I definitely need to remember this.

 

That would definitely be the best way to not end up with a sticker or emblem. I guess I was meaning cars which are already on display, but point taken.

I purchased mine from stock which was already on the lot (there were only 2 of them, but they were on the lot) and while this dealer is one of those whose cars are all defaced with a sticker, somehow they forgot to put it on the car I bought. I'm not sure how it slipped through but I am grateful for not having to bother with it.

 

Pretty unusual to paint the dealer ID because its way more costly than applying a decal, which is easily removed (consult body shop).
As for as license plate holders, try ebay for cusom plate holders at $10 or so. Mine says "my other car is Porsche" and others a bit more antagonistic.

 

For a time, I believed my life would actually improve if I added a classic Mercedes to the usual mix of well-used Subaru cars which dotted my rural landscape:

Subarus which:

• filled my garage,
• the concrete apron in front of the garage,
• and the growing collection of Subaru "parts cars" out back from the garage.

Believe it or not, this is how Subaru came up with the name for their very popular Outback model... it had nothing at all to do with Austrailia.

--------------------------

I cannot say for sure whether the Mercedes (a deep red 240D diesel) improved my life, but it certainly did improve the looks of my garage. I always kept it parked in there and constantly polished and waxed it. I'm sure most of my Subarus were jealous of the attention I was lavishing upon this large shiny intruder; those Subies were rarely washed, much less polished and waxed!

In my travels I had seen many hum-drum cars which sported bumper stickers proclaiming:

• My Other Car is a Porsche
• My Other Car is a Mercedes
• My Other Car is a Lamborghini

My response to those sort of bumper stickers was a bit of reverse psychology---- I made a bumper sticker for the Mercedes which read:

"My Other Car is a Subaru!"

 

Oh, cool -- that is great to know.

 

The plate frame on my New Beetle, and subsequent Beetle Convertible (which got traded in for the Fit) read:

My Other VW is Air Cooled

Of course these days, you have to explain what that means to the young whippersnappers…

es

 

The best VW sticker I've seen is

"REAL VWs have the engine in back!"

Let me guess, your real name is Jeff Foxworthy:

"If you own a home with wheels on it and several cars without, you just might be a redneck."

 

The reason I relate to Jeff Foxworthy is that (in a former life) he was an IBM technician---and his subsequent re-birth as a comic reminds me of the changes in my own life when I transformed from an accountant to a hippie farmer.


------------------------

During the period of time leading up to the introduction of the New Beetle, Volkswagen ran a teasing public relations campaign. Part of that campaign included an invitation to write them to "tell VW" all about what you'd like to see in the new car ---- as if Volkswagen was just waiting to hear from it's legions of scrufty Type 1 enthusiassts before it would even let its engineers anywhere near a drawing board. This was perhaps only a few months before the New Beetle hit the showrooms; the tooling was no doubt already installed.

But I dutifully sat down and wrote a very serious four page letter --- desrcibing in detail the various charms of the old Type 1 Beetle that I felt important to incorporate into the New Beetle.... among them:

1. Owner maintenance----the concept that a car should be able to be mechanically maintained by its owner. I went so far as to suggest that they contract with John Muir to write an updated version of "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive; A Manual of Step-By-Step Procedures for the Compleate Idiot" --- AND include it in the glove box of the New Beetle. Fat chance.
2. Parts interchange---the concept that the various parts assemblies of one car OUGHT to fit other cars over many years of production. I was much impressed that the Beetle I drove contained parts from an entire decade of other Beetles---and that no Beetle ever truly died completely.

-----------

The only thing about that letter I am sure of... is that there were probably thousands of others just like it ---- ALL of which were quickly thrown into German waste baskets amid laughter and ridicule.

When the "New Beetle" came out, I was particularly insulted by the flower holder ---- this was the ONLY item in the entire car which attempted to express the enthusiasm of generations of former owners who loved their cars.

I still maintain that if Volkwagen were to once again fire up its Type 1 assembly lines in Mexico and South America, and send shiploads of OLD style Beetles to the USA, the clamor for that dear old design would cause a shortage of inventory in VW dealerships that would make getting your hands on a new Fit seem like easy pickings.



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Speaking of John Muir... how about a nice workshop manual for us: How to Keep Your Honda Fit Alive; A Manual of Step-By-Step Procedures for the Compleate Idiot" (with all the same type line drawings, humorous thoughts, and coolness.)

 

The original got me through two VW buses (1974 and 78 models), taught me to do my own tune ups, showed me where to tap on the solenoid with a hammer to revive my dead electrical system in a toll plaza in Illinois, let me fix a carburator with a silver dime and some metal epoxy to cover the little plug. These days, I'm afraid to open the hood...

 

Muir of course passed many years ago, but the "Idiot Guides" were (and still are) priceless. I still have my original from when I got the '71.

They also did an Idiot Guide for the VW Rabbit, as well as the early Honda Civic/Prelude.

As much as I'd like to agree with this (I still have a pair of early '60s Bugs!), the reality is that market expectations have moved well past what made the Type I so popular in the 1960s (sales were already tanking by the early '70s). Updating the design to meet current regulations would drastically change the nature of the car, unfortunately.

The VW Up! is probably the closest thing they make to the original Type I today, and we're unlikely to see it in the NA market any time soon, if at all.

As I've written in other posts here, I traded in my '13 Beetle Convertible for my new Fit. VW has pretty much lost me as a customer due to the continuing quality issues, but also because the current Beetle just doesn't "feel" like a Beetle any more. I loved my '00 NB (had it almost 13 years, and was still running strong when I sold it) – despite the "fru-fru" flower holder, it still had a lot of character and a Bauhaus design vibe that the 'new' Beetle lacks.

Personally, I think VW has completely disconnected themselves from what the brand was built on (and is still strongly known for among certain demographics), and honestly, that's what lost me in the end.

es

 

Muir did publish guides for somewhat more modern cars like the Rabbit and some Datsuns. Unfortunately, the complexity of cars has gone up so much that a Muir guide for the Fit wouldn't fit in the glove compartment of a Fit.

Also, the Muir guides were a product of their rather eccentric author. John Muir put some wrong information into his books. I love the idiot guides for their folksy tone and Peter Aschwanden artwork, but when I wrench on my VWs I refer to the Bentley manual.

I just think that it's a pity the Muir didn't see a dime for the explosion of "idiot guides" that occurred in the '90s. He originated the concept!

VW did abandon their "people's car" public in favor of chasing the "euro performance" crowd. Reliability went way down compared to the Japanese marques and all that VW had left was their Teutonic severity. I love my aircooled VWs, but that is an era that VW itself would just as soon forget.

One thing that strikes me is that the shape of the "New New Beetle" is so similar to the "streamline Beetle" ads of the pre-war era. It took them 75 years to put that body design on the road!