
VW Beetle Owner's Manual (1970) - Hooke
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/70beetle.php
======
jonjacky
A related artifact from that era, the very popular DIY repair manual:

How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the
Compleat Idiot by John Muir and Peter Aschwanden.

I see it's still in print. This video shows some of the wonderful artwork:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjeth7lhHSk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjeth7lhHSk)

~~~
pistle
99.5% necessary accessory for any bug/bus owner. They need non-trivial tuning
about every 3k-5k to keep them running well order compared to what we have
today. The lifters need adjusting, fuel filter replacement, etc. about as
often as most people get an oil change.

They don't have A/C. The heat carries with it exhaust stink and is nearly
useless anywhere northeast or midwest. They rust easy, are very unsafe by
today's standards, hydroplane like mad (though rear-wheel-drive is fun), and
the motors on the wipers either creep slowly or sweep slowly. They are light
and tall, so they are like sails when you have cross winds. They can barely
maintain speed up long ascents...

But that book is an amazing piece of craft.

~~~
oasisbob
Truly amazing craft. If you're 15 - you can use that book +
rec.autos.makers.vw.aircooled and drop the engine yourself; replace the clutch
yourself; find the distributor drive shaft that was installed backwards and
got you the car for $600 in the first place ... At least that's my story.

Aircooled VWs are so simple. That book was such a good companion, down to the
first part which explains "front is front, up is up, back is back..." complete
with a diagram. When upside-down & greasy, knowing exactly what the author
means by "reach to the upper left of the engine" is important.

~~~
pistle
Yeah. My first car was a bug @ 16 and that book was my gateway to greasy
wrenching.

------
dkresge
Clicked random page and was truly rewarded.

    
    
      3 - Spare wheel
    
      It also provides the air supply for the windshield washer 
      container.  Therefore the spare tire pressure should 
      occasionally be checked and increased to 42 psi.
    

We had a VW something when I was growing up. I remember a heater that would
run even when the engine was off. But I don't remember this. Fahrvergnügen!

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taylodl
This reminded me of the Commodore 64 User's Guide (
[http://www.commodore.ca/manuals/c64_users_guide/c64-users_gu...](http://www.commodore.ca/manuals/c64_users_guide/c64-users_guide.htm))
in that they both assume the user is very knowledgable of what's going on
under the hood.

~~~
Someone
The Apple II reference manual beats that
([https://archive.org/details/applerefjan78](https://archive.org/details/applerefjan78)).
It includes the disassembly of the monitor program and contains full
schematics and timing diagrams.

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ilamont
My mom had a purple VW bug. I'll never forget the sound of the engine and how
hot it got in that thing (I heard somewhere it was sealed so tight it the
passenger compartment wouldn't flood if it drove into water).

It got rear-ended while parked in front of our house in the mid-1970s. My
mother cried; she loved that bug.

~~~
exodust
I crashed my girlfriend's VW back in the mid 90s. I hit a parked car that had
stopped on a blind corner to observe a previous accident that happened minutes
before. It was raining. I came around the corner and applied the brakes. 1975
VW's don't stop too well on wet roads.

The 'funny' part was that the damage was confined to the front headlight and
panel. Not too bad. But the quoted cost of repair was more than the car was
worth.

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jritorto
Elon, please buy the production rights to this and put it back into
production, exactly as it was, no changes, bolt-compatible with the original.
Interestingly, they had prototyped an add-on electric powerplant back then,
too, which, sadly, never made it into production.

~~~
pravda
I don't think it would pass emissions.

Interestingly (?), Dr. Porsche 'borrowed' the design.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_97](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_97)

~~~
jshufro
The first Porsche was basically a clone of the Type III fastback:
[http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/957632.jpg](http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/957632.jpg)

~~~
dchuk
The first Porsche predates the Type III by quite a few years. Also, Ferdinand
Porsche designed the original Beetle:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche#Relationship_with_Volk...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche#Relationship_with_Volkswagen)

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batou
Compare to the Fiat Doblo Owner's Manual, which happens to be "Doblo eLEARN
technical manual" because the effing thing breaks every 2 minutes...

I long for a simple vehicle again.

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baseballmerpeak
If the reader had a dollar for every mention of _an Authorized VW Dealer_ ,
they could readily afford said dealer's service for every mentioned scenario
in the manual.

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mixmastamyk
My mom had one of these 1970 bugs, navy blue, and I spent much of my childhood
years in the back seat. Good memories.

~~~
XJOKOLAT
Memories ... it was my grandfathers favourite car ... the one I would see in
his garage when we would stay with him for summer holidays ... the one he
would take us on summer day trips in ...

These things don't run on petrol or service history ... they run on memory and
nostalgia.

Gold.

