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Topic: Is this a 71 SUper Beetle??  (Read 7384 times)

Offline 71SuperBee

  • Cohutta,ga
  • Joined: Mar 2005
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Is this a 71 SUper Beetle??

« on: March 26, 2005, 04:04:39 PM »
Hey there everyone,

     I am new to this forum. I live in cohutta,ga and when bug a puluza comes I want to take a vacation day and come to it.. anyway Check out this pic and tell me what this looks like...  and how much is it to put the car in the show lol  roflmao..... :roll:

Offline vwherb

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« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2005, 08:52:14 PM »
If you pre-register, the fee will be $15. If you decide to just pay the day of the show, it will be $20.

As for your picture, it looks like there might be a bit of rust in her .........but................IT'S A VOLKSWAGEN!!!!! :lol:  :lol:  They are supposed to have a little bit of until she gets a face lift.

Hope you can make it to the show!!

Offline Russ

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« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2005, 09:07:47 PM »
Split this topic off DieselPower's.

By the way, it looks like you've stolen Zen's avatar...

Offline Zen

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« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2005, 11:38:33 PM »
Quote from: "Russ"
Split this topic off DieselPower's.

By the way, it looks like you've stolen Zen's avatar...


Don't worry Russ . . . Homer isn't the jealous type.  He's flattered someone (besides me) wants to use his face for an avatar!   8)

71SuperBee, don't worry if your car isn't 100% show ready . . . You should see the 74 Super Beetle SunBug that my grandson won "roughest V-Dub running" with at BP-4! . . . and you should see, as Paul Harvey would say, "The REST of the story" that goes with that avatar!   :lol:

Offline 71SuperBee

  • Cohutta,ga
  • Joined: Mar 2005
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« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2005, 06:50:33 AM »
Zen,

  I would love to have my super beetle as my avitar but I can't get the size just right. When i do less than 80 by 80 I can't see it ....    8)

  Anyway I would love to be in the show but unfornately I can only make it one day.. As for I work the weekend shift. This sucks.... :cry:


I was thinkin Sunday would be a great day for me to come. Do I have to enter sat or sun??? Heck I am sure that I might get someone that can tell me what to do with her.. Anyway I know that she has some rust but it isn't a lot and it isn't ran through. I was just wanderin if in fact this was a super beetle thanks everyone...         :P

         Aaron

Offline Zen

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« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2005, 08:28:52 AM »
Aaron,

Email me a picture of your Super Beetle and I'll resize it for you to use as an Avatar.

As for your car, it IS a Super Beetle.  What exactly is a Super Beetle?

From the door post back, a Beetle and Super Beetle are the same car.  The BIG difference is the front suspension.  Beetles, from the first prototypes back in the 1930s until the last one rolled of a Mexican assembly line in July 2003, had a twin torsion tube front suspension.  In an attempt to make the Beetle drive and handle like a "modern" car, VW re-designed the front suspension, dropping the torsion bars and replacing them with a McPhearson Strut setup.  All of the metalwork of the car had to be redesigned to go along with the struts.  The torsion bar front beam had always bolted to the chassis, but the Super's struts were mounted into the redesigned fender wells.

The new design was released to the world in 1971 as the 1302 . . . but here in the states it was called the "Super Beetle."  Beetles and Super Beetles were both produced and sold along side each other from '71 to '75.  The 71 and 72 Supers shared the same flat windshield and dash with the Beetle, but 73 and up dash and windshield of the Super was redesigned to once again try to modernize the car that had, by that time, been for about 35 years without a major change in appearance.

Due to declining sales, the last Super Beetles sedans were produced in 1975.  However the Beetle Convertible was dropped from the lineup when the Super's came out.  All 71-79 (actually the last handfull were built in 1980) convertibles were Supers.

There are some Beetle enthusiast that will pretty much dis-own you if you drive a Super.  Don't let that stop you . . . most of those folks will also dis-own you if you drive ANY Beetle built after 1967.

Super's are notorious for front end problems.  The front suspension is "weak" compaired to the rugged design of the Beetle.  But, keep in mind that the Beetle suspension was designed for pre-WWII German roads.  Roads in the US today are (at least SOMETIMES) are a little better than the German roads of the mid-30s.  If you get everything right on a Super's front end, it'll handle as good, if not better than most small to mid-sized cars today . . . but if anything, and I do mean ANYTHING is loose, worn, or mis-adjusted, a Super will shake and shimmy like mad between 45 and 55 MPH.  The good news is there isn't that much up there.  Crawl under it and take a good look at the suspension . . . pretty simple design, isn't it?   It isn't hard to work on, and isn't "that" expensive to fix if EVERYTHING is bad.

How do you tell if you have a Super?

The Super has a coil spring with a strut inside.  The strut fastens into the inner fender well at the top.  A Beetle has a twin torsion beam front suspension that bolts to the front of the frame head.

The Beetle spare tire stands up (leaning back slightly) in the front of the trunk.  The Super's spare is tucked away flat in the bottom of the MUCH larger trunk.  

A Beetle's front fenders and apron end pretty much flat at the bottom.  A Super's front fenders and apron kind of roll back up under the car slightly (it's hard to describe unless you see the two side by side . . . then it's obvious).

The front apron of Beetle is solid.  The front apron of a Super sold in the US had a row of louvers across the bottom (like yours).  This isn't 100% reliable though.  Some Supers sold in markets other than the US didn't have louvers and replacement aprons without the louvers are avalible.

Any Beetle with a curved windshield is a Super . . . but not all Supers have curved windshields.

Hope this helps!

 8)

Offline Ret.Bugtech

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« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2005, 12:32:00 PM »
I think I remember someone in VW school told me that louvers in front of  the S.B. was a U.S. thing due to the fact we could not live without A/C. Delinair(?) Corp. in Texas made most of the A/C units for the U.S. market  VWs . There was one other company , but I don`t remember the name. These companys thought that the perfect place to install the A/C condenser would be up front behind the front apron to get more fresh air. VWAG agreed. The Std. bug had their two piece condensers mounted on both sides of the transmission where they could be clobbered by everthing laying in the road and they were. Your arms looked like sliced ham if you had to do any maints. under there. VWAG never installed A/C (factory air) on the Bug. This was done at the P.O.E. or at the dealership. This is the reason most of the installations looked like a bunch of Blacksmiths had done the job with all the cutting ,beating and banging they had to do to get the A/C unit in

Offline Anthony

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« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2005, 01:19:32 PM »
I heard the same story on the louvers being for the A/C condensor.  Sure beats the idea of stuffing it in front of the front beam like on the Ghia!

As to the Super's suspension and front end, don't forget VW was scrabbling to meet new US frontal crash standards by adding more front crumple zone and moving the windshield and A-pillars farther away from the driver's face.  Sort of a stop-gap measure until the Rabbit was ready.

Offline Ret.Bugtech

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« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2005, 01:25:53 PM »
This also is very true. even the spare tire played a part in the safety game. Where is the condenser on Juan ? :-k

Offline 71SuperBee

  • Cohutta,ga
  • Joined: Mar 2005
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« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2005, 01:44:24 PM »
Hey Zen,

   I have found out about the front ends. I have replaced new tie rod and ends, especially the center tie rod it was the worse. I also have replaced the front brakes and bearings and the noise that I was hearing with a roar when I turn is now gone away. I would only hear it if I turned kinda hard. As far as getting disowned then I guess I will just have to be that castaway. I will not part with my Super Bee. IT is the first one I have ever owned and I have wanted one since I was 16. I just baught this car about 2 months ago. And now have new tires, brakes,carb,ignitor,bearings and center  tie rod and tie rod ends... THanks for all of your input. PS zen I mailed that pic to ya pal thanks

          Aaron

65dunebuggy

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« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2006, 06:28:33 PM »
Superbee if Zen doesn't get it I will try.Send it to my email address. John

65dunebuggy

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« Reply #11 on: March 18, 2006, 07:26:23 PM »
Superbee are you talking as in Dodge superbee?

65dunebuggy

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« Reply #12 on: March 18, 2006, 07:48:52 PM »
Gosh guy's some of ya'll know alot about these vw's.Ya'll must read alot I'm impressed really.I don't think I have ever seen an airconditioner unit on a beetle.I had a 71 super beetle long time ago in high school.Never did know what those louvers were in the front.I took out the spare tire and cleaned the spare tire (well).Then I drilled a bigger hole in the bottom of it so the water would drain when I put my two cases of beer in.Then slid the cover back over it and woala,instant cooler. People would alway's ask me what was dripping out of my car  :lol:

Offline 71SuperBee

  • Cohutta,ga
  • Joined: Mar 2005
  • Posts: 351

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« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2006, 07:51:39 PM »
no i have a 71 super beetle man, i like the ideal of a cooler, that is smart   :D

65dunebuggy

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« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2006, 08:21:51 PM »
See everyone uses abreviations for things and I can't tell what they have abreviated lol.Ok got you now.You have to remember my age lol.Well back in those day's alot of let's say group meetings on the road.Of coarse there weren't many police either. People would actually go down the road with a drink between their legs.Yes it was dangerous and foolish but we are talking early seventies here.I remember a good place to meet and bs were subdivision turnarounds.The police actually watched us drink and say guy's don't throw your can's down or we will have to get you for littering.Dui's were never mentioned lol.Times have changed. :oops:

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