4000 mile adjustments are critical to avoid a "whistling sound" followed by a burnt valve. 3. Engine compartment rubber seals need to be in place to avoid hot air from the cylinders recycling back up onto the cooling fan (4:44) shows an unsealed engine compartment. 4. Fuel pump hold down nuts slowly loosen. A special shaped 13mm is needed for the hard to reach one. Mad Magazine once said American needed more dependable, affordable automobiles and needed to retool and bring back that Great VW. The illustration showed a factory with VWs having a Chrysler star where the VW symbol usually was. A very nice video on those great ol' VWs!

College car was a '74 Super Bug. A wrist pin let go once but had a rebuild and the car was back the next day. Good mechanic, great easy design.

What a pleasure those little motors were. Start em up and drive all day. Treat em right and they'll last for life.

My first car back in the mid 1970's, how can I not love it

I know that engine had 3 Beetles all well over 100 thousand miles and when I sold them still going strong;Mine were the 1200cc the best one was the 1500cc.Then in the later engines emission control and more crap to the engines started.The orginal was good enough.I used to adjust the tappets set the timing with a static light.Fantastic flat four little engine.

When I was a teen the family cars were a Bus and a Squareback. Ah, the Squareback, a hatchback ahead of its time. It was so cool that the engine fit flat under the floor of the cargo area - and of course there was a frunk. I learned to drive on the 1970 Bus. My two brothers had learned to shift a manual on it, so let's just say the clutch was very broken in. With that little engine, getting up a ramp onto the interstate was a challenge! We got the Squareback soon after that, so to me it was a sports car, slung low to the road.

It’s virtually indestructible and ingenious design.

I have seen this motor on small trailers with a pump, or compressor, or welder, or generator attached. It is everywhere.

A masterpiece of design engineering. Simple, efficient, easy to maintain.

I have built those little engines from 1776cc for street use to 2180cc for sand rails. The most common was the 1835cc. The engine and trans are amazing works of art!!

For the longest time, we were an all air-cooled family: 2 1962 VW Sedans (beetle/bug), 1 1968 VW bus, and three Porsche (TWO SYLLABLES PLEASE!) 356s ('58A, '61B, and '63BT6). I used to enjoy adjusting the valves - it was kind of a zen experience.

1987 Europa edition 2, 1994 Firebeetle, 1999 Unificado. The best summary of my VW experience was done by a cousin of mine who traded cars of every marque... "I have never seen someone drive a Volkswagen like you". People swore never to board a car with me at the wheel again, and they have kept their word for 30 years! Disc brakes (from 1995 in Mexico, retrofitted) made the best car ever made even better, and gave me the confidence to fully exploit the low-end torque and better response of the 1600i engine (75 mph [120kmh] average highway speed, decent power sliding/cornering, trouncing all 4/6-cylinder engines at stoplights, all this at 2240 m / 7341ft) and, of course, going where Jeeps feared to tread and driving on in the rain when tractor trailers had to stop (4 big rally lights & high-power bulbs helped). I still dream about my first VW, conqueror of all Mexico, scourge of the Ejes Viales, a car with a "low compression" AF engine that won me another car in a timed bet in the wild streets of Mexico City. Even the darkest den of VW haters, Top Gear, surrendered to the VW's greatness after crossing Botswana. That says it all.

Thanks for the great video. I really appreciate that you explain the benefits and design philosophies behind the engines various features. That makes it great for the folks that folks that don't know much about cars, and but are a little bit curious about everything.

This is such a cool way to explain how an engine works. I always was under the assumption the beetle engine overheated the oil but that's actually a cool design

Dad had one years back. Rolled it in inclement weather, pushed it back over, & kept driving. He & my uncle pulled the motor, (by hand), & rebuilt it on sawhorses. Sweet car.

In the late 60's I had a VW Camper, after in the 70's I had to drive 43 miles each way to work in Michigan... SNOW!!!... I converted my older VW to a Baja Bug with a fiberglass kit... also added Chevy Rim adapters ... some big Snow Tires ... headers and a "Weber Carb" ram induction manifold. I could climb snow banks and in 7 years never missed a day of work. Sold it to one of the mechanics at work and bought a Chevy ... till this day I miss that little bugger, it was fun to drive in the snow or off road and the horse power increase helped a lot!

Back in high school I bought a 1958 VW bus with a sliding hardtop for 50 bucks from a friend of mine. It kept popping out the exhaust and bad misfire. Took the engine out and took it to my auto shop and we all split the case and tore it apart and never got it fixed. Now I know I could have snapped those heads off in 20 minutes and put new heads on it. I'm very disappointed in my auto shop teacher but he's probably been dead for 30 years, lol.

I was saying to my daughters last week... Why could they not keep this best engine of all time... Our family had 3 Vw Beetles and we never ever broke down or over heated... I hope a car manufacturer brings this type of engine back soon as not everyone will go for,the EV vehicles. 😎♥️

My very first car was a brand new 1961 VW with 40 hp. I bought it for an automobile newspaper route for the Oregonian Newspaper. I drove it 128 miles per day for six days a week,starting at 2 AM from Chehalis, WA to Aberdeen,Wa and back to my home in Centralia. My local VW shop owner told me that the bug needed strengthening in certain areas because of the heavy loads it would be carrying on a daily basis. So, we(he made me do most of the work while he supervised) installed a Transporter clutch and throw out bearing, re-torqued the rear suspension from 900 psi to 1200 psi and installed a Porsche transmission. I put approximately 42,000 miles on it in eight months, all while full time in college and getting my private pilot’s license. Did I mention that my girlfriend lived 22 miles from my house? Amazing what can be accomplished when you’re 19! The Bug never missed a beat, best car I’ve ever owned.

VW was also the source for the best and most useful auto repair book of all time, John Muir's "How to Keep Your VW alive". Awesome book teamed with a super-easy car to repair. This book re-defined what a user-friendly auto repair book should be, totally useful and easy with no "hidden gotchas". I still use it on other cars for its diagnostics due to its practicality

I had a 69 beetle back in the early 1980s. I was pretty abusive to it as a teenager and finally it dropped a valve. It was a good car. Maybe one day, I will own another one, but I will be gentle this time.

Aqui no Brasil esse motor foi fabricado até 2005 na Kombi e já vinha de fabrica com injeção eletrônica

I have a 1969 VW Campmobile, 57 hp. The most significant thing I have experienced is on a 7,000 mile touring trip in the US.. I went through the Arizona desert in the hottest season of the year. Along the road were dozens of water cooled vehicles pulled over to the side, steaming, while I flew right past them in my VW, no problem. It has nearly 500,000 miles on it and it is truly an amazing vehicle. Camping up in the Rockies, the gasoline powered heater it had came in handy. It consumes only 1/2 pint of gasoline an hour, and really keeps the inside warm.

Neighbor received a VW Beetle for high school graduation,1968. Drove the car around Tucson for 40 years. On its 3rd engine, interior and paint job. 2008, original dealer put car on showroom display. Gives owner pick of any car on the lot.

Great engines in great cars. The first car I owned was a used 1964 Beetle. My first new car was a 1968 VW that I drove off the lot for a nickel less than $2,000. Fun, quirky little cars! I wish I still had that ‘68.

Had a "66 Bug back in HS. Sent a push rod through the case. Bought a short block from a repair shop for $300 and me and my brother installed it in our barn. The biggest issue I had with it was gas accumulating in the oil. I would gain about a half a quart of "oil" in the winter cause the thing just would not run hot enough to keep gas from condensing in the cylinders. Tried everything I could think of but could never stop it. Still, loved my bug.

Beetles were immensely popular in South Africa where I grew up. 'Kombis' too were the major taxi workhorse and recreational vehicle for several decades. They all had flat fours. I worked on too many to count, and owned several Beetles, Kombis and even an estate car. Although I did rebuilds at times, when the engines went one just got a Reconditioned one put in...cheap as chips and good as new.

Impossible to think of an engine better suited to the backyard mechanic or young fella to cut their teeth on with a rebuild and vehicle build. Been involved in dozens over 45years and still a favorite. A good set of extractors and a Bendix carb from a 138 Holden 6 with a variable fuel jet got you extra hp in an afternoon !😎👍

Excellent presentation and factual. However I would add that, at least in the US, the Beetle became a 12 volt automobile in 1967, not 1975.. Still had a generator as opposed to an alternator, but it now had a 12v generator. Same for the 1968 bus-van. I believe Repairman was correct in saying that in 1975 was when the car gained an alternator to replace the generator. Incidentally the van-bus used the same engine as the Beetle up to approximately 1971 or 72. Up until around 1970 it used the same transmission too, I'm not sure if the gear ratios were any different either, because it used 2 geared speed reduction boxes, on at each rear wheel, to increase torque. This of course also reduced speed. The 1968 Beetle had a max speed of 78 mph. The 1968 van had a max speed of about 65 mph. Being air cooled they ran hotter than water cooled engines. Despite this the rather hefty crankshaft and connecting rods lasted a long time. However one could not say the same for the exhaust valves, valve seats, and valve guides. Until around 1971 the number 3 exhaust valve tended to stretch and break some time before the engine reached 100,000 miles. Unless you rebuilt the cylinder heads before then, the engine could suck a valve and experience damage to the #3 piston, cylinder, and connecting rod. Or worse. My 1968 engine, which I bought new, lasted over 300,000 miles but I rebuilt the entire thing at least twice, maybe 3 times. By periodically measuring the valve lash I could see when then #3 exhaust valve was starting to stretch. Rebuild the engine before it pulled in two like a piece of taffy, and then and the rebuilding job was a breeze.

Never owned a Bug but my little light aircraft has a 1965 vintage 1200cc (modified to 1400cc) VW Beetle engine up front. It's super simple and, as you said, a bullet proof machine.

Thank you for creating this video. The VW air-cooled boxer was further developed beyond 1600 cc limit for the Beetle. In 1969 the VW 411 was released with a new casting displacing 1.7L, and with the later renaming c1972 the VW412 came with a 1.8L. Most export models were fuel-injected. They were pancake engines (like the Type 3) with the engine fan at the end of the crankshaft, instead of mounting overhead as was done with the Beetle configuration. The 411/412 air cooled engine was also used in the Porsche 914, and in the Type 2 Bus and subsequent Transporter (Vanagon in North America) until c1983 when the wasserboxer (water cooled) version was introduced. The boxer configuration was kept until the end of the Vanagon run in 1991. On another note the Beetle came with 12V electrics in 1967, at least in Canada. My brother had a '66 Beetle with 6V that required a lot more push starts due to the weaker electrics. Mine cost Cdn$300 when bought used in 1979. Unfortunately the floor caved in within a year or so, due to rusting, and I bought the (then) luxurious VW412 station wagon (variant). In 2003 we rented a brand-new classic Beetle on a family trip to Mexico. I was soon aware of the limitations of the vehicle design in regards to acceleration, cornering and braking - but much of that could be blamed on the lousy tires. However when we rescued a family from a nearby town, I drove back to our hotel with four adults and five children in the rental Beetle. Crammed but amazing.

I bought my first one in about 75 and I was hooked. I owned many of them, so I’m just bought them to part out and scrap the rest.I Also built a three wheeler with a BSA motorcycle Front end and a 6 V 1200 cc early engine and transmission, a sportster tank and a triumph seat, sitting right on the transaxle with detuned torsion bars. Extremely low center of gravity, it handled great! If they hadn’t got so collectible, I build another but that was in my youth.

The vw beetle engine has a huge history and ancestry. It started life as the bmw twin cylinder motorbike engine. After the war, they basically joined 2 of the motorbike engines together, focusing on the simplest connections. Obviously porche used it in all their cars, which evolved along with the 9 series. The citroen 2cv, and later the visa used the same engine, as did early peugeots. It's an interesting fact (learned from my father who was a mechanic in the 50's and 60's) is that the engine only has 4 attachment points, and dealerships often found it quicker to service the engine by removing it and swapping it with a spare that had been serviced and stored. People often think that the engine was slow, owing to the low top speeds of the beetle and 2cv. However this is wrong, as being basically a motorbike engine it had a huge rev range, so although incredibly deafening and taking a while, both cars could reach 70mph and once there keep going all day.

Awesome video. Your references to automotive pioneer Henry Ford are noteworthy. Although perhaps a better comparison maybe to Ed Cole. Ed Cole was the visionary president at GM's Chevrolet Division who upped the ante with the Corvair line-up. I feel that the were the equal if not superior to anything coming out of Wolfsburg or Mexico. While the Corvair line enjoyed great success, it ultimately lost out not to Ralph Naders criticism, but, IMHO, to the likes of the Ford Mustang.

My family had one in the late 60's. It was the 3 speed auto shift. It was passed from Big Sister to Little Sister, but we all used it. We even put a jon-boat on top and a small outboard motor in the back seat for a fishing trip. Wish I still had it.

I had a ‘62 Baja bug. It had a huge canvas sunroof that all three people in the back seat could stand up through at the same time. It also had a 1600 dual port conversion.

I owned two VWs with air cooled engines when I was a teenager. In snowy weather they were great on the road since the engine weight was on top of the driving wheels. A point that you missed in the video is that this engine has been used in homebuilt aviation since it's light weight and high power is a great fit.

The Type 3 engine had the fan on the crankshaft directly, so could be used without a "fan belt", as the belt only turned the generator. You could drive it without the belt. Until the battery went flat.

My first car was a Type III Fastback. VW laid the oil cooler over the #3 and #4 cylinders, making the engine even flatter. The Fastback had a rear trunk, in addition to the front trunk.

I had two Beetles - a '69 and a '71 in the late '70s and early '80's. Great cars. I used to set the valves and change the oil every 3000 miles. The book "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive, A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot" was very useful.

You know, even though most of this information weren't new to me (the beetle was the most common first car here in Brazil all the way up to the 90's), you presented it in such a nice way that even make me want to own one again (believe me, I know there's a lot of great things about this engine, but the Brazilian versions of it - with 1600 and 1700cc - were a nightmare!!). One more thing out of curiosity: what software(s) do you use?

My 1979 VW Van had a stock 2 liter 4 cylinder air cooled engine, fuel injected.

I can remember the day back in 1960 when my uncle appeared with his red beetle . It was a great excitement to all of us to see that different engineered and designed car. I'll never forget that whistling engine so reliable indeed.