- By Herschel D. -
MARCH'S - NEW QUESTIONS
1. Q: Some W.W.II Kubelwagens have a thing mounted on the side above the rear fender, that Allied soldiers referred to as a “Jerry Can.” what is it?
A: The gas can!
2. Q: What VW is a Type “87 Tropical?”
A: A W.W.II Beetle staff car body on a Kubelwagen chassis with a Schwimmwagen’s 4-wheel drive and special balloon style desert sand tires.
3. Q: How many doors does a Golf station wagon have?
A: Four.
4. Q: Every Christmas season I do a special Christmas VW drawing for the newsletter. Do you know when I published the first one?
A: December, 1991.
5. Q:
From the outside, how would you know if a
1957 Beetle were a European model or an U.S. one?
A:
The European deluxe model would not have those tubular bumper over-rider
bars and would have semaphore turn signals in the doorposts instead of the
“bullet” style used on the U. S. style front fenders.
6. Q: In what year did VW switch which end the bubble window camper top was hinged on?
A: 1974
1. Name three of the earliest VW dealerships in Memphis?
2. Which model manufacture came out with the very first 1/18th scale New Beetle?
3. For that matter, which one did the first 1/8th scale old Beetle?
4. What was the last year that the early U.S. Beetle came set up for being able to hand crank the engine?
5. From when to when, has VW’s model year (as opposed to the calendar year) run since the 1956 model year?
6. When the New Beetle’s original “Concept One” show cars came out in 1994, they talked about several different types of propulsion that the car could have such as a diesel or a hybrid using new long lasting lighter weight batteries. Meanwhile, what sort of motor was moving the Concept One sedan and Cabriolet around?
Answers next month, along with new questions.
VW FACTOIDS
The very first Automatic stick shift Beetle sold in Memphis was a Bahama Blue sedan that was purchased in 1968 from Jimmy Payne Volkswagen on Summer Ave, by the Craft family. The son, Bradley Craft, still has it!
Big Lots is selling a highly
detailed 1/18th scale 2001 VW Jetta 4-door sedan made by Welly
for only $12.99!
You know, I do enjoy doing this trivia, and I try to take it way beyond the ordinary, ”when did The Beetle change such and such part,” etc., too, including local VW history. Sometimes the questions are “too” easy, the sort of thing that only a newcomer might not know, but we continually do have newcomers that may want to learn about their car and its history!
In the opposite extreme, I sometimes, just for the fun of it, ask hard, knit-picky questions that only someone that is really anal might already know, but those little facts can be useful little things to look up for a 100 per cent restoration! For example, I don’t fill my head with what might be the correct color for some isolated wire in the car, but I do keep reference material that may make it possible to find out some such little facts for the perfect restoration. Anyone else got fun little VW stories to tell me for “Factoids?” I could do the writing! Herschel