VW ad what happens at 100000 miles?

Back in the '60's, we owned a VW bug. In those days, the owner's manual suggested that you replace the engine at 100,000 miles.

Do any of the rest of you remember this?

I don't remember, but it sounds like the sort of workhorse the Beetle was in those days.

One thing I remember reading is that Paul Newman drove a Volkswagen with a Porsche engine. He liked having more on the inside than the outside. I suppose it was kind of a reverse snobbery on his part, but it did add to his appeal.

There can't hardly have been any Beetles whose engine failed even long after reaching 100,000 miles... They were indestructible! arty:
The German ads used the slogan "er läuft und läuft und läuft..." ("it runs and runs and runs...")

I just went on a little youtube nostalgia tour... In case you have a sentimental bond with your old Beetle, I'm sure you'll like this ad

From what I know and experienced, if you got a horizontally opposed air cooled engine to go 100,000 in the 1960s without worn out cylinders, you were a miracle worker. The saving grace was it was easy for a shade tree mechanic to drop the engine and take the jugs off and do a top end overhaul. Air cooled engines are light (which is why many aircraft use them) but in car usage, tolerances had to be kept a bit loose due to the heating and cooling cycles and the general problems of regulating engine temperature when the vehicle speed could be anything from stopped to 70 mph and the outside temp could be 0-100 degrees. Not good for cylinder wear. I think the engine did amazingly well as long as you didn't ask it to make much HP. The Germans of 1940 were way ahead of many other countries in Engine development, thanks to BMW, Daimler Benz, and others. German fighter aircraft used direct fuel injection in 1940...something that only now is getting into American cars....

dorispulaski said:

Back in the '60's, we owned a VW bug. In those days, the owner's manual suggested that you replace the engine at 100,000 miles.

Do any of the rest of you remember this?

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Thanks so much for the info, Chris! I know nothing about cars, but your explanation is very clear even to me, and I'm fascinated by the use of direct fuel injection so early by the Germans. I'm sorry the VW has kind of faded from the landscape, because it was a great little workhorse. I actually like the visual design of the more recent incarnation also, as well as the gumdrop colors.

There was a lot to be said for the bug. But time marches on. VW financially is in great shape around the world, but air cooled engines are hard to get to meet emissions standards. I always had the hots for the VW "Thing" aka WWII kubelwagon. Very campy.
Bug engines have been successfully adapted for light experimental aircraft, as well as Corvair and Subaru engines....I think Doris needs to get another Bug on the used market and have it made up like new!!!!

Olympia said:

Thanks so much for the info, Chris! I know nothing about cars, but your explanation is very clear even to me, and I'm fascinated by the use of direct fuel injection so early by the Germans. I'm sorry the VW has kind of faded from the landscape, because it was a great little workhorse. I actually like the visual design of the more recent incarnation also, as well as the gumdrop colors.

Click to expand...

Talking about all these VWs reminds me of a counselor I knew once at sleepaway camp. She had a VW that she named Audrey. In one of the few practical jokes I've ever enjoyed (I usually find them destructive or slightly hostile), some of the campers managed to maneuver Audrey into one of the camp buildings--was it the dining room?--where Emmy encountered her first thing one morning. I still remember standing in that building with Audrey in splendor in the center of the room, and everyone giggling and cheering. For some reason, it's easier to imagine a VW having a name than most other cars, isn't it? Beetles have such personalities.

That prank reminds me of my brother John, who died at 49. When he was at college, he and a friend dismantled a huge farm tractor and reassembled it in another friend's room. When the victim of the joke was spotted, they started up the tractor and locked the door of the room. They also did some kind of a stunt with a professor's VW, somehow getting it up a long set of steps.

Dismantled a tractor....wow! Human ingenuity has no limits.

By the way, happy Pi Day, everyone. It's 3/14, which are the first two numbers of pi. If you want to be a real purist, celebrate with a piece of pie at 1:59 this afternoon (3.14159).

The victim was an agriculture major! They were attempting to be prank-appropriate.