I owned a '72 for years. Lived in Colorado, worked in the foothills around Pikes Peak. Had to go west higher up to reach work. Drove from Colorado Springs....for snow, put it in low, 2 gear....never missed a shift, and passed lots of 4x4s along the side of the road. Many times I'd drink my coffee, while my little 🐞 made the climb. Good times....
Brother-in-law and a bunch of his friends had 4x4's except one had a beetle, the beetle went further then came back to help them get unstuck in the mud.
@@chriscohlmeyer4735 Exactly. I had the same type experience while living in Colorado. I work in the foothills of the Rockies, Ute Pass, and during the winter the pass would be littered with 4x4s stuck or off the road, while my little Orange Bug and I NEVER got stuck, or went into a ditch. I just put it in 2nd gear and off we went...never missed a shift either. 🍊🐞
When I got pulled over doing 70 in a 55 the cop asked me why I was going so fast at midnight. I told him I just got off work and the car had no damn heat, I was rushing home to my warm house! He smiled and let me go!
I had a VW bug, lived in Colorado and had three passes to go over to get home every week end to visit my parents and care for my horses…never needed chains, never need snow tires, never got stuck. The best car ever. My husband and I then bought one in 1968 from Germany shipped it home and now 2024 we still have it.
I had the gas heater option in my 65. The heater was rescued from a neighbors beetle that was parked in the yard and used as a chicken coop. It was toasty warm, but had an exhaust leak in the cab, the price to pay to stay warm in Idaho.
My '72 had the undercarriage rotted out so no heat from the exhaust would make it to the front. I tried everything to make it work. Ended up using a cigarette lighter powered rear window defogger mounted on the dash to melt the ice from the windshield.
Shirley here, I had a 74 beetle and on bad snow days I was the only one who made it to work . I am in my 70's kniw and had 5 beetles energy sense they came back out in the 90's right now I have a 2018 dunes black convertible. They want to buy it from me they said they would hive me top $ for it, no way I will be buried in this car.
@@qwertykevin1 that it's reliable Edit: Or at the very least they're *trying* to tell me it's reliable. There are obviously still car ads that market actual features of the car, but there are still a lot of ads that amount to just the car driving down an empty european road. All I learn from that is that the car works as normal on roads and that there are some beautiful roads in europe. What I want from an ad is why I should buy *their* car over others. For instance, this ad here markets the car as what the snowplow driver drives to work so that he can clear the roads for all the lesser cars. Now I'm not going to say that this ad is accurate in that regard, but at least they're telling me what they think makes this car different from every other car.
Housemate a long time ago was a VW fanatic, restored them as a hobby / side gig. We all lived in a ski bum cabin in the Colorado woods. I'd catch a ride to work with him in his old Bug. He would drive that thing like a snowmobile, bouncing along the barely-plowed dirt roads, taking shortcuts through the sawmill yard ... this was at the time that Subarus were the new thing that everyone had to have. He explained that the Bugs had the perfect power to weight ratio, and that this gave them great traction in the snow. Only thing bad was that the heater was useless, so we were always bundled up in ski gear for the ride !
My '64 will cook you. Only need to turn the knob 2 turns. Owners manual says to Crack open a vent window as the car is almost air tight. Pre '63 had a different design. The fresh air heater was the new design.
Thank you for the response. How a car designed in the 1930's could be so different but near perfect is amazing. German engineers were at a different level. @@brianchisnell1548
The weight of the engine on the rear driven wheels meant it had excellent traction, as long as you had your foot in it. This feature also helped the Porsche 911 in hill climb events
When i was 16 i ran 5 paper routes with a Volkswagen a 74 super beetle rain sleet or snow i delivered those papers ! Very reliable car in tge winter put a set of studded snow tires on the back and that Volkswagen would go just about anywhere ! Never got stuck had some pretty good snows back then in Tennessee back in the 70s
My parents used Beetles for delivery vehicles in Saskatchewan Canada, from the early 60s through the 70s. They would let us teenagers use them when available. 4 or 5 of us in a bug in Canadian winters and we were unstoppable. If we got high centered on a snow drift everyone would get out and push us free. Most of them had auxiliary gas heaters which would keep you toasty if they worked. Sometimes they didn’t, but that just meant the girls had to cuddle up closer to keep warm. Great times!
Love it, had a 1965. Had a fairly new job in Atlanta when a rare heavy sleet storm pretty much kept everybody home from work. Drove in with not a slip and was at my desk early when the sort of picky boss poked his head in and said Bless your heart. Replied, I had to come in I drive a VW!
Another great memory, brought to me by my little 🐞👍. Still living in Colorado.... The light turns 🚦Red. I open my door to scrape ice off the windshield. As I scraping, I look to my left, and there were 3 more 🐞🐞🐞s, doing the same thing. We all laughed....finished scraping and off we drove. 🐞🐞🐞🐞
I have actually driven in those conditions, years back, for about 90 miles in my old 67 bug, and passed many people stuck on I-44, though I admit not very toasty inside.
Yes! In 1969 broke trail most every winter morning as I drove my VW bug to the hospital to start my 6:30 am shift. The road was not plowed. The heater was the worst! I had to keep an ice scraper on the seat next to me to keep the inside of the windshield clear of frost!...all the way.
I remember this from when i was a kid. Great commercial. Those cars were great in snow. I noticed they didn't mention how cold he was by the time he got to work. Those old beetles had the worst heaters of any car from that era.
I remember the heat working really well in my father's '69 Type 3 Squareback, but that might have been because the back seat (with its own vents) got the heat a bit before it reached the front. The little air cooled engine did heat up fast, though.
My father once started his Beetle on a winter morning and suddenly had a snowstorm in the cabin. Somehow the wind had pushed the snow into the vents (I really don't know how...)
Yup, to get from home to uni first thing Monday morning the autobahn used to have one on lane cleared, so all the BMK and Mercedes were in that lane with the lorries. Whilst the beetles were running at their top speed up the mountains at40 mph
I’ve had a few busses over the years. The heaters work great if you have them working properly. Sometimes the heat exchangers get rusted and have to be replaces, or the cables aren’t hooked up.
I had a 62 Bug ragtop that I wish I still had. 6 volts and it never failed to start on cold winter days and it handled snow like a champ. didn't do so well in Virginia mud, however.
I remember that ad but also remember those VW "bugs" floating sideways down the streets in Los Angeles whenever it rained a lot. They were one of the few cars that actually floated which made it hard for them to maneuver in high water...!
My first car was a 1956 VW with a sun roof. It would go anywhere in the winter with chains. If you got stuck pull out the choke a little bit and get out and push. I had cruise control- a brick on the gas pedal. You could open the sunroof ,,stand on the seat with your head out the roof and drive it with the choke pulled out a bit. Driving through the Rocky Mountains was like rowing a boat. Oh those teenage years.
My sister had a '74 Super Beetle and I recall making a trip in a big snowfall one weekend morning and the Bug did make its way well. We also did a lot of window scraping from the inside because it dinna get very warm. Like their older commercials used to offer, "Nobody's Perfect."
I had a 60’s vintage Volkswagen Beetle for years, absolutely the best in the snow. I don’t recall ever having to put chains on it, and I lived in an area where there was snow on the ground 4-5 months out of the year. Loved that little car.
Engine weight over the driving wheels, and since the light end always wants to swop, compared to a front engine car it's easier to steer going forwards than sliding backwards. We always got through with a VW bug and I know a retired highway supt. who did indeed drive a VW bug to work through every storm here in central NY.
My dad bought a `68, used, back in the mid 70s. One day on the way to church some component in the steering broke, and we went off the road. That's about all I remember about that car. But to this day I still keep thinking I'd love to have either a Beetle or a Squareback.
The best car for snow that I ever owned what is my 1968 Volkswagen with the bus engine! We put four kids in the car and go out in the blizzards, we could pick the car up and carry it out of any problem we had! Couldn't do that with a 68 Pontiac could I?!
My first three vehicle s were VW aircooled. Two Bugs and a 67 bus. yes, theywere good in the snow, but theyhad their limits. Light in the front made steering very sketchy so you still had to take it easy. Low power and weight over the drive wheels was the key. The Heater - or - lack thereof: The heater boxes were pitiful, in that the little door flaps that you opened with a doorknob always rusted shut - or partially shut. The simple solution was a refridgerator spring from the hardware store that was sufficiently strong enough to open and shut the damned things reliably. They produced all the heat and air flow needed if the doors worked properly. Especially important in the Buses. Also, in the buses, I removed the thin factory insulation on the long heater tube that ran forward from the engine, and replaced it with a much thicker insulation. That thing cooked me out in winter.
When VW was reliable,not overengineered li,e they are now with lots of plastic bits in the engines which fail disastrously,unlike the simple tried& tested aircooled opposed twin engines,which are still running& are repaiable❤❤
I owned a '71 while in college. Eventually sold it to my dad who drove it for years. Always thought that thing would climb trees if I needed it to. Wonderful cars.
I'm on vacation in Bavaria in my VW van of 1990. Came 2 weeks ago and to my big surprise saw 4 of the bugs in super condition. Aĺlways makes me so nostalgic as I learned driving in one!
I had a '65. It was pretty good in the snow, but I learned early on to choose a lower gear and keep the RPMs up so that there would be heat blowing out the vents. 💙 T.E.N.
Yeah,a Bug was great in the snow and on trails, but the heater and defroster were shit!! Went to buy one in Anchorage in 1984 with a gasoline heater that plumbed directly from the gas tank, and was mounted on the floor behind the drivers seat. Looked like a real dangerous recipe for being burned alive in an accident!!
I miss my super beetle (74) ❤. Juice never failed me in rain, sleet or snow in Colorado. In 1994 I drove highway 93 between Golden and the Flats and in winter, would pass these SUVs that slid off the road and I just chugged by. One day during a blizzard, getting ready to go home my door handle came off so I had to hang into the door to keep it closed. THEN, the clutch failed so 2nd gear all the way down. Finally midway through Golden, my headlights started to dim but we kept going. I pulled into my driveway and it just died. Called the shop, they towed it in and fixed everything like new. In Ohio during another snow storm, on the freeway going home, about every mile the fuel line would freeze up so I had to pull over for a few minutes. No AC, heat only when you were moving and I wasn’t getting any younger 😂😂😂. Had my bug for 17 years and sold it for more than I had paid, and cried my eyes out. A guy and his son bought it so the son could learn how to work on them. I still miss that car after over 20 years. I’d get another in a heartbeat if I could.
I had one of these back in the 70s, it was a 1967 Beetle 1.3 petrol, never got stuck in the snow or ice, always started first time regardless of weather conditions, great car, Oh how I miss it, and still think about it to this day.
Don't know how but TV Guide once rated this as the 4th best commercial ever. I say it can't hold a candle to Hai Karate aftershave or the most interesting man in the world.
I learned to drive stick on one of these. My dad drove them as his winter car…put the Merc away for the winter…I drove them spring summer fall. There were three in total and yes…they were great in snow. Put it in second gear, eas out the clutch and away you go.
A terrible car design! A real death trap, especially in winter conditions with its rear engine and pendulum axels! Very prone to skidding. And also useless heathing! The worst winter car there is!
If you have never owned a VW, air cooled, you have missed out on a very unique experience. Find the book "Small Wonder", probably in a half price book store, the whole history of the air cooled VW, a very interesting read. Henry Ford was offered the complete VW Company after WWII, he turned it down.
Lean Productions I' m not sure if it was bernbach who made this? I know there was a german version of this commercial too! I 'm not sure which was first, the german ad or the american ad? Was it made by Bernbach for the american market and then aired in Volkswagen's home market too? Or was it initially a german ad for the german market, which was later translated to english, and aired in America too?
I had a few bugs. Did well in snow. However, it didn’t mention having to scrape the frost off the inside of the window b/c the defroster was horrid and, the roaring gasoline heater that you had to install (in Alaska anyway) to actually get any heat… hehehe. Good times, good times.
I learned to drive in a VW. My dad said “if you’re going to drive, then learn to drive a car. Anyone can steer a car, but not many can drive a car”. Stick shift all the way baby…..
I had several VW buses while living in snow country. As long as the snow was not pushed up by the front bumper, but could go over it, I was good to go.
So this is how that fairy tale got started.....they high center easy and once your stuck there is no cooling to the motor fenders fill up with snow....
Old VW's go in the snow but they won't turn. No weight in the front trunk so tires act like skis on a snowmobile. When you turn the wheel you have to wait for the tires to build up a pile of snow big enough for the tire to bank off the snow in order to turn.
I owned a '72 for years.
Lived in Colorado, worked in the foothills around Pikes Peak.
Had to go west higher up to reach work. Drove from Colorado Springs....for snow, put it in low, 2 gear....never missed a shift, and passed lots of 4x4s along the side of the road.
Many times I'd drink my coffee, while my little 🐞 made the climb.
Good times....
beautiful man beautiful
Brother-in-law and a bunch of his friends had 4x4's except one had a beetle, the beetle went further then came back to help them get unstuck in the mud.
@@chriscohlmeyer4735 Exactly. I had the same type experience while living in Colorado. I work in the foothills of the Rockies, Ute Pass, and during the winter the pass would be littered with 4x4s stuck or off the road, while my little Orange Bug and I NEVER got stuck, or went into a ditch. I just put it in 2nd gear and off we went...never missed a shift either. 🍊🐞
I just had to put my Carhartt insulated coveralls on to go back and forth to work in the winter! The heater left much to be desired!
When I got pulled over doing 70 in a 55 the cop asked me why I was going so fast at midnight. I told him I just got off work and the car had no damn heat, I was rushing home to my warm house! He smiled and let me go!
I had a VW bug, lived in Colorado and had three passes to go over to get home every week end to visit my parents and care for my horses…never needed chains, never need snow tires, never got stuck. The best car ever. My husband and I then bought one in 1968 from Germany shipped it home and now 2024 we still have it.
Any rust?
This was in 1964 and has ever since remained the BEST commercial of all time!
belive it or not but VW were out driving around when other got stuck
It's not positraction it's not limited slip but it sure does work well
How true..my VW Bug and also my GTI got me thru just about anything..
Although he nearly freezes to death on the way.
Nah. Heaters work great. Off the exhaust pipes. Super
Im suprised JC Whitney doesnt have a plug in (cigarette light outlet) for the bugs
Wishsheild defroster was non-existent also
I had the gas heater option in my 65. The heater was rescued from a neighbors beetle that was parked in the yard and used as a chicken coop. It was toasty warm, but had an exhaust leak in the cab, the price to pay to stay warm in Idaho.
My '72 had the undercarriage rotted out so no heat from the exhaust would make it to the front. I tried everything to make it work. Ended up using a cigarette lighter powered rear window defogger mounted on the dash to melt the ice from the windshield.
My 66 Beetle heater works just fine, in all weathers! 😂
Shirley here, I had a 74 beetle and on bad snow days I was the only one who made it to work . I am in my 70's kniw and had 5 beetles energy sense they came back out in the 90's right now I have a 2018 dunes black convertible. They want to buy it from me they said they would hive me top $ for it, no way I will be buried in this car.
Back when car ads told you something about the car
New marketing can learn something from this
these days it's 90% people dancing, 5% politically correct messaging, and 5% car.
Like it drives forward and functions in snow? I think new ads capture that too.
And what did this ad tell you about the car...
@@qwertykevin1 that it's reliable
Edit: Or at the very least they're *trying* to tell me it's reliable. There are obviously still car ads that market actual features of the car, but there are still a lot of ads that amount to just the car driving down an empty european road. All I learn from that is that the car works as normal on roads and that there are some beautiful roads in europe. What I want from an ad is why I should buy *their* car over others. For instance, this ad here markets the car as what the snowplow driver drives to work so that he can clear the roads for all the lesser cars. Now I'm not going to say that this ad is accurate in that regard, but at least they're telling me what they think makes this car different from every other car.
Housemate a long time ago was a VW fanatic, restored them as a hobby / side gig. We all lived in a ski bum cabin in the Colorado woods. I'd catch a ride to work with him in his old Bug. He would drive that thing like a snowmobile, bouncing along the barely-plowed dirt roads, taking shortcuts through the sawmill yard ... this was at the time that Subarus were the new thing that everyone had to have. He explained that the Bugs had the perfect power to weight ratio, and that this gave them great traction in the snow.
Only thing bad was that the heater was useless, so we were always bundled up in ski gear for the ride !
My dad had a 66 beetle and it had a horrible heater. Went thru snow like it was nothing.
Air cooled will do that. Brilliantly designed car.
My '64 will cook you. Only need to turn the knob 2 turns. Owners manual says to Crack open a vent window as the car is almost air tight. Pre '63 had a different design. The fresh air heater was the new design.
Thank you for the response. How a car designed in the 1930's could be so different but near perfect is amazing. German engineers were at a different level. @@brianchisnell1548
The weight of the engine on the rear driven wheels meant it had excellent traction, as long as you had your foot in it. This feature also helped the Porsche 911 in hill climb events
When i was 16 i ran 5 paper routes with a Volkswagen a 74 super beetle rain sleet or snow i delivered those papers ! Very reliable car in tge winter put a set of studded snow tires on the back and that Volkswagen would go just about anywhere ! Never got stuck had some pretty good snows back then in Tennessee back in the 70s
My parents used Beetles for delivery vehicles in Saskatchewan Canada, from the early 60s through the 70s. They would let us teenagers use them when available. 4 or 5 of us in a bug in Canadian winters and we were unstoppable. If we got high centered on a snow drift everyone would get out and push us free. Most of them had auxiliary gas heaters which would keep you toasty if they worked. Sometimes they didn’t, but that just meant the girls had to cuddle up closer to keep warm. Great times!
Love it, had a 1965. Had a fairly new job in Atlanta when a rare heavy sleet storm pretty much kept everybody home from work. Drove in with not a slip and was at my desk early when the sort of picky boss poked his head in and said Bless your heart. Replied, I had to come in I drive a VW!
So little spoken. So much said.
A great ad.
Another great memory, brought to me by my little 🐞👍.
Still living in Colorado....
The light turns 🚦Red.
I open my door to scrape ice off the windshield. As I scraping, I look to my left, and there were 3 more 🐞🐞🐞s, doing the same thing. We all laughed....finished scraping and off we drove. 🐞🐞🐞🐞
I have actually driven in those conditions, years back, for about 90 miles in my old 67 bug, and passed many people stuck on I-44, though I admit not very toasty inside.
I was a snowplow driver for 30 years, and a lot of that time, I drove a jetta 18 miles into work during snow storms .
I ont remember if I read it or saw it somewhere, but that commercial was done in Germany for Volkswagen and re-done in English for the United States.
Never forgot this commercial, owned a '73, averaged 30mpg almost anywhere.
Yes, a great commercial. They played this until they stopped selling Bugs in the USA.
A DDB treasure. Rare to find simple brilliance past or future in ads. Thanks for uploading :)
The greatest advert ever made.
I disagree.
Check out Toyota Hilux commercial.
Maybe the best commercial ever made...
Modern marketing can learn something from this
@@dragospahontu include modern engineering.
@@vichy7661 lol
Yes! In 1969 broke trail most every winter morning as I drove my VW bug to the hospital to start my 6:30 am shift. The road was not plowed.
The heater was the worst! I had to keep an ice scraper on the seat next to me to keep the inside of the windshield clear of frost!...all the way.
these old commercials are much better than current politically correct, nonsensical, corny ass commercials. Good taste, humor, to the point.
I remember this from when i was a kid. Great commercial. Those cars were great in snow. I noticed they didn't mention how cold he was by the time he got to work. Those old beetles had the worst heaters of any car from that era.
I remember the heat working really well in my father's '69 Type 3 Squareback, but that might have been because the back seat (with its own vents) got the heat a bit before it reached the front. The little air cooled engine did heat up fast, though.
I have a classic bug and the heat works great. You just have to make sure nothing rusts out.
yeah, either on or off with nothing in between... nevertheless, a fantastic car it just went on and on and on...
Yep. Air cooled engines....my ghia takes 15 minutes of driving to even start feeling warm
My father once started his Beetle on a winter morning and suddenly had a snowstorm in the cabin. Somehow the wind had pushed the snow into the vents (I really don't know how...)
Damn straight Joop. Quite possibly the greatest ad ever. And I remember it from when it was a new ad.
Yup, to get from home to uni first thing Monday morning the autobahn used to have one on lane cleared, so all the BMK and Mercedes were in that lane with the lorries. Whilst the beetles were running at their top speed up the mountains at40 mph
I've had 4 Volkswagens. The air cooled vans were miserable in the snow. They'd never get warm.
I’ve had a few busses over the years. The heaters work great if you have them working properly. Sometimes the heat exchangers get rusted and have to be replaces, or the cables aren’t hooked up.
I had a 62 Bug ragtop that I wish I still had. 6 volts and it never failed to start on cold winter days and it handled snow like a champ. didn't do so well in Virginia mud, however.
My friend didn’t believe that old bugs love the snow so I showed him this and he believed me after that!🤣
So simple, yet so effective. :)
I remember that ad but also remember those VW "bugs" floating sideways down the streets in Los Angeles whenever it rained a lot. They were one of the few cars that actually floated which made it hard for them to maneuver in high water...!
This is good advertising.
My first car was a 1956 VW with a sun roof. It would go anywhere in the winter with chains. If you got stuck pull out the choke a little bit and get out and push. I had cruise control- a brick on the gas pedal. You could open the sunroof ,,stand on the seat with your head out the roof and drive it with the choke pulled out a bit. Driving through the Rocky Mountains was like rowing a boat. Oh those teenage years.
had to watch this for a class -.-
My sister had a '74 Super Beetle and I recall making a trip in a big snowfall one weekend morning and the Bug did make its way well. We also did a lot of window scraping from the inside because it dinna get very warm. Like their older commercials used to offer, "Nobody's Perfect."
Engine over skinny tyres = grip
I was born in 1963, and I remember this ad from when I was 7 or 8. They must have recycled it every year.
Two things. The vans didn't drive well in the wind and secondly VW beetles were not allowed on the Golden Gate Bridge during heavy winds.
haha My dad owned a bug to drive to go skiing in the mountains of Idaho.. A long time ago, of course......
I had a 60’s vintage Volkswagen Beetle for years, absolutely the best in the snow. I don’t recall ever having to put chains on it, and I lived in an area where there was snow on the ground 4-5 months out of the year. Loved that little car.
Golden age of advertising
Engine weight over the driving wheels, and since the light end always wants to swop, compared to a front engine car it's easier to steer going forwards than sliding backwards. We always got through with a VW bug and I know a retired highway supt. who did indeed drive a VW bug to work through every storm here in central NY.
Where? I lived in Syracuse and that is so true.
My dad bought a `68, used, back in the mid 70s. One day on the way to church some component in the steering broke, and we went off the road. That's about all I remember about that car. But to this day I still keep thinking I'd love to have either a Beetle or a Squareback.
The care that warms your heart, but won't defrost the windshield!
his voice is so calming
Engine sitting in the rear end of car , helps with traction.
Show this to a buddy who has a landscaping company- so he plows in the winter. BLEW HIS MIND!
My 65 with "rebar lug" tire chains could climb mountains.
I'VE OWNED A 56' 64' AND A 67' BUG...ALSO A 61' TRANSPORTER... BEST VEHICLES I'VE EVER OWNED 👍🏻😎
They should still make these cars the same me way.
The best car for snow that I ever owned what is my 1968 Volkswagen with the bus engine! We put four kids in the car and go out in the blizzards, we could pick the car up and carry it out of any problem we had! Couldn't do that with a 68 Pontiac could I?!
Best car in the world ever!
My first three vehicle s were VW aircooled. Two Bugs and a 67 bus. yes, theywere good in the snow, but theyhad their limits. Light in the front made steering very sketchy so you still had to take it easy. Low power and weight over the drive wheels was the key.
The Heater - or - lack thereof:
The heater boxes were pitiful, in that the little door flaps that you opened with a doorknob always rusted shut - or partially shut. The simple solution was a refridgerator spring from the hardware store that was sufficiently strong enough to open and shut the damned things reliably. They produced all the heat and air flow needed if the doors worked properly. Especially important in the Buses. Also, in the buses, I removed the thin factory insulation on the long heater tube that ran forward from the engine, and replaced it with a much thicker insulation. That thing cooked me out in winter.
When VW was reliable,not overengineered li,e they are now with lots of plastic bits in the engines which fail disastrously,unlike the simple tried& tested aircooled opposed twin engines,which are still running& are repaiable❤❤
Vw handle the snow well because of the weight on the rear wheel. Terrible heating though. Got it from the exhaust manifold. Didn't draw much heat
I remember seeing that add when I was a kid and always liked it. Volkswagen was known for their memorable adds back then.
I owned a '71 while in college. Eventually sold it to my dad who drove it for years. Always thought that thing would climb trees if I needed it to. Wonderful cars.
Masterclass in direct-response marketing.
I remember that commercial, was funny then and still is,
This is the reason my father owned two VW vans… stone reliability!
I froze in my Volkswagon Beetle.
I had a 1965 VW when I was a teen in the early 1970's. If I could go out cruising with my girlfriends in that thing just one more time, I'd die happy.
I'm on vacation in Bavaria in my VW van of 1990. Came 2 weeks ago and to my big surprise saw 4 of the bugs in super condition. Aĺlways makes me so nostalgic as I learned driving in one!
The commercial doubles as a beautiful short film.
I had a '65. It was pretty good in the snow, but I learned early on to choose a lower gear and keep the RPMs up so that there would be heat blowing out the vents. 💙 T.E.N.
And Crack a vent window. Owners manual.
Exactly what I used to do. Get in second gear and stay there😂
That's great, if you didn't mind no heat.
Best commercial of the 60's, because there are many better commercials, like the first macintosh ad.
Yeah,a Bug was great in the snow and on trails, but the heater and defroster were shit!! Went to buy one in Anchorage in 1984 with a gasoline heater that plumbed directly from the gas tank, and was mounted on the floor behind the drivers seat. Looked like a real dangerous recipe for being burned alive in an accident!!
My 64 will cook you out. Only half to open half way. Crack a vent for airflow. Bahm
They work great if ya fix it !!
But. Wouldn't have been easier just to drive the snowplow home
I miss my super beetle (74) ❤. Juice never failed me in rain, sleet or snow in Colorado. In 1994 I drove highway 93 between Golden and the Flats and in winter, would pass these SUVs that slid off the road and I just chugged by. One day during a blizzard, getting ready to go home my door handle came off so I had to hang into the door to keep it closed. THEN, the clutch failed so 2nd gear all the way down. Finally midway through Golden, my headlights started to dim but we kept going. I pulled into my driveway and it just died. Called the shop, they towed it in and fixed everything like new.
In Ohio during another snow storm, on the freeway going home, about every mile the fuel line would freeze up so I had to pull over for a few minutes. No AC, heat only when you were moving and I wasn’t getting any younger 😂😂😂. Had my bug for 17 years and sold it for more than I had paid, and cried my eyes out. A guy and his son bought it so the son could learn how to work on them. I still miss that car after over 20 years. I’d get another in a heartbeat if I could.
I do remember tis commercial !
I remember this Ad!
i saved this on my watch later playlist and was worth it
I had one of these back in the 70s, it was a 1967 Beetle 1.3 petrol, never got stuck in the snow or ice, always started first time regardless of weather conditions, great car, Oh how I miss it, and still think about it to this day.
Haha I'm a plow operator and have been driving my Jetta to and from work for years 😂 this is awesome. Just need a girl in the ad and we're all set lol
There was also a color version of this commercial shown in West Germany.
Don't know how but TV Guide once rated this as the 4th best commercial ever. I say it can't hold a candle to Hai Karate aftershave or the most interesting man in the world.
57 62 65 and a 75 had them all
my comment was completely ironic because the previous comment was really stupid.
I learned to drive stick on one of these. My dad drove them as his winter car…put the Merc away for the winter…I drove them spring summer fall. There were three in total and yes…they were great in snow. Put it in second gear, eas out the clutch and away you go.
A terrible car design! A real death trap, especially in winter conditions with its rear engine and pendulum axels! Very prone to skidding. And also useless heathing! The worst winter car there is!
I probably saw this commercial a thousand times! Back in the day they showed over and over in the fall and winter!
If you have never owned a VW, air cooled, you have missed out on a very unique experience. Find the book "Small Wonder", probably in a half price book store, the whole history of the air cooled VW, a very interesting read. Henry Ford was offered the complete VW Company after WWII, he turned it down.
Bill bernbach genius!
Lean Productions I' m not sure if it was bernbach who made this? I know there was a german version of this commercial too! I 'm not sure which was first, the german ad or the american ad? Was it made by Bernbach for the american market and then aired in Volkswagen's home market too? Or was it initially a german ad for the german market, which was later translated to english, and aired in America too?
However, the snow plow driver would be frozen nearly to death upon arrival at work because the heaters NEVER worked in those Bugs!!!
I had a few bugs. Did well in snow. However, it didn’t mention having to scrape the frost off the inside of the window b/c the defroster was horrid and, the roaring gasoline heater that you had to install (in Alaska anyway) to actually get any heat… hehehe. Good times, good times.
I''m sure that was a very cozy warm ride to work, though gas heaters were available as option back then. I drove my '67 bug in that kind of weather.
My ‘57 Bug was well made and reliable. A new, 64 VW bus wasn’t.
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
same here
I went to a hobby shop during one snowy day. Someone asked me "How are the roads?" I said "I don't know, I drive a Volkswagen."
...yes, because he was an engineer. Everybody knows that. FACEPALM.
I learned to drive in a VW. My dad said “if you’re going to drive, then learn to drive a car. Anyone can steer a car, but not many can drive a car”. Stick shift all the way baby…..
LOL. He would've never found the snowplow. With that useless forced-air heat, his windows would have been iced up on the insides.
I had several VW buses while living in snow country. As long as the snow was not pushed up by the front bumper, but could go over it, I was good to go.
Yet, did that actually happen or was it just a commercial for a car? Golly gee, that actually didn’t happen 😮.
They probably just keep the snow plow in the garage of the house they live in.
Rye Same thing I think unless they work for the town or the state road
Better than the crap they excuse as "cars" today, which are basically something akin to net-browsers on wheels.
They were still running this commercial in the 80s, right? I swear I remember seeing this when I was little.
so great the Beetle
My ‘77 CVCC did the same. Probably a bit safer being FWD.
So this is how that fairy tale got started.....they high center easy and once your stuck there is no cooling to the motor fenders fill up with snow....
Old VW's go in the snow but they won't turn. No weight in the front trunk so tires act like skis on a snowmobile. When you turn the wheel you have to wait for the tires to build up a pile of snow big enough for the tire to bank off the snow in order to turn.