So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[BobHufford]

I take it those are the original owners in that second photo?

Yes. Nice folks that drove the Bus out from California (to Willard, Missouri) and parked it in the barn. It was last licensed in 1981. Ralph had an interesting history...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Flores

http://www.orwelltoday.com/bushpilotmccallumfloresklaben.shtml

I just happened to own a copy of the Life Magazine that told of his ordeal (the magazine had a VW Bus advertisement in it that I was after).

Ed Asner played him in the movie...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073108/

 

[Edward]

Why not American Bantam while we're at it?

View attachment 123512

That would be great. I can totally see that as a shell built over the underside of the recently revived Fiat 500 (also available now as an electric model). It's interesting how cars liked the new 500 and the Smart range have proven there is a market for those who prize aesthetics not wholly dictated by the wind tunnel.

Getting ready to sell off my '64 21-window deluxe sun-roof microbus that I bought from the original owners in 1996 (and have done nothing with in all those years). Hope to make a cool $90K profit on it. (yeah ... I don't get the inflated prices either).

Lovely bus - good luck with the sale. The split windscreen ones are big, big money; even the Type 2s, which I remember being cheap as chips in the eighties, are now going for quite a bit.

 

[scottyrocks]

That would be great. I can totally see that as a shell built over the underside of the recently revived Fiat 500 (also available now as an electric model). It's interesting how cars liked the new 500 and the Smart range have proven there is a market for those who prize aesthetics not wholly dictated by the wind tunnel.

There may be a market, but in the car-dense area I live in you can count Fiats on one hand (okay, maybe two), and Smarts are even rarer.

I was considering a Smart for my last couple of years of commuting, but I can't get around their short-comings (no pun intended). I was looking at Scion IQs, too.

 

[Zombie_61]

...At one point I thought of having hand towels embroidered with the VW logo and selling them as "defrosters" -- you could hang them from the grab-handle on the dash.

That was another problem with the air cooled VW "heating" system. The "defroster" was nothing more than another vent near the bottom corners of the windshield/windscreen, so the "heater/defroster" was a combined system--you couldn't use one without the other. In this part of the world, more often than not the "defroster" created more condensation and made the windshield fogging worse, especially on cold and rainy days, so my fellow Beetle enthusiasts and I always kept a small squeegee in the map pouch on the driver's door. Steering and shifting and squeegeeing simultaneously was often a bit of a juggling act, but we managed.

 

[scottyrocks]

That was another problem with the air cooled VW "heating" system. The "defroster" was nothing more than another vent near the bottom corners of the windshield/windscreen, so the "heater/defroster" was a combined system--you couldn't use one without the other. In this part of the world, more often than not the "defroster" created more condensation and made the windshield fogging worse, especially on cold and rainy days, so my fellow Beetle enthusiasts and I always kept a small squeegee in the map pouch on the driver's door. Steering and shifting and squeegeeing simultaneously was often a bit of a juggling act, but we managed.

If your car is as old as mine, there is no windshield defroster, so nothing to be concerned about, eh? haha

 

[GHT]

If your car is as old as mine, there is no windshield defroster, so nothing to be concerned about, eh? haha

Mine doesn't have a defroster/demister, to help demist you simply hand crank the windscreen open. It doesn't have multi speed wipers, intermittent wipe or self parking wipers. To operate them you have to, whilst driving, turn the left hand wiper up to the upright position, then turn the right hand wiper slowly until the gear engages and away they go. No windscreen washers of course.
In the picture below you can see the windscreen hand crank in the centre of the dashboard. The black knobs either side of it are the windscreen wiper controls.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That was another problem with the air cooled VW "heating" system. The "defroster" was nothing more than another vent near the bottom corners of the windshield/windscreen, so the "heater/defroster" was a combined system--you couldn't use one without the other. In this part of the world, more often than not the "defroster" created more condensation and made the windshield fogging worse, especially on cold and rainy days, so my fellow Beetle enthusiasts and I always kept a small squeegee in the map pouch on the driver's door. Steering and shifting and squeegeeing simultaneously was often a bit of a juggling act, but we managed.

Mine had a defroster that didn't work -- I guess the hoses had rotted out and I never got around to replacing them. The alternative technique was to spit on the windshield -- which wasn't hard to do since it was about ten inches from your face -- and rub it around, the same principle as keeping a diving mask from fogging up, and it worked about as well.

 

[scottyrocks]

Mine doesn't have a defroster/demister, to help demist you simply hand crank the windscreen open. It doesn't have multi speed wipers, intermittent wipe or self parking wipers. To operate them you have to, whilst driving, turn the left hand wiper up to the upright position, then turn the right hand wiper slowly until the gear engages and away they go. No windscreen washers of course.
In the picture below you can see the windscreen hand crank in the centre of the dashboard. The black knobs either side of it are the windscreen wiper controls.
View attachment 123563

Somewhat similar to an early '60s bug. At least mine, anyway. haha

No crank out windscreen, although one can buy a 'safari kit' from a couple of vendors, one in particular that I would patronize if I was the market for such a thing.

My wipers don't self-park, although they are supposed to. I'll get around to fixing that one day. But in the mean time, I've become good at shutting them off so they rest at their lowest point. And when I miss, I just try it again.

My windshield washer is as good as not having one. Early VWs' washers were operated by pressure from the spare tire. Horrid system. I've been saying I'm going to put in a small 6v pump motor but so far I haven't.

 

[scottyrocks]

Mine had a defroster that didn't work -- I guess the hoses had rotted out and I never got around to replacing them. The alternative technique was to spit on the windshield -- which wasn't hard to do since it was about ten inches from your face -- and rub it around, the same principle as keeping a diving mask from fogging up, and it worked about as well.

I keep a clean white towel on the back seat for windshield defogging. I don't drive it in the snow (due to road salt) so defrosting is a moot point.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd forgotten all about that tire-pressure windshield washer deal. It might not have been the most effective thing ever invented, but it's got to be one of the most ingenious. That's one of the things I loved about my Beetle -- it was a triumph of ingenuity over engineering.

Among the options available for my Plodge when it was new was a windshield-washer system powered off the engine vacuum. Considering how well the vacuum wipers work, I'm glad I don't have this particular option on mine.

 

[tonyb]

I recall little cloth pouches of Bull Durham cigarette rolling tobacco hanging from rearview mirror stems, where it was ready for use on foggy windshields. I don’t know that it was quite so special a way of addressing the task as some made it out to be, but at the very least it was kinda absorbent.

 

[GHT]

Among the options available for my Plodge when it was new was a windshield-washer system powered off the engine vacuum. Considering how well the vacuum wipers work, I'm glad I don't have this particular option on mine.

Ford used this system on their European cars, I remember the Ford that one of our neighbour's had, back in the 50's. One minute the wipers would be going so slow it was a waste of time having them. Then, change gear and the vacuum immediately builds up and the wipers go like they are on amphetamines.

 

[tonyb]

Ford used this system on their European cars, I remember the Ford that one of our neighbour's had, back in the 50's. One minute the wipers would be going so slow it was a waste of time having them. Then, change gear and the vacuum immediately builds up and the wipers go like they are on amphetamines.

Oh yeah, I have many unfond memories of vacuum wipers. Early-‘50s Ford trucks, pedal to the metal on long uphills in downpours with the wipers holding still until you get to the top of the hill and back off the throttle and then the wipers go like, as you put it, they’re on amphetamines — the bathtub variety, with maybe a little rat poison mixed in.

 

[Zombie_61]

If your car is as old as mine, there is no windshield defroster, so nothing to be concerned about, eh? haha

I've owned a '61, a '63, and a '66, and they all had the "defroster" vents. For the '66 model they added one under the center of the windshield, and it actually helped a little.

...Early VWs' washers were operated by pressure from the spare tire. Horrid system...

That actually worked pretty well if you remembered to keep your spare tire overinflated. On the other hand, if you used those washers too often you'd make your underinflated spare tire unusable.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Finding that a book (or anything else for that matter) that you're looking for appears to be exceedingly rare even though you wouldn't think that it is because it only came out a few years ago. And you know that it's rare because it doesn't even turn up on eBay!

 

[OldStrummer]

View attachment 123506

I would so do that!

 

[OldStrummer]

My latest annoyance: the growing preponderance of web sites that incorporate "sliders." You know, those "pop-down" menus, advertisements, sitemaps, etc. that, just as you're beginning to read the content, obscure the exact spot your eyes are focused on.

I'd post an example, but I tend to avoid sites that use them. I'm sort of a "one and done" kind of guy.

 

[Edward]

There may be a market, but in the car-dense area I live in you can count Fiats on one hand (okay, maybe two), and Smarts are even rarer.

I was considering a Smart for my last couple of years of commuting, but I can't get around their short-comings (no pun intended). I was looking at Scion IQs, too.

They might be a harder sell in the US; I think they're all pretty much designed as European city-cars. It'll be interesting to see when and how this sort of thing does break big in the US; I get the impression US folks are much more car dependent, but on the other hand there's little demand for alternative fuel over there because petrol has always been so cheap. (Hence why so many classic US cars are big machines with V8 engines, whereas smaller stuff ruled the day in the UK, where a car doing 30mpg typically cost the same to run, all other things being equal, as one in the US that averaged 10mpg).

 

[OldStrummer]

My smart is 100% electric.

I understand that Mercedes-Benz has decided to sell only electric smarts in the USA as of 2018. Probably based on the horrid performance of the 3-cylinder "lawnmower" engine (my term, not theirs).

I understand the limitations of a small two-seater such as this. I work 6 miles from one job and two miles from another. The electric's performance is actually pretty peppy up to about 30-40 mph. For me, it's a great runabout car. I use it more than my ICE (internal combustion engine) Mercedes, which I keep for longer trips.

 

[scottyrocks]

I had been researching and looking at IC Smarts. I have no desire for an electric.

That being said, part of my commute is on the open highway (motorway) and 40 mph isn't going to cut it around here. haha

I also want a manual transmission (any car is less fun without one), which eliminated the IQ as it isn't offered with one, at least in the U.S.

The IQ is also about 20 inches longer than a Smart. Two of my issues where I work are congestion and what is called 'Alternate Side' parking. Basically, it's an excuse for city-folk to throw garbage in the street because it'll be cleaned up by the special street cleaning trucks of the Department of Sanitation. Cars may not park on one side of the street or the other two days a week so the trucks can do their job.

Many of the blocks I park on have more than a few less-than-a-normal-car-length curbs in between driveways, and a Smart would fit in most of them. An IQ will not (I measured).

Maybe I actually need to go drive a Smart to see if it's anything I can live with. Then the hard part will be finding a good used one.