Type of oil

Was that where salt is used on the roads in winter or in Florida ?

A tail light can be $800.

"If you have to ask how much, you can't afford it"

Pretty soon you figure out why they lost the war. Everything German is very expensive, over engineered and hard to maintain. One exception might be the old VW bugs but even they had some strange stuff, like threaded exhaust fittings. Then of course there was the gas tank, guaranteed to arrive first at the crash.

Florida. They lived at the beach.

I had an Audi back in the day. They must have improved quite a bit since they're still in business. It took VW a bit to figure out how to put the engine and drive wheels in front.

In its defense Nixon dreamed up the 55 mph speed limits after I bought it and it really didn't have a gear to handle that speed.

Interesting. I was considering a Honda but won't now with that rust obscenity.

A little light reading for deniers.

If you had an old (36 HP) Beetle the 55 MPH speed limit wasn't an issue. That was about all they would do.

If you are not living in a place where salt crusts on the body it probably would not be an issue. They were living on Cape San Blas on a spit of land less than a half mile wide out in the gulf and salt water on both sides.

My 21 year old Prelude is doing OK.

The REALLY old beetle (mine was a 1949) anything over 45 you KNEW you were going downhill with a tailwind - - - -

I commonly did 70-80 mph in my stock '64. 90 mph downhill. The 36 HP did 65-70 mph.

I had a 58 and it certainly would not do 65.

Probably odd for a member of my generation but I only rode in a Beetle once, and drove one about 100' to get it away from a loading dock. I was fascinated by the concept of an easily repairable vehicle where parts could be mixed and matched across the years but never got around to buying one. The closest I ever got was a model old enough to have the little stalks that popped out for turn signals but it needed a lot of work.

As with the Chinese there is a mismatch in import duties in their favor. I think we also have to pay their VAT. Our younger two sons started with BMW's but now own Japanese cars which are better, less expensive and more reliable.

Yeah, maybe BMW should just give up, close the plant in Spartanburg, SC, where they build X3, X4, X5 and X6s and export 70% of them. Make America great again.

A friend referred to that as 'sinchas' as in 'Ever since you...' It also applies to repairing anything for acquaintances. Months later completely unrelated problems are your fault.

The 49 was 25HP - 10 taxable HP - and it was 24 years old at the time. 24 HARD years beating across south central Africa..

You would be surprised what did NOT fit from year to year. I stripped the splines out of the rear brake drum on the '49. A '61 had the same spline - but the drum was almost an inch wider. It fit after an hour or two with a hammer and cold chisel and a few hack-saw blades. -- - - - -

The Topolino (Fiat 600) I am driving this summer has a smaller engine than the old beetle -a bit smaller overall too - and the little sucker will do 75 on the level and 80 downhill with no problem. It's registered as a '69 - may have been built in '67 or '68.