Before you look at their new ones, look at their old ones.
Now that new car time is upon us, gosh knows, we hate to be the ones to spoil all the fun. After all, what's more exciting than taking the family down to see the shiny new models or to hear the fast-talking salesmen, or maybe even to pick up a free balloon? It's just that during all that hoopla and razzle-dazzle, you may not want to pick up one of those exciting new cars. For the unpleasant fact of the matter is that junkyards throughout the country are doing a thriving business on automobiles that seemingly just yesterday were showroom stars. Which is why we suggest a trip to the iunkyard before you decide to put a new cor in your own yard. And why we suggest that that new cor be a Volkswagen. For while we can't promise you how long one will last, we can tell you that over 13 million Volkswogens are still on the rood. And when one drops out, even then it's not always destined to be dropped in a pile. For old Volkswagens have a habit of becoming other things: like new dune buggys. All in all, we owe it all to a decision we made 24 years ago: To spend very little time making our little car look better. And a great deal of time making it work better. So far, that one decision has kept us out of a lot of trouble.
It doesn't take much to unleash the savage fury of a Volkswagen.
Take almost any old VW, replace the body, make a few simple adjustments, and you've got a formula Vee racer.
How can a mild-mannered, praclical, everydoy Volkwogen convert so easily into something so delightfully impractictical.
In the words of the Formula Vee International Manual:"Volkswagen comoponents seem to have been made expressly for use in a racing car.~
"The engine, air・cooled and mostly aluminum, is light for its power output and already adapted to the reoar engine concept of modern racing cars."
"Its rugged construction provides a power plant which seems to be practically indestructible, even at racing speeds."
"Operating costs are amazingly low. One set of tires will ordinarily last more than a season and one oil change a year is sufficient."
It seems that the same things that make the VW a sensible car for people who aren't in any particular hurry to get some-where also make the formula Vee a sensible car for people who are in a big hurry to get nowhere.
Some of the fastest cars in the world are still foiiowing the Volkswagen.
A Volkswagen is O.K. for rating down to the delicatessen, but that's about it.
Still, it may be some consolation to know that Volkswagens have a lot in common with cars that race for a living.
Item: Each VW wheel has ils own private suspension system, complete with its own private torsion bar.
So when one wheel goes klunk on a bump, the other wheels do nothing at all. They stick to the road, and so does the car.
Many racing cars use this suspension system. No other passenger car does.
Item: The Volkswagen engine is in the back, over the drive wheels. It gives the car better traction and doesn't waste power.
Not all racing cars have engines in the back. Only every winner at Indianapolis this year,
Item: Just about every racing car hos an aluminum engine. Aluminum is very light. Volkswagens have aluminum-magnesium engines that make aluminum alone seem heavy.
Item: The Volkswagen's 4-speed transmission is so smooth, some racing drivers use it "as is" in their cars. Right-from stock.
(Attention Volkswagen Accounting Deportment: Now you know why we sold more transmissions than cars last year.)
Of course, most of what we put into the VW isn't just for the sake of speed.
We keep trying to make it easier to drive, cheaper to run, simpler to service and longer lasting.
A Volkswagen may have a fOp speed of only 72 miles on hour.
But it's way ahead of cars that are way ahead of it.