Ramon’s weblog

Since a long time I have been interested in the Volkswagen Beetle. I have wondered why I was so fond of this car. I never had one, my parents never had a Volkswagen and nobody in my direct neighborhood did. Perhaps it’s due to the Herbie movies, but the main reason is probably that it’s one of the most beautiful cars ever designed and build. A car that was affordable, practical, robust and designed by Porsche. Ferdinand Porsche was voted the best car designer of the last century. The Beetle was also voted fourth by the public in the Car of the Century competition.

Before I had my first car I already liked Volkswagens, but as a student I had no money left for a car. I didn’t need a car really, but when I started working I wanted a Volkswagen as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the Beetle isn’t a car which should be used to drive 45.000 kilometers per year, so a Volkswagen Polo was ordered. I had the car for more than three years and during that time I started looking for an old Volkswagen.

At first I thought that all Beetles were almost the same, but If you take a closer look there are a lot of different types. At first a Beetle cabriolet from 1973 was my dream car. I liked the idea to have a car, which was exactly my age. After a lot of reading I wanted a pre-1967 car, because they are more appealing to me. I prefer the old style headlights, so it should become a cabriolet from around 1966. I started looking and after a few months I found one just around the corner. It was the car of my dreams. A red 1966 USA cabriolet with a nice white hood. Unfortunately the car was in pretty bad shape and it would cost a lot of time and money to restore the car, so I didn’t bought the car. The search continued and after scanning a lot of advertisements I found a completely different model that seemed interesting. It was a 1951 export ragtop Beetle, which was in good shape. I immediately called the owner to make an appointment to take a look at the car. It was love at first sight and I forgot all about a cabriolet. I definitely wanted a split rear window Beetle and this one had a ragtop as a bonus. The car was an original Dutch Beetle and looked perfect. Bodywork, engine and interior were all in fantastic shape. At July 17, 1999 I finally could get the car and drive it back home.

Since the first prototypes of Concept 1 (now known as the New Beetle), I really liked the car and I hoped that I could get one. Fortunately, the car was within budget, so I could order a New Beetle with a lot of features. Because my old Volkswagen is black with a beige interior I ordered a black New Beetle with a beige interior as well. At first sight it looks a lot like the old one, but it’s concept is quite different. The old one was a very simple car, which made it so appealing. The new one is much more luxurious with air-conditioning, cruise control, power windows, alloy wheels, CD-changer, ABS/ESP, etc… Another big difference is the position of the driver. In the old Beetle you’re close to the windshield, but in the New Beetle the windshield is almost one meter in front of you, which gives the driver the illusion of driving a big car. Of course, the biggest difference is the engine and its position. The old one has a four cylinder air-cooled boxer engine in the back, where the New Beetle has a diesel engine in the front.

In Janury 2004 the New Beetle had driven for over 150.000 kilometers and was replaced by a Mazda 6 wagon.