Old Volkswagen, WV, Beetle that I saw at Friendly Center in 2013. A beauty. Great shape. I only see missing runners under the doors. The steering wheel is especially classy, dished.

I used to be able to accurately identify the year of these VW’s. Now, I’m not so good. Wild guess would be 1959.

Clues of things that changed that can be used on this one to determine age:

— Wolfsberg crest on front and steering wheel.
— metal bumpers with overrider bars.
— glass covers over sealed-beam headlights (USA)
— flat, not curved, windshield.
— direction of wiper movement, L to R, or R to L
— rear-view mirror attached to door hinge.
— small taillights and license plate light
— pie tin hubcaps

There are many more clues than those. I used to have a book.

Other points of interest:

— On Beetle, the hood (bonnet) was the trunk (boot) and the trunk the hood because of motor in the back.

— this was a 6-volt car which made getting anything electrical tricky.

— it probably had no fuel gauge. When engine started to stumble due to lack of fuel, there was a foot lever under the dash in the front. Flip it to activate a small reserve tank of fuel.

Also attached, two pics of a white Beetle we rented in the Yucatan in 2003 for comparison. Only 44 years later than the blue one. Mexico continued to produce those WV’s longer than anywhere.

I loved driving them.