I Remember JFK

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The Floating VW Beetle Ad

Floating VW BeetleWe youngsters certainly paid close attention to commercials in the 60's. One I'll never forget involved a guy climbing into a Beetle, driving it into a pond, and explaining to the audience as he bobbed up and down in the water that Volkswagen engineered their cars to be watertight, or something to that effect.

And the commercial had an effect on me. I spent thew rest of my childhood feeling like if a car DIDN'T float, it was inferior.

Strangely enough, I haven't owned a VW Bug. Both of my older brothers have, as have a large percentage of the earth's driving population. I DID own a 1974 bus.

But still, the commercial filled me with a high regard for the ubiquitous little car.

In the 1940's after WWII, it barely survived. It was viewed as Hitler's pet project by much of the rest of the world.

But sales started picking up. By the 1960's it was an extremely common sight on American roads.

As pollution increased, and legislation was put in place to fight it, the Beetle was phased out in the U.S. While it was still a big seller, particularly in Latin America, here in the States dealers were now pushing Rabbits, Sciroccos, and Jettas.

Eventually, the Beetle resurfaced in its 1998 introduction as the New Beetle. It has proven to be a success worldwide.

But does it float?

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Comments (3)

bob:

...I loved those cars! My first real car was a bug. I remember when my dad bought his second-hand (thrifty, old dad): he drove that bug to-from work for years, until some guy hit him. I'll never forget driving down to Guadalajara in that '65 bug with my girl friend...ah, memories. We made it back, too!

scott:

Our local amusement park, Santa's village,
actually had a ride that took place in a volkswagorn beetle that
floated for a while as a boat during the ride, like the duck rides in some places.....so strange that something so ugly could be so cool9But it was indeed!)

paul:

hello.

I saw your posting on this site about the classic beetle commercial. I am the guy who posted about 150 beetle commercials on youtube. The commercial you refer to is this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qB0lb401ZU

Is that the one?

greetings,
paul
the netherlands

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on January 15, 2007 12:24 AM.

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