Even though we had a 60s VW on DOTS just last week, it's been quite a while since our last Beetle. I see 60s and 70s Type 1s all over town, but wasn't putting them up as DOTS cars prior to the Beetle Poll of late August. In any case, this vintage ragtop Beetle is rare enough to have entered this series on its own merits, poll or no poll.
1966 was the last year of the sloping headlight covers for the Beetle, and I've always thought the later headlights didn't look nearly as good. The pre-'68 bumper railings on the older Type 1s looked cool, too.
The real problem with these cars was, of course, rust. They even managed to rust in California, though the cause was water leakage from above instead of salt from below. This car, however, is in excellent rust-free condition, which means it's either a restoration or it never leaked.
The 1300 was a 1966-only engine for the Beetle, delivering 50 horsepower, zero torque, and wait-for-it throttle response, not to mention valves that went out of adjustment after a couple thousand miles. But what the heck- this car sold new for $2075, about $500 less than the base '66 Dart convertible, and its engine could withstand abuse nearly as well as the fabled Slant Six (the Type 1 VW is the only 4-cylinder/4-stroke engine I've ever seen that will run on one cylinder). Of course, if I owned this car it would have at least twice the factory horsepower- you know, for passing safety and hill-climbing performance!
The best part is that this car parks on the street every day. It always parks very close to the 1980 911SC we saw a while back, so it's possible that they're both owned by the same lover of German vehicles.