On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:37:48 -0600, gloria p >
wrote:

>On 8/16/2012 1:35 PM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
>> On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 08:28:31 -0500, "Pete C." >
>
>>
>> Lately I'm seeing ads on the tube about the new VW Beetle being back,
>> price $19,759.00. In 1972 I bought a brand new VW Beetle for
>> $1,950.00.
>>
>
>
>
>We bought our 1968 Beetle in Sept.'67 for $1600. We had it till 1984.
>We got rid of it because the exhaust was leaking into the passenger
>compartment.

With the motor in the rear it would have to have been a very bad leak
for fumes to enter the passenger compartment, in fact the passenger
compartment heat exchanger would have to have rotted through too...
being an air cooled engine the passenger compartment got heat off the
engine exhaust and no heat flowed unless the car was moving, there was
no fan. In freezing weather one had to wear arctic clothing, the bug
gave very meager heat.

>Every teenager in the neighborhood wanted it but we
>wouldn't sell it to a kid who wouldn't get the exhaust repaired.
>We traded it in on a VW Rabbit, the only lemon we've owned.

The beetle exhaust system was fairly inexpensive, the motor being in
the rear, and for the average teen a simple DIY project... most teens
added fancy hotrod type exhausts anyway. The part on a beetle that
typically needed replacement and would be very dangerous not to was
the front axle, it was just two thin sheetmetal stampings spot welded
together, very prone to rusting out, with the front end suddenly
collapsing.