Friday, January 03, 2025

A great car ad from the land of long ago



Great advert for a great car. No frills transportation at its best. Look up "four wheels and an engine" and this is what you will find. Amenities? Power... nothing (unless you count the headlights, turn signals and the AM radio). Not even power breaks or steering. You got a work out driving those things. You felt every bump in the road and heard all the noise. The engine gave you 50-60hp depending on the year and model. Yes, you could drive them on the highway. It just might take a minute to get up to normal speed. The heater sucked. AC? That's what the hand crank on the door was for.

But they ran, and they ran surprisingly well. They were generally more reliable than most other cars of that era. In a time when people often swapped cars every few years, these could easily last 100k miles if you took care of them. And when things did go wrong, they were some of the easiest vehicles to repair. The VW Beetle (or Analog as I like to call them) were one of the most mass produced vehicles in history. The German version of the Ford Model T, with roughly the same level of comfort and engineering. And they were also highly affordable. You could pick one up in the early 70s for ~$2,000.  In an era characterized by the famous gas guzzling land yachts from Detroit, these gave you an almost unheard of ~30mpg on the highway and low to mid 20s in town. 

Even today, there are plenty still around and running. Many can be had for under $20,000. All you need is a key, the ability to drive an old school manual (4 on the floor), and a basic level of mechanical skills with a good tool set and a few spare parts. Some people still use them as daily drivers.

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