I remember the 60s VW TV commercial that showed a Bug starting out early in the morning driving through fresh powder snow touting the snow driveability of the bug. At the end he was pulling up to a large shop saying "ever wonder how the snow plow driver gets to his job"

I had a classic beetle, 1971 and I always kept snow tires on in the winter (Ct.) That car would go thru anything in the blizzard of "78" it was one of the few cars moving. The VW beetle, in my opinion was one of the greatest cars of all time

In Brazil it became the most popular car at the time because of it's simplicity and performance on dirty roads. I had one about 10 years ago and had a lot of fun on dirty roads, it goes really well. In Brazil there are tons of vídeos showing Beatles climbing steap mud roads at ease, passing stuck pick-ups.

They're used for hill climb trialling in the UK because they're so good. My dad had a gold 1303s Superbeetle with rounded windscreen and full size tail lights. The neighbours hated that car because it was so noisy, but they came knocking on the door when they needed a lift to work in the snow after they'd tried in vain to leave the street in their more modern hatchbacks.😄

The Beetle was the 1st car in Antarctica simply because it was air cooled, easy to modify, and easy to repair. Other vehicles were on the continent before the Bug, but they were more or less purpose built for polar research.

Back in high school, I learned to drive on a Volvo that was probably an earlier version of the Volvo you guys showed. I had a female friend with a yellow bug like your convertible and a male friend whose bug was your color, but not a convertible. I drove both in the snow at various points and I can attest that they were great snow machines. I think the tires back then were not nearly as good, but my Volvo had trouble on flat ground without snow tires, but the bugs were amazing on hills, deep snow, whatever. Absolutely not a myth.

My first beetle was a 1957 oval window. It was literally almost unstoppable in the snow unless you got high centered in deep snow because of the flat floor planes. The trick that you finally alluded to at the end of not letting the tire spin is the secret. Slip the clutch until it starts to roll without spinning. If it’s too slick for low gear put it in second and do the same thing and it will just startlugging away in 2nd second gear. As for the rear end sliding out, it’s actually very easy to control once you get used to driving a rear engine car. I would give my eyeteeth to have my old 36 horse 1957 bug back.

Actually the heater in the VW work very well if it's in perfect conditions, but you have to drive quite a distance to get the engine good and warm (hot) I had my brief cass on the back floor in front of the register and it actually melted it, but one thing to get it to push out hot air, is running the engine at a higher RPM because the cooling fan for the engine also acts as the blower for the heater.. 🇺🇸

I had a very old Saab a long time ago and it had very narrow tires. The guy at the tire shop told me he'd only ever seen tires that narrow on an old Volkswagen, and he said something about how narrow tires are meant to be better in snow because they "cut through the snow, to the ground below" better than a wider tire.

I do ice trials in Wisconsin (basically autocross on snow/ice) and members of a Beetle club routinely show up at some events. I have to tell you, those things fly around the course when properly shod.

Yes, the weight of the engine over the rear drive wheels certainly helped The Bug to perform in the snow, just as it did when they were converted to Dune Buggies for the sand. If they did get stuck, they were easier to push.

I drove a 74 Super Beetle back in the late 70s while still living in the Denver area and NEVER had a problem driving in snow. It used to make the trip up to A Basin with no problems but for being slow heading uphill. And it was the only VW I ever owned that never leaked oil! I'm still a big fan of old VWs and I miss listening to KBCO.

I had a 72 super beetle that I bought in the winter right after a blizzard. It was about the only car on the cheap lot that started. The heater didn’t work right the first winter, it needed some work, but it was tolerable if you understood it and used it right. It was fairly good in the snow, especially if you used it right and had good snow tires. Nothing is perfect. I grew up on a hill, and I once saw a Jeep apparently spinning all four at once. They had to back down. Often, especially starting on a hill, a light touch is necessary. It’s helpful to try starting in second gear, even in a beetle. That first gear is a real stump puller. Second gear gives you an automatic soft touch on the throttle. Stopping is awesome. I once got gently rear ended twice by the same idiot in a traffic jam in the snow in my old beetle. The tires are relatively tall for the era, and the ground clearance isn’t bad.

I used to live in New Jersey and any of my beetle's were great in the snow. I also floated past a police officer in a flooded section of highway in my 67 bug. I found a 69 Ghia that was heading to the scrap yard to be crushed. My son and I are working on it together 😊👍✌️ We have a couple of videos up and will be putting up more as we progress!✌️

I have a ‘67 I’ve owned for over 40 years, and I assure you it will run on the snow like a jackrabbit. I always kept an extra pair of mud and snow tires standing by for snow, but it was always ALMOST as good on my stock tires. Nowadays I wouldn’t want risk it getting damaged out there in adverse conditions, but we have a lot of fond memories plowing through the snow with it. :)

Actually the heaters work well enough when new, just they get so messed around with over the years. Two other points, Beetles with the double jointed rear axles, were one of the first small cars with the Honda Civic from memory, that could generate over 0.7g on the skid pad, even on skinny tires. VW even offered a ZF LSD for some markets in the fine print. Braking even with the US spec drums was 120ft from 60mph according to Road&Track, which is actually OK even today. The rest of the world got front discs.

I had a 73 beetle back in the 80's that I drove in the snow, due to it being my only car at the time. I did drive into a snow storm on my way to visit family one winter and the snow was coming down so hard that I had to stop several times to clean the snow off the hood so I could see. The heater worked, but still sucked. I still miss that car. Great video!

I owned 2 different Beetles, a 1966 and a 1972, and I drove the 72 through 2 different upstate NY winters. As long as you put some weight in the front trunk (I used 2 bags of 60lb concrete mix; most weight in the least space..), they were VERY good in the snow, provided that you weren't concerned by the feeble heater. In VERY cold weather, unless you had a gas heater, you needed to direct all of your heat to the defroster.

the vw heater system works quite well if it's maintained properly, what happens with them is over time the vibration and heating/cooling cycles causes the hose clamps and connections in the system to loosen up and leak. if everything is kept tight with no leaks, it will actually roast you out of the car on long drives.

UK here.. my first car was a 5 yr old '61 Beetle 1200cc. Winter snowstorm dumped about 10" snow which resulted in about 50 cars stuck at the bottom of a hill (a car got stuck on the hill out so all all the following cars were stalled behind it.. very narrow roads). Community effort of pushing the cars for first 50 yds or so gradually cleared the log-jam. It was a real effort ! When it was my turn, the Beetle with 15" wheels shod on Michelin X tyres, went up the hill with no pushing necessary. Wet weather could be interesting though, a cwt sack of sand in the spare wheel well gave perfect 50:50 weight distribution improved handling and negated lively steering in crosswinds too. The heater was fantastic (air jacket around the exhaust).

I had a 71 super beatle with automatic stick shift. With the skinny old school winter tires I went everywhere in the west kootenays. Even outdone some 4wd trucks going up a snowy forest service road. It had an auxiliary gasoline powered heater in the frunk even with the engine not running, it did well to warm up the interior. It exhausted under the front driver's fender

another great video Tommi ,if you saw what we did back in the 70's in high school with my friends Beetle you would of had us committed, he was my best childhood friend who lived 2 doors over ,his dad and uncle next door were both VW mechanics ,we had access to everything, big old shop falling over with no heat, we didn't care it wasn't outside and this was in Manitoba ,they taught us pretty much all we ever knew about bugs, his dad/uncle said in Europe in the winter you saw hundreds of them up in the ski resorts in winter and even saw a few black/white snapshots of them, his dad knew how to have/maintain good heat in the car in the winter it was a regular maintenance thing and an aftermarket fan helped keep windows clear pretty good, 2 of us got good at changing out engine/trans in a few hours, just using hand tools and 4 jack stands , and snow tires with studs was the best, virtually no one passed us on the road in the winter , we got stuck once in a snowbank cornering too fast leaving a party, we got out and pushed it back and went home and they hill climb like mad in the summer time, good times 👍

As a teen in the late 80's I had a 1972 Super Beetle. That thing really was unstoppable in snow. The only problem was that it had no defroster to speak of, so you had to drive with an ice scraper in one hand to scrape the INSIDE of the windshield.

Thank you so much for actually showing us the car. Most YT car channels just put the camera facing the presenter, and you end up with an entire video staring at someone who is telling you how the car drives. I much prefer to SEE how the car drives and handles. If you want to put a camera inside the car, put it behind the driver, so we can still see how the car drives. Anyway I find it amazing that most of the shots are of the car, please keep up the great work. Please do not become like other car channels that only show the driver's face. :)

My first car was a ‘68 bug. Yes, the heaters suck. We put an aftermarket blower on them that made it so much better.

During the 80's my brother and I used a VW bug with rear studded snow tires to go skiing every weekend on Mt. Hood, we never had to stop and chain up once.

Back in the late 80s. I was driving a old bug to work and school for a few years. If you figured out, what works and its limits, it would be almost un stoppable. Good winter tires are a must-have. I have busted threw many snowbanks deep enough that the windshield wipers would stop, until I broke out to the other side, or tobogganed over it will hoping that the wheels would grab some road before it stops or ends up of the road. It was a great driving car, if you learned how to drive it

Back in 1979 my first car was a ‘69 Beetle. I loved that car and it was incredible in the snow! Once the neighbor was going to adjust the brakes for me and we went out to where it was parked and the snow was about 8” deep and he thought I was going to have to shovel the driveway to get the car out and I said no it’s no problem and just backed out to the street. He was impressed!

Love the sound of a beetle firing! I will get one again! It’s been nearly 10 years since I sold my 1303L

Hello from the UK! For many years I drove rear engine Skodas, and have found them to have excellent traction in the snow. I remember waiting in a carpark while the driver of a modern fwd car tried and failed to leave via the exit, which was a frozen up slope. After a few minutes he gave up and left through the separate entrance, which was quite level in comparison. The old Skoda made it up the slope without issue. The only worry I have had about driving the Skoda in the snow was being stranded behind other more conventional vehicles, or if someone was unfortunate enough to lose control of their car. Excellent video, btw - looks like great fun!

I had a 1967 Beetle at the end of the 80s, still with a short front end and 4 drum brakes. Back then, I was better able to get over the snowy mountain roads with worn-out winter tires than others with new winter tires. Since I live in Austria in the Alps, it was the ideal car for me at the time. I no longer own the 67, but some parts of it live on in my 72, which I still own to this day.

it's awesome that Tommy takes after his dad and partakes in TFL. i've been watching TFL for years and i always enjoyed their content. keep up the work everyone (Andre, Roman, Tommy, Nate, Toby [sorry if i missed anyone else; these are just the common faces I see])

There are several kits to get better heat from the stock beetle. Simply wrapping the heat box in fiberglass turbo wrap makes a huge difference. I loved my 65 beetle until hurricane Hugo dropped a building on top of it… The older vehicles did better in the snow with their heavy steel wheels with narrow tires.

I had a 74 super in High School and I loved driving it in the snow. My bugs heater did work (a little too well). It had two settings; off and the fires of hades. A friend riding in the back burned her foot after the heater heated up the buckle on her sandal.

The only problem I had with my 72 Beetle driving in the snow was with ground clearance. It had great heat if you were moving, so I got a blower for it. Do you remember the JC Whitney catalog that was the place to go to?

I had a VW kit car that was VW based. It was a few hundred pounds lighter than the standard VW. That thing rocked in the snow. It was my daily driver for a couple years in New England and I never got stuck. The only issue was, when the rear end got loose, you were spinning all the way around.

I had a 72 super beetle baja bug with off road tires it also had a 2100cc 150hp motor. It did almost as well in the snow of the mountains of NM as my 75 K5 Blazer with tons of upgrades. I also installed an aftermarket heater to replace the flow through heater box it came with. It fit perfectly in the frunk and utilized the vents already in the car. You just had to keep the vents open using the hand levers on the floor.

Another car that you have that will surprise you with its ability in the snow is the Citroen 2CV, you should go and try it.

Starting on a hill like that, feather the parking brake a bit, with your thumb holding the button. That open diff will transfer some power to the wheel not spinning. Good for when parked with one drive tire on an ice patch too.

Yep. Once had a '64 Squareback that sat in the street for about 5 days and was covered in snow - first by a blizzard and then by snow thrown upon it from a passing snowplow. I started it and by rocking back and forth a few times, drove out of the snowbank it had been sitting in. The neighbor from across the street came over and asked if it was for sale. His car was stuck in the driveway. Told him "Sorry, nope!"

We used to have a VW Variant in the family which is a station wagon version of the Beetle with 1.8 fuel injected engine. It was fantastic in the snow but you needed a toolbox in the frunk to provide steering traction. 😎🤣😇

It just proves you're never to old to play in snow!

Great Video! I had a 1974 super Beetle in MA and I also had all season tires plus 50 lbs of sand in the trunk for better steering. It never got stuck and always started easily. The heater did have an auxiliary fan to help with heat distribution. 60 HP. Perfect. BTW, I love the S2A Landy in the background. I also own a 1970 S2A. 77 HP! And it also never gets stuck...ever!

The part you guys left off was the tire chains. I was born in Germany. Army brat. At 5 y/o had a baby sitter with a beetle. Germany can see up to 10 feet of snow overnight. That beetle never got stuck. Hills didn't matter. It went through snow so deep the front wheels were lifted off the ground yet kept going. Trust me, there's a reason I keep my 69 beetle around here in East TN.

My father had a fastback which went up a steep snow-covered road to the university quite easily Had to wear super warm clothes, boots, gloves and hat though As you may know, the battery was under the rear seat and once a couple of heavy-weight rear passengers caused the seat bottom springs to flex and cause a short and a spark and set the rear seat on fire. We redid the seat and Isolated the Battery terminals I loved that car. Everything about it, the sound, smell of interior materials, ...........

My first car was a Volvo 850 GLT, and it did really well in the snow in the midwest. I loved it for having the "Winter Package" which included the headlight wipers! Always had people asking about those. Loved that car. It's cool seeing a old Beetle driving in the snow. I figured it'd do well, and it sure did.

On Christmas leave in 1964 I drove from Ft. Sill OK to Los Angeles on Route 66 in my 1958 Beetle. It was the coldest winter I had ever seen up to that time, I was 21. As we entered Amarillo the traffic stopped at a light. When the light changed nobody moved until the car in front of me began sliding to right because of the crowning of the road. Then I noticed other car's rear tires were spinning but the cars weren't moving forward. I just put the car in gear and drove around them all. I will never forget that.

I find narrow tires best in snow. The old bug with snow tires could also take advantage of it's ground clearance. Fairly deep snow wasn't a problem

I know it’s just for the video so it did alright for those tires. People always had a set of winter grips for the rear. They were mostly bias ply tires, but they were really aggressive. Even in the late 70s there was demand for these tires. The radials were about double the cost of bias for a while. Now there’s so little demand for bias tires that if you WANT some, you pay $$$.😂😂.

I had a Super Beetle within a year or so of the one you have back in '79. Lived in New England. Never had a problem in the snow. You CAN bog one down, but with any kind of sense involved, it's hard to do. Thanks for the memories.

Lived in Massachusetts during '78 blizzard and drove a '62 Bug with tire chains. It was unstoppable. Gas heater kept me warm as I transported nurses, doctors, police and others to work. Wish I still had her.

Looks like your super bug is running a wider tire from the earlier bugs. I had a bug 68' converted from auto stick to 4 speed with narrow snow tires and it worked very well as long as the snow wasn't so deep that the belly pan would get floated on the snow. You just needed to keep a fully tank of gas for better steering. Then converted it to a Baja that ran mud-dog retreads and with the wider tire the bug would tend to float on the snow but would always dig its way through. I raised it up a bit over stock so getting the belly pan stuck wasn't really a problem. Besides you could always back out if you did get stuck but it was able to keep up with most 4WDs, surprisingly.

Yes, let’s see how the Baja Bug does in snow! That should be fun.

Love it! My '72 Standard handles quite well in the snow! I just got my winter rubber put on. It's ready for the ice and snow. Good times!

Yo, this video definitely needs more views. My gramps used to own a super beetle, and he mostly took it out on summer rides. That little car is a trooper. I WISH I had one.

When steering a Beetle in deep snow, don't just turn as you would on a dry road. You need to work the wheel back and forth in the direction of your turn. It grips better and you can stay on the throttle.

I've been daily driving my 70 bug in the snow for years and it has always worked like a charm. My heater even works! It actually works a little too well cause I have to crack a window. I will agree that the idea of getting in an accident is horrifying though!

This is my personal experience. Back in 1983 - 1986, I was stationed in Germany and drove a 1966 VW bug, and I mean drove, loved that car. During winter, I drove it nonstop, even with several inches of school, never got stuck or lost control of the car. However, I drove it very slow in order to help the car stay on the road. Years later, in 2010, drove a 1974 super bettle in Colorado Springs, CO. The experience was very similar, but the accumulation of snow made it harder to drive, but it was still manageable. Enjoyed the video.

Nice video! I live in Sweden. I drive my -71 bug as my only daily driver. Fantastic car in the snow! And with the gas powered Eberspächer and working heaterchannels -20deg celsius is no problem. The engine is amazing, starts ALWAYS. No matter how cold it is.

My grandparents had a book that castigated Canada for not building vehicles for its own environment. Sweden had roughly the same population, but had a couple of vehicle manufacturers of their own built for northern conditions. My other grandfather was the local guru on VW's and liked that they were good in snow, but his main ride was usually an Impala. He lived in a popular area for snowmobiling.

Its true! Rear wheel drive, and rear engine is a winning combo, even when the front wheels are up in the air 😂😂 i did a winter once with a Zastava 750 (its practically a Fiat 500 with a rear engine and rear wheel drive), and its was fantastic, even when i thought that there is no way it goes through, it just did, without a sweat

My 73 Super Beetle took many, many trips between Fort Meade and Lexington KY. I drove this straight through only stopping for gas and food. This was before the interstate went through western Virginia and West Virginia. I only picked up the interstate at Charleston WV. The Beetle went through rain, snow, sleet, and some ice in the mountain on two lane highways. I'm sorry I traded it for a 79 Honda Civic. The Civic was a pile of problems. The only thing I changed on the VW was putting Radial tires to replace the Bias Plys. I also added fog lights to help with night driving. It was a great car. You were right about the heater. It burned my left foot but that was about all.

I had a 74 Super Beetle. Never got stuck. Drove thru 14 inches of snow with no problems.

Would be interesting to try the same test with the fiat 500 and the 2cv

I had three of these on my university years. They are not unstoppable in snow…no vehicle is. But, put a good set of snows on them and learn how to eas out the clutch in second gear and they could go through a lot of crappy snowy weather.

I had a "71 Superbeetle hardtop the same color as that. I worked at a ski resort at the time and the thing rocked in the snow!

An old VW in the snow, with good snow tires and a good driver, is a really wonderful experience. Understeer on slick surfaces can be an issue, though. But if you compare a 60's beetle with a front engine, rear drive american car of the same era with similar tires, the bug will definitely be a step ahead. Also, tall skinny tires are best for snow driving. And, VW heat works fine when it is all set up properly. Your bug would run much better in the cold if you had the large preheat hose connected to the air cleaner.

Fun and lovely little car. Would love to own one.

I’ve heard the same myth. Kept my ‘66 beetle on the road last winter until Christmas (decorated with lights and tree on top). Ended up getting snow, and needless to say it was fun, but sucked. Of course, that was most certainly due to the old summer tires that are low on tread, and the fact that the car sits quite low so the rear wheels have a ton of camber and don’t make best contact with the road.

Learnt to drive on a 1969 VW1500 Beetle, learnt to work on cars on a 1967 Delux Type II and did all the things you do in any car in my bug - yes, everything! The only thing I have not done is drive in the snow - I did drive my '67 bus on a sandy beach - and now I have seen what fun I missed out on. Love that Red '71 Cabriolet. Enjoy it, keep it living, they are getting harder and harder to find as time goes on. Thanks for sharing!

I can only remember two times my late father got stuck. One time when it had snowed almost 2 ft of snow. He parked where they stopped plowing and carried a half pig on his shoulder in knee deep snow the rest of the way home which was about a half mile or so. Second time when there was a very steep hill with approx 6-8in of wet snow. Fitted those old school snow grippers with 4 arms (think they were a norwegian invention) and took two tries to get opp. They are called knipetak in norwegian.

Imagine what it would do with deep lug snow tires and/ or lower air pressure!

The beetle is fitted for every single situation, hot dessert, no problem, no cooland, no boiling cooland, same for icy weather, no frozen cooland, a low and Light engine producing butueen 25 and 50 hp depending of the build year, it was so succes full, it realesed in 1944 and was produced until 2003, changing bairly

I had a 1969 VW van working on Newport Coast in Southern California El nino season rain driving the construction site with nothing but clay muck I drove All around The hills up and down that place passing all the guys with the big beautiful four-wheel drive Fords and I never got stuck anywhere, the positraction is awesome!!!! Great video

I had a day once when my partner's 4wd Jeep Cherokee couldn't get out of the neighborhood, but my 1966 Baja beetle did just fine.

We had a VW412LE Variant and that was pretty handy in snow. It got us from Devon to Manchester through the snows of the winter of 1981/2 which here in the UK was, to say the least "interesting". With temperatures that year going down to below minus 25C it was good to have an air-cooled engine too.

That Looks like so much fun. Thank you for sharing this vid. The heaters - if in good condition - actually work perfectly well. They might even burn your feet.

Love your Super!!! Thanks for 21'st century demonstration. . . . Back in about 1971, I could borrow my Dad's '65 VW Karmann Ghia (with gasoline heater!). We had loads of snowy fun in the high school parking lot. Back then, all cars were RWD, so the VW was even more amazing in snow. . . .I also had a '77 SAAB EMS that was great (unless you get forced into ditch by sliding pickup truck).

When I was a child and into my teens my parents owned a succession of air cooled VWs, mostly '67 beetles. They were good in the snow in general and great with snow tires, especially studded snows. The first snow storm of each winter we went to an open parking lot and "practiced" driving in the snow, great fun. I learned to drive and took my driver's test in one. Compared to cars from the big 3 available back then the bugs rocked in the snow. Yup, the heaters were marginal, but at least you got to where you needed to go.

My first car was a '65 Corvair, which had similarities to the beetle. Rear wheel drive, air cooled engine. Excellent in the snow as long as you didn't try to plow through deep, packed snow.

I never heard that. My parents owned one in the 70's. The engine mounted in the back puts the weight on rear-drive wheels ,so that surely helps with traction. City buses and coach type buses also have engines mounted at the very rear of the vehicles and they do very well in snow

Had a '63 and a '66. Put Vredestein Snow Classics on them, either one would go until the floorpan was dragging in the powder. The '63 was still 6 volt, and one February where it didn't even get up to freezing for 2 weeks, that bug was one of maybe 3 cars that would start in the morning. As reliable as a sundial and only slightly more complex. Fantastic cars.

Me standing on the rear bumper while my buddy drove past all the stuck BMW and Mercedes trying to go up to the ski resorts in Switzerland always stole the show! Great Memories !!😊

Cool video, and it brought back a lot of memories of our, um seven VW's we had when I was growing up. They were real popular in Colorado before Jeeps became dominant, and I still remember the ski trips we took, driving around other cars that were stuck. Put actual snow tires on them and they were like tractors. Having to crank it a few times after sitting for weeks is normal, as the gas in the line drains back and the gas in the carb evaporates. However, I usually don't touch the throttle until the oil light goes off! If the car has run with the last few days, I hit the throttle once to set the choke, turn the key, and it's running. If your heat doesn't work, it's because you let the system go, or your heater channels are rusted out. I have an unrestored 1970 Ghia, and drive it in the winter when there is no snow and minimal salt, and I'm nice and warm. Even the defrosters work, and I usually have a little defrost going to to eliminate the typical "warm feet, cold nose" effect 😉. I do remember my dad wiping the inside of the windshield on his Super though. PS: What do you mean unsafe? You have a whole spare tire and gas tank protecting you!! 😂😂

Back in the 1970s I had a Bug and a VW Squareback (Think Bug's cousin as a station wagon). One winter I had the Beetle's engine in the rear cargo area of the Squareback - so there were two engines over the rear drive wheels. And studded snow tires. An ice storm had shut down the streets of Knoxville, TN but I had so much traction that there was no road no matter how steep that I tried that I couldn't climb. I wound up leaving the Beetle engine in the Squareback for the rest of the winter.

I grew up in Boston in the '70s. Bugs were indeed good in the snow, and if they had snow tires, which most did in the winter, they would go through a foot of the stuff with relative ease. But the heaters were pretty weak when new, and as soon as the channels rusted even a little bit - which didn't take long, heat was pretty much nonexistent. The fix was to install a Stewart-Warner gas fired heater and undercoat the car with thick oil which gave you the best winter car you could get then.

One thing you missed about winter driving in the bug is that slush would drip off your boots and pile up around the bottom pivoted brake/clutch pedals. Once got stuck because that slush froze and I had to chisel the ice away before I could get moving. Oh and flat windows were best as you could reach inside and out to clear them; curved windows meant you had to stop!

I had a 66 karmin ghia. You put a set of studded tires on it and a full tank of gas up front and it was a tank in the snow. I remember plowing through 2 feet of snow driving from McCloud to Mt. Shasta City Calif. on Thanksgiving day, snow flowing over the hood the whole way. I used to go out just to play in the snow with it.

First beetle was a '70 (with gas heater, yay!)". Great snow car - never a probem with traction. Worst problem I had in winter was when the mountain highway I drove on wasn't plowed and you had to follow the wide tracks made by the semis, so the wheels on one side were fine but the other side would be in the mounds thrown up from the other track. Got into Type IIs after that and they were pretty much the same as far as handling, just had to keep the speed down. A gas heater is essential in the Type II - mine just had the basic heat and it was terrible. I well remember a winter night trip over the Hope-Princeton with my passenger and I scraping the inside of the windshield frequently. We could see our breath the entire trip, which shows how well the stock heater worked.

I've always wanted an old-school air-cooled... Ever since my Dad sold his bus (when I was like 3,). Great video guys!

I had 2 and they’re great in the snow. They’re also pretty good in the woods too.

We had a 1968 VW and during the blizzard of 77/78 we went anywhere we wanted to go.....we froze our butts off getting there but we got there!!!!!

During the blizzard of January, 1978, in Louisville, Kentucky, I owned a 1970 Volkswagen Fastback. I had snow tires and chains on it and I was able to go anywhere that I wanted. It was a blast being one of the VERY few vehicles on Interstate 64 and the Watterson Expressway!😄

Way back then, in northeast Ohio, I met a guy who owned a 'Baja Bug' with a higher ground clearance and a fabbed arrow-shaped front bumper with the bottom just below the ground clearance and about 6 inches tall. There were 4 sandbags in the back seat. That car would plow through l ight snow easily, but the dense, wet snow was somewhat challenging.

In the 70's and 80's I owned 4 Beetles and they were great. I live in Minnesota and we had a lot of snow. But I also had two sets of tires; one set for the summer and knobby snow tires for the winter. I don't ever remember getting stuck with my Volks when driving in the winter with good snow tires, I do remember actually pushing snow with the front of my Volks.

I had a 66 with a 1500 dual port, stock carb. Did fantastic in the snow. Had a pair of Firestone Town & Country snow tires too.

I owned a new 1968 VW and had two friends with Jeeps. We were not doing any rock crawling but muddy dirt roads, plowed fields and snow days I followed and lead the pack in my little VW-Bug. We often went camping in really remote USFS areas and back logging roads. The steeper the terrain the better it pulled to a point. We chased deer across pastures at 45 plus MPH. My 1974 Plymouth Duster slant six straight drive with radial tires went well in ten or eleven inches of snow with 300 pounds in the trunk. P.S. I drove a county salt truck.

It would be interesting to see this car in some deeper snow. Try it again if you get 6, 8, 10 inches. I remember hearing they did well in winter up to a point. When the snow was deep enough that the Bug was dragging its floor pan, it was game over.

I had two late sixties bugs in my early years and found they were great drift bashers during snowstorms , they have a smooth under side and toboggan quite well over them while full size cars were getting stuck trying to snowplow them , they would also off road quite good as well !

I drive a crown victoria all year in winter. Never been stuck or had any trouble getting up snowy/icy hills its front engine rear wheel drive layout is just great and has awesome weight distribution.