The VW Bug Vs. Bus
I love this old advertisement comparing the old Volkswagen bug to the bus.
It reads:
That’s about the size of it.
That special paint job is to make it perfectly clear that our Station Wagon is only nine inches longer than our Sedan. Yet it carries almost 1 ton of anything you like. [About twice as much as you can get into wagons that are 4 feet longer.]
Or eight solid citizens with luggage.
Or countless kids with kids stuff.
The things you never think about are worth thinking about, too. You never worry about freezing or boiling; the rear engine is air-cooled. You can expect about 24 miles per gallon and about 30,000 miles on your tires. And you can forget about going out of style next year; next year’s model will look the same.
The most expensive VW Station Wagon costs $2,655. It comes in red and white or grey and white or green and white.
And you won’t ever have to go around painting sedans on it to show how small it is. Just Park.
Right now, I really wish a company would adopt the Volkswagen company model. The cars are the same every year for decades, allowing me to fix my 2009 car as easily as the 2020 car. They brag about their gas mileage, small size and practicality, not their luxury, massive size or status symbol.
I froze and boiled in my old VW bug. It failed me on numerous occasions, dropping parts on the road as easily as birds drop feathers. I was grateful to have a new car when I finally stopped driving my old beetle, but it was a twenty year old car by then. I want a car company like Volkswagen used to be, because the new VW isn’t like it at all.
Advert via: vintage_ads:
Update 08-14-09: Here is another VW Bus ad that was good.
My first vehicle was a ’70 VW Camper (Campmobile Bus, as it was called). It had been wrecked but ran well and was riddiculously easy (and for the most part cheap) to fix when it stopped running well. It was light enough to drive out on the beach if you let a little air out of the tires, so it was a great vehicle for a teenager living on the gulf coast. Like you I froze or broiled, depending on the season. but oddly enough I miss that old bus sometimes!
Comment by Tom — August 14, 2009 @ 12:17 pm