Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/18
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At 12:43 AM 5/18/2001 -0400, Austin Franklin wrote:
>
>My very first car was a black VW bug that I bought for $50. The signal
>lights were little flippers just behind the doors...that flipped up when you
>signaled. I don't believe it had a gas gauge, I remember a little lever
>that you flipped when you ran out of gas, that gave you two more gallons or
>something like that...
Ah! One of the last of the "true" VW's, before the opted for the
shorter-lived inclined-valve 40hp engine in '60 (though the rugged 36hp
engine remained available in Europe into the '70's in some countries). The
semaphore turn signals were really neat -- in GI German, these were
"machts-nichts stix" ("makes no difference sticks") while, to the US, they
were "idiot sticks". The lack of a gas gauge was "cured" in 1960, but the
reserve tank handle and valve lingered on through the '62 US model year.
(I have around 250,000 miles in a '57 oval and a '60 German 36-horsie and
KNOW that jerking when the main tank runs dry. Got trapped once just off
Interstate 81 in Tennessee a decade back -- the highway exit sign assured
me there was gas at the exit but, alas!, it was seven miles away, over back
country roads. I made it, JUST barely.)
The owner's manuals on these pre-'60 VW's stated quite baldly that
"gasoline-benzol blends were recommended" -- meaning, "Hey, guys! Don't
run the car on brandy or vodka!"
Damn! It's time for me to pick up another Beetle! A rag-top, preferably
- -- love that huge, fabric sun roof.
Marc
msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!