I’ve begun to notice a fair number of old (Mark I) Beetles on the road. The original ones. Last sold here (new) in the late ’70s. Not at car shows (or on their way to/from one). But in traffic, being used as everyday drivers. My survey is far from scientific, but my eyes are telling me that there are more and more people who are turning their backs on federally-approved, late model “government mandated” cars with all their costs and complexities and returning to cars that (mostly) did what the people who bought them (as opposed to the government) wanted them to.
The Mark I Bug is such a car. A simple car – but a brilliantly engineered one.
It weighs less than 2,000 pounds, in part because it does not have a separate frame onto which body panels are bolted (the common practice when it was designed back in the 1930s and for decades afterward). But also because when it was conceived, the designers did not have to add heavy structural elements (or air bags) in order to meet government “safety” requirements. There is nothing wrong with “safety,” of course. But back then, it was not the government’s role to define it – or prioritize it. If a buyer thought the Beetle insubstantial, he was free to choose a more substantial (if less economical) alternative. But the buyer who liked the idea of superior fuel economy – a Bug can get 30 MPG, despite 1930s’-era technology – even if it meant he might fare less well in an accident, was free to judge the relative risks vs. the advantages and decide for himself.
If you can find a decent one, buy it. To read the rest of the article, click here.