I remember the 60s VW TV commercial that showed a Bug starting out early in the morning driving through fresh powder snow touting the snow driveability of the bug. At the end he was pulling up to a large shop saying "ever wonder how the snow plow driver gets to his job"
The beetle is fitted for every single situation, hot dessert, no problem, no cooland, no boiling cooland, same for icy weather, no frozen cooland, a low and Light engine producing butueen 25 and 50 hp depending of the build year, it was so succes full, it realesed in 1944 and was produced until 2003, changing bairly
I had a classic beetle, 1971 and I always kept snow tires on in the winter (Ct.) That car would go thru anything in the blizzard of "78" it was one of the few cars moving. The VW beetle, in my opinion was one of the greatest cars of all time
I remember that blizzard. I stayed overnight at my girlfriend's house in Forestville (MD). They were worried I get stuck. The next day, I drove up the steep hill with no problem. Cars were stuck all over that street. That was a great memory! Thanks!
I also had a Corvair. 1 inch bigger wheels on the back and snowtires really made a big deference in the winter. The downfall of the Corvair was GM would not license the VW pushrod tubes. But at least Nader made a profit. Unlike FWD it does not bounce directions with uneven traction.
a modern version principally all the same, with same shell and safety reinforcement (put a cage in it!) would sell like crazy. a car that'd get you around while giving +50 mpg, I wouldn't care if its top speed was only 75 mph as long as I can maintain it myself with available+cheap parts. same reasons it was created and successful. there was an old guy who ALWAYS babied his bug, he drove it +450,000 US miles without a rebuild, just religious maintenance.. oil changes, valve adjustments, plugs points condenser rotor cap!
In Brazil it became the most popular car at the time because of it's simplicity and performance on dirty roads. I had one about 10 years ago and had a lot of fun on dirty roads, it goes really well. In Brazil there are tons of vídeos showing Beatles climbing steap mud roads at ease, passing stuck pick-ups.
I love the Brazilian Fusca especially the front end which has deeper headlight sockets and a steeper angle to the hood and apron and its smaller bumpers. I however like the Mexican body with its wider windows like the German post 1963. The Brazilian also has a lower final drive which makes it a lot easier to go up hills and for zipping around slow moving traffic. The engines are also tuned to have such smooth idle characteristics. If you google about the Brazilian Beetle climbing hills you'd won't believe the kind of offroading they are capable of.
I had a 66 karmin ghia. You put a set of studded tires on it and a full tank of gas up front and it was a tank in the snow. I remember plowing through 2 feet of snow driving from McCloud to Mt. Shasta City Calif. on Thanksgiving day, snow flowing over the hood the whole way. I used to go out just to play in the snow with it.
Lived in Massachusetts during '78 blizzard and drove a '62 Bug with tire chains. It was unstoppable. Gas heater kept me warm as I transported nurses, doctors, police and others to work. Wish I still had her.
The Beetle was the 1st car in Antarctica simply because it was air cooled, easy to modify, and easy to repair. Other vehicles were on the continent before the Bug, but they were more or less purpose built for polar research.
Thank you so much for actually showing us the car. Most YT car channels just put the camera facing the presenter, and you end up with an entire video staring at someone who is telling you how the car drives. I much prefer to SEE how the car drives and handles. If you want to put a camera inside the car, put it behind the driver, so we can still see how the car drives. Anyway I find it amazing that most of the shots are of the car, please keep up the great work. Please do not become like other car channels that only show the driver's face. :)
They're used for hill climb trialling in the UK because they're so good. My dad had a gold 1303s Superbeetle with rounded windscreen and full size tail lights. The neighbours hated that car because it was so noisy, but they came knocking on the door when they needed a lift to work in the snow after they'd tried in vain to leave the street in their more modern hatchbacks.😄
The trick with a lot of the modern cars is drive in reverse, so the weight is on the powered wheels. I passed a Subaru in my Yaris on our steep mountain road because I had better tires and knew how to drive in snow.
Yes, the weight of the engine over the rear drive wheels certainly helped The Bug to perform in the snow, just as it did when they were converted to Dune Buggies for the sand. If they did get stuck, they were easier to push.
My first beetle was a 1957 oval window. It was literally almost unstoppable in the snow unless you got high centered in deep snow because of the flat floor planes. The trick that you finally alluded to at the end of not letting the tire spin is the secret. Slip the clutch until it starts to roll without spinning. If it’s too slick for low gear put it in second and do the same thing and it will just startlugging away in 2nd second gear. As for the rear end sliding out, it’s actually very easy to control once you get used to driving a rear engine car. I would give my eyeteeth to have my old 36 horse 1957 bug back.
I had a '56 VW in 1959 in which I took my driver's test at age 15. I really liked it, even with it's 32HP engine. The smoothness of the transmission was incredible, you just moved the lever and it would click into gear (WEST German precision)! The "heater" was non-existant and the car was a HANDFUL in crosswinds. There was no gas gauge, you listened for the signs of engine "sputter" and hoped you were quick enough to "kick in" the reserve tank without stalling the engine (lol).
The part you guys left off was the tire chains. I was born in Germany. Army brat. At 5 y/o had a baby sitter with a beetle. Germany can see up to 10 feet of snow overnight. That beetle never got stuck. Hills didn't matter. It went through snow so deep the front wheels were lifted off the ground yet kept going. Trust me, there's a reason I keep my 69 beetle around here in East TN.
Actually the heater in the VW work very well if it's in perfect conditions, but you have to drive quite a distance to get the engine good and warm (hot) I had my brief cass on the back floor in front of the register and it actually melted it, but one thing to get it to push out hot air, is running the engine at a higher RPM because the cooling fan for the engine also acts as the blower for the heater.. 🇺🇸
I have a ‘67 I’ve owned for over 40 years, and I assure you it will run on the snow like a jackrabbit. I always kept an extra pair of mud and snow tires standing by for snow, but it was always ALMOST as good on my stock tires. Nowadays I wouldn’t want risk it getting damaged out there in adverse conditions, but we have a lot of fond memories plowing through the snow with it. :)
Back in high school, I learned to drive on a Volvo that was probably an earlier version of the Volvo you guys showed. I had a female friend with a yellow bug like your convertible and a male friend whose bug was your color, but not a convertible. I drove both in the snow at various points and I can attest that they were great snow machines. I think the tires back then were not nearly as good, but my Volvo had trouble on flat ground without snow tires, but the bugs were amazing on hills, deep snow, whatever. Absolutely not a myth.
When I was a kid we lived on a street that went up hill. In the winter many of the neighbors would get stuck in front of our house but the guy with the VW bug always made it to the top.
Yup, I owned a Volvo 245 that was worthless in the snow. More recently, I had a Vanagon powered by a Subaru STI engine. That thing would pass RAM 2500s on hills like they were tree stumps. That Vanagon had Porsche 993 wheels and tyres, so 345s on the rear....
My bug in Alaska was very good in the snow. It had studded tires on the back. Idid try to go over a 5 ft snow drift I got stuck in the middle of it and had to dig my way out the driver window. The heater was not hot and the motors wernt that reliable.
As a teen in the late 80's I had a 1972 Super Beetle. That thing really was unstoppable in snow. The only problem was that it had no defroster to speak of, so you had to drive with an ice scraper in one hand to scrape the INSIDE of the windshield.
I had a ‘71 Super Beetle. One morning (this was around ‘82) I was driving home with about 3”-4” of snow on the road, at a good clip, and the tires lost traction and the whole car spun around backwards. Learned later than it really needed a little extra weight up front, like a bag or two of sand, for best stability.
Multi tasking. I had installed an old school 4 blade fan, on the dash. I did help some, but the small generator wouldn't keep up. If I had the big car stereo on, wipers, head lights, stock fan and the dash fan. So I had to choose what was more important. So some trips I had to sing to myself.
Since car was flat underneath snow could pile up underneath and u has to unshouvel it out sometime. Also in those days 1960 it used to stop with carburetor icing. Lots of cars did and u could buy stuff to pour into your fuel to stop it icing up.
the vw heater system works quite well if it's maintained properly, what happens with them is over time the vibration and heating/cooling cycles causes the hose clamps and connections in the system to loosen up and leak. if everything is kept tight with no leaks, it will actually roast you out of the car on long drives.
I wish I knew that when I had mine, about 47 years ago. I did have have a new set of grippy winter tires and was almost unstoppable in the cold deep Canada snow. If I did get stuck, such as when I was off reading on a snowmobile trail, my passengers would easily push me out. Relate to that 70s show.
It works good in my 69 too, but I've never driven it in the winter, only chilly autumn days (I try to avoid salty roads), so I have no idea how well that works. The fresh air vents on my 69 are kinda useless, but hey, I know it's not an AC. Without the vent wings I'd die of hyperthermia. I have no idea how effective the window defrosters are.
I owned 2 different Beetles, a 1966 and a 1972, and I drove the 72 through 2 different upstate NY winters. As long as you put some weight in the front trunk (I used 2 bags of 60lb concrete mix; most weight in the least space..), they were VERY good in the snow, provided that you weren't concerned by the feeble heater. In VERY cold weather, unless you had a gas heater, you needed to direct all of your heat to the defroster.
I had a very old Saab a long time ago and it had very narrow tires. The guy at the tire shop told me he'd only ever seen tires that narrow on an old Volkswagen, and he said something about how narrow tires are meant to be better in snow because they "cut through the snow, to the ground below" better than a wider tire.
I fully believe this to be correct. I put 175 width "pizza cutters" on my car and the snow/puddle handling was FAR better than before. The taller sidewall also gave 1/2" extra ground clearance and better ride.
Yes. That was very much a thing in 80's Sweden when I grow up before it become out of fashion to have narrow tires. Before the morning paper always arrived even if it was deep snow on the road with old Saabs, and VW 1 and 2 model golfs but never today, new cars just get stuck..
Yo, this video definitely needs more views. My gramps used to own a super beetle, and he mostly took it out on summer rides. That little car is a trooper. I WISH I had one.
I drove a 74 Super Beetle back in the late 70s while still living in the Denver area and NEVER had a problem driving in snow. It used to make the trip up to A Basin with no problems but for being slow heading uphill. And it was the only VW I ever owned that never leaked oil! I'm still a big fan of old VWs and I miss listening to KBCO.
I live in Arvada and drive a '73 Super Beetle. Have gotten it stuck a couple times, but in slush-on-ice crap that would probably get a Ski-Doo stuck. I've driven it to Loveland ski area a few times, most recently with three people plus ski gear - I have a turbo on it so it has power, but I have to monitor the temperature gauge. And, like you, I probably have the radio tuned to KBCO most of the time!
I had a 1967 Beetle at the end of the 80s, still with a short front end and 4 drum brakes. Back then, I was better able to get over the snowy mountain roads with worn-out winter tires than others with new winter tires. Since I live in Austria in the Alps, it was the ideal car for me at the time. I no longer own the 67, but some parts of it live on in my 72, which I still own to this day.
I had a 72 super beetle that I bought in the winter right after a blizzard. It was about the only car on the cheap lot that started. The heater didn’t work right the first winter, it needed some work, but it was tolerable if you understood it and used it right. It was fairly good in the snow, especially if you used it right and had good snow tires. Nothing is perfect. I grew up on a hill, and I once saw a Jeep apparently spinning all four at once. They had to back down. Often, especially starting on a hill, a light touch is necessary. It’s helpful to try starting in second gear, even in a beetle. That first gear is a real stump puller. Second gear gives you an automatic soft touch on the throttle. Stopping is awesome. I once got gently rear ended twice by the same idiot in a traffic jam in the snow in my old beetle. The tires are relatively tall for the era, and the ground clearance isn’t bad.
Back in 1979 my first car was a ‘69 Beetle. I loved that car and it was incredible in the snow! Once the neighbor was going to adjust the brakes for me and we went out to where it was parked and the snow was about 8” deep and he thought I was going to have to shovel the driveway to get the car out and I said no it’s no problem and just backed out to the street. He was impressed!
I do ice trials in Wisconsin (basically autocross on snow/ice) and members of a Beetle club routinely show up at some events. I have to tell you, those things fly around the course when properly shod.
I had a VW kit car that was VW based. It was a few hundred pounds lighter than the standard VW. That thing rocked in the snow. It was my daily driver for a couple years in New England and I never got stuck. The only issue was, when the rear end got loose, you were spinning all the way around.
I had a 73 beetle back in the 80's that I drove in the snow, due to it being my only car at the time. I did drive into a snow storm on my way to visit family one winter and the snow was coming down so hard that I had to stop several times to clean the snow off the hood so I could see. The heater worked, but still sucked. I still miss that car. Great video!
UK here.. my first car was a 5 yr old '61 Beetle 1200cc. Winter snowstorm dumped about 10" snow which resulted in about 50 cars stuck at the bottom of a hill (a car got stuck on the hill out so all all the following cars were stalled behind it.. very narrow roads). Community effort of pushing the cars for first 50 yds or so gradually cleared the log-jam. It was a real effort ! When it was my turn, the Beetle with 15" wheels shod on Michelin X tyres, went up the hill with no pushing necessary. Wet weather could be interesting though, a cwt sack of sand in the spare wheel well gave perfect 50:50 weight distribution improved handling and negated lively steering in crosswinds too. The heater was fantastic (air jacket around the exhaust).
@@garypeatling7927 not at all. The '71 I have will run you out of the car when it's freezing outside if you open the heat fully. No exhaust leaks. But it has OE heat exchangers. The aftermarket replacements are not as good.
It was the Type 4 Varients and the 73 on Transporters fitted with the Type 4 engine had a reasonable heating system because they had an auxiliary blower fan in the engine compartment. This gave the heating system some independence from the engine speed. The Type 4 Varients and the later Bay Window Transporters (fitted with the Type 4 engine) were also available with a stationary petrol heater.
@@robertneill3057 the auxiliary gasoline heater was available for type 1s as well. I have one for my '71 super, but I haven't installed it. The stock heater, works fine though, which is why the auxiliary heater isn't installed. Now this engine has all the factory cooling tin and OE heat exchangers not the crappy aftermarket ones that don't have proper fins. Sure, need to keep RPM up when not moving, but at cruising speeds I can't have the floor vent open very much or my leg gets too hot. It's a whole lot better than my '68 pickup. I have to block off half the radiator in winter to even try to use the heater.
Back in the late 80s. I was driving a old bug to work and school for a few years. If you figured out, what works and its limits, it would be almost un stoppable. Good winter tires are a must-have. I have busted threw many snowbanks deep enough that the windshield wipers would stop, until I broke out to the other side, or tobogganed over it will hoping that the wheels would grab some road before it stops or ends up of the road. It was a great driving car, if you learned how to drive it
Yep - and you've got to know how to drive in Snow - - a mix of bossy agression and calm enough not to spin the wheels - both my 69 and 73 VW Bug and my front wheel drive 77 Rabbit I don't think ever got stuck - well....lots of years and lots of drinking so if they did - they were light enough to deal with
I used to live in New Jersey and any of my beetle's were great in the snow. I also floated past a police officer in a flooded section of highway in my 67 bug. I found a 69 Ghia that was heading to the scrap yard to be crushed. My son and I are working on it together 😊👍✌️ We have a couple of videos up and will be putting up more as we progress!✌️
VW's were well know to be good in the snow when I was young back in the 60's and 70's, but my best VW story concernes one that wasn't being driven. I was running up the James River (by boat) near Richmond, Va., one afternoon, and as I came around a bend I saw something in the river. "That looks like a VW Bug," I thought. Turns out it was....Just floating down the river, like it was on dry land. You could tell it had been sitting abandoned for some time, and must have floated into the river during a recent period of high water. It floated around with the tide for a while, no idea how long really, before it drifted up againts a rock jetty, and stuck there for some time...a year maybe? before someone came along and pulled it out of the water. I like to think it's been restored and is still running around somewhere.
@@RIVERSIDEREVIEWS Thanks! The good thing about this one is pans and heating channels are in great shape. Just needs help everywhere else 😃👍✌️All is fixable. Our plan is to get it running and on the road and enjoy driving.✌️
I have great memories of fixing vws with my father. Memories I'll hold near and dear forever. I'm glad someone else is keeping that alive. I hope to do it myself if I ever have kids of my own. I wish you and your son many happy memories.
I know alot of people here in Canada use to use them to go out ice fishing. They'd even cut holes in the floor pans to fish from. There's a reason they took one to the Antarctic. Red terror 2
@@christinewoodruff255 if I recall (this was in ‘95 when I was 15) they were in the vents on the floor. With a simple switch for off, low, high modes. I might be wrong, it might have been mounted somewhere else.
There are several kits to get better heat from the stock beetle. Simply wrapping the heat box in fiberglass turbo wrap makes a huge difference. I loved my 65 beetle until hurricane Hugo dropped a building on top of it… The older vehicles did better in the snow with their heavy steel wheels with narrow tires.
I lived in Edmonton Alberta. Winter temp -20 to - 30 degrees F. I at one point, thought of buying a vw bug, but knew of their winter heating issues - read dismal. So I stopped in at a local ( ex-Pat) German vw repair shop. Was there anyway to keep warm in a beetle in northern Canadian winters? Oh, yes nodded the mechanic behind his counter . . . “Buy a snowmobile suit , gloves, and snow boots!” All said in a heavy German accent.
Actually the heaters work well enough when new, just they get so messed around with over the years. Two other points, Beetles with the double jointed rear axles, were one of the first small cars with the Honda Civic from memory, that could generate over 0.7g on the skid pad, even on skinny tires. VW even offered a ZF LSD for some markets in the fine print. Braking even with the US spec drums was 120ft from 60mph according to Road&Track, which is actually OK even today. The rest of the world got front discs.
My Dad really was a snow plow driver and he did have a 1974 Super Beetle that always got him to his plow even when the snow was deep. I had a 1970 Bug that worked great in the snow.
another great video Tommi ,if you saw what we did back in the 70's in high school with my friends Beetle you would of had us committed, he was my best childhood friend who lived 2 doors over ,his dad and uncle next door were both VW mechanics ,we had access to everything, big old shop falling over with no heat, we didn't care it wasn't outside and this was in Manitoba ,they taught us pretty much all we ever knew about bugs, his dad/uncle said in Europe in the winter you saw hundreds of them up in the ski resorts in winter and even saw a few black/white snapshots of them, his dad knew how to have/maintain good heat in the car in the winter it was a regular maintenance thing and an aftermarket fan helped keep windows clear pretty good, 2 of us got good at changing out engine/trans in a few hours, just using hand tools and 4 jack stands , and snow tires with studs was the best, virtually no one passed us on the road in the winter , we got stuck once in a snowbank cornering too fast leaving a party, we got out and pushed it back and went home and they hill climb like mad in the summer time, good times 👍
Yep. Once had a '64 Squareback that sat in the street for about 5 days and was covered in snow - first by a blizzard and then by snow thrown upon it from a passing snowplow. I started it and by rocking back and forth a few times, drove out of the snowbank it had been sitting in. The neighbor from across the street came over and asked if it was for sale. His car was stuck in the driveway. Told him "Sorry, nope!"
I had a 71 super beatle with automatic stick shift. With the skinny old school winter tires I went everywhere in the west kootenays. Even outdone some 4wd trucks going up a snowy forest service road. It had an auxiliary gasoline powered heater in the frunk even with the engine not running, it did well to warm up the interior. It exhausted under the front driver's fender
Learnt to drive on a 1969 VW1500 Beetle, learnt to work on cars on a 1967 Delux Type II and did all the things you do in any car in my bug - yes, everything! The only thing I have not done is drive in the snow - I did drive my '67 bus on a sandy beach - and now I have seen what fun I missed out on. Love that Red '71 Cabriolet. Enjoy it, keep it living, they are getting harder and harder to find as time goes on. Thanks for sharing!
Hello from the UK! For many years I drove rear engine Skodas, and have found them to have excellent traction in the snow. I remember waiting in a carpark while the driver of a modern fwd car tried and failed to leave via the exit, which was a frozen up slope. After a few minutes he gave up and left through the separate entrance, which was quite level in comparison. The old Skoda made it up the slope without issue. The only worry I have had about driving the Skoda in the snow was being stranded behind other more conventional vehicles, or if someone was unfortunate enough to lose control of their car. Excellent video, btw - looks like great fun!
During the 80's my brother and I used a VW bug with rear studded snow tires to go skiing every weekend on Mt. Hood, we never had to stop and chain up once.
Buddy of mine had a early 70's 4 speed Ford Pinto. That little scooter would get UP on the snow and boogie all day long. He had some severe snow tires on the back.
The only problem I had with my 72 Beetle driving in the snow was with ground clearance. It had great heat if you were moving, so I got a blower for it. Do you remember the JC Whitney catalog that was the place to go to?
Had a '63 and a '66. Put Vredestein Snow Classics on them, either one would go until the floorpan was dragging in the powder. The '63 was still 6 volt, and one February where it didn't even get up to freezing for 2 weeks, that bug was one of maybe 3 cars that would start in the morning. As reliable as a sundial and only slightly more complex. Fantastic cars.
I had a 74 super in High School and I loved driving it in the snow. My bugs heater did work (a little too well). It had two settings; off and the fires of hades. A friend riding in the back burned her foot after the heater heated up the buckle on her sandal.
My father had a 1966 VW Beetle and a 1976 VW Beetle. He drove those cars in snow and it was great. He had snow tires on his cars. My sister had a 1966 and 1973 VW Bugs. They are excellent in snow!!!
My first car was a Volvo 850 GLT, and it did really well in the snow in the midwest. I loved it for having the "Winter Package" which included the headlight wipers! Always had people asking about those. Loved that car. It's cool seeing a old Beetle driving in the snow. I figured it'd do well, and it sure did.
I had an 850 a couple years ago, it was pretty good in the winter, but when traction was lost, it would understeer and plow like there's no tomorrow...
Every Saab and Volvo from those days and older had headlight wipers here in Sweden. I think it actually was a requirement. Never knew they was even made without.
@@hnorrstrom Yeah, at least in the US, you had to have the "Winter Package". I think it was a requirement in Sweden because the amount of snow that builds up. I doubt it is now, but I don't live in Sweden.
@@atmartens Yes I think you are right, as far as I know they skipped that requirements here long time ago. Usually winter roads in the southern part of Sweden is covered with snow slush mix as temperatures are mostly around just below freezing and tonnes of road salt being used. Here in mid Sweden, snow depth over half a meter or two feets are rare.
I drove a 67 beetle in Rochester NY in the mid 70s. Put retread snow tires on the back in November, would go thru anything. Even better, if you got stuck in a snow bank, 2 or 3 people could get out, pick the car up and put it back on the road. The scraper for the inside is truth BTW.
Skinnies are the best for getting traction in general for accelerating. However, the big downside is they have less lateral traction for cornering, meaning that you get up to speed on the ice no problem but when you take a corner on a hard surface you're at greater risk of sliding.
We have an elderly Citroen 2CV, complete with rubber fenders and waiting room standard seats, in the family. My cousin uses it on his small farm and it will go anywhere, he cannot afford a Landrover and reckons the 2 CV is as good for what he needs.
@@robertjames6640 I've been watching a man on UA-cam called HubNut for years and the places he's had his and a Citroen Dyane he once owned beggars belief. It's really made me realise how wrong I was when I was younger about them being trash.
My father had a fastback which went up a steep snow-covered road to the university quite easily Had to wear super warm clothes, boots, gloves and hat though As you may know, the battery was under the rear seat and once a couple of heavy-weight rear passengers caused the seat bottom springs to flex and cause a short and a spark and set the rear seat on fire. We redid the seat and Isolated the Battery terminals I loved that car. Everything about it, the sound, smell of interior materials, ...........
My 73 Super Beetle took many, many trips between Fort Meade and Lexington KY. I drove this straight through only stopping for gas and food. This was before the interstate went through western Virginia and West Virginia. I only picked up the interstate at Charleston WV. The Beetle went through rain, snow, sleet, and some ice in the mountain on two lane highways. I'm sorry I traded it for a 79 Honda Civic. The Civic was a pile of problems. The only thing I changed on the VW was putting Radial tires to replace the Bias Plys. I also added fog lights to help with night driving. It was a great car. You were right about the heater. It burned my left foot but that was about all.
Looks like your super bug is running a wider tire from the earlier bugs. I had a bug 68' converted from auto stick to 4 speed with narrow snow tires and it worked very well as long as the snow wasn't so deep that the belly pan would get floated on the snow. You just needed to keep a fully tank of gas for better steering. Then converted it to a Baja that ran mud-dog retreads and with the wider tire the bug would tend to float on the snow but would always dig its way through. I raised it up a bit over stock so getting the belly pan stuck wasn't really a problem. Besides you could always back out if you did get stuck but it was able to keep up with most 4WDs, surprisingly.
the super beetles were not as good or really anything after 66 due to the ball joint frontend vs kingpin, the car got wider after 65, and switched to 4 lugs.
@@invalidaccount2315 The newer torsion beam front end allowed for the fairly easy installation of a lowing kit I installed upside down to lift the front end. Being a '68 auto stick it got the IRS a year early. A little grinding and re-orienting the torsion splines to trailing arms lifted the rear suspension for free. Only problem was if the front end was set too high, front end would dive during hard braking. It was a geometry thing.
I got caught in the blizzard of 78 on my way to work from Nashua, NH. So I turned around, and my trusty 73 Beetle took me safely home. I bought the car new in New Jersey and was impressed how I didn't need chains on the rear tires, as I used to use on my previous rear wheel drive sedan. I get so nostalgic every time I see an old Beetle!
it's awesome that Tommy takes after his dad and partakes in TFL. i've been watching TFL for years and i always enjoyed their content. keep up the work everyone (Andre, Roman, Tommy, Nate, Toby [sorry if i missed anyone else; these are just the common faces I see])
On Christmas leave in 1964 I drove from Ft. Sill OK to Los Angeles on Route 66 in my 1958 Beetle. It was the coldest winter I had ever seen up to that time, I was 21. As we entered Amarillo the traffic stopped at a light. When the light changed nobody moved until the car in front of me began sliding to right because of the crowning of the road. Then I noticed other car's rear tires were spinning but the cars weren't moving forward. I just put the car in gear and drove around them all. I will never forget that.
I've been daily driving my 70 bug in the snow for years and it has always worked like a charm. My heater even works! It actually works a little too well cause I have to crack a window. I will agree that the idea of getting in an accident is horrifying though!
@@christinewoodruff255 I just try to keep up with it. Every fall I coat the bottom with some kind of coating and throughout the winter I try to keep it clean as best as I can. I haven't completely stoped all the rusting but everything is still intact for the most part.
@@D.ChrisPeterson clean scrub convert the rust scrub clean again and use a gallon of epoxy paint for concrete floors, hardware store can pigment it blacker for ya. 3-4 coats of that sure isn't going anywhere soon. if its got undercoating (auto parts store crap) get rid of it, it collects and holds moisture instead of repelling oil and water and salt and..
ill say i drove my 68 beetle in the snow last year and it did great. Also my heater worked very well it will burn you up in a couple minutes without the window cracked open. Most of the time I hear people say things about the heater it generally means somethings not hooked up properly or its clogged with some sort of junk
When steering a Beetle in deep snow, don't just turn as you would on a dry road. You need to work the wheel back and forth in the direction of your turn. It grips better and you can stay on the throttle.
This is my personal experience. Back in 1983 - 1986, I was stationed in Germany and drove a 1966 VW bug, and I mean drove, loved that car. During winter, I drove it nonstop, even with several inches of school, never got stuck or lost control of the car. However, I drove it very slow in order to help the car stay on the road. Years later, in 2010, drove a 1974 super bettle in Colorado Springs, CO. The experience was very similar, but the accumulation of snow made it harder to drive, but it was still manageable. Enjoyed the video.
Great Video! I had a 1974 super Beetle in MA and I also had all season tires plus 50 lbs of sand in the trunk for better steering. It never got stuck and always started easily. The heater did have an auxiliary fan to help with heat distribution. 60 HP. Perfect. BTW, I love the S2A Landy in the background. I also own a 1970 S2A. 77 HP! And it also never gets stuck...ever!
We used to have a VW Variant in the family which is a station wagon version of the Beetle with 1.8 fuel injected engine. It was fantastic in the snow but you needed a toolbox in the frunk to provide steering traction. 😎🤣😇
I had a Super Beetle within a year or so of the one you have back in '79. Lived in New England. Never had a problem in the snow. You CAN bog one down, but with any kind of sense involved, it's hard to do. Thanks for the memories.
My grandparents had a book that castigated Canada for not building vehicles for its own environment. Sweden had roughly the same population, but had a couple of vehicle manufacturers of their own built for northern conditions. My other grandfather was the local guru on VW's and liked that they were good in snow, but his main ride was usually an Impala. He lived in a popular area for snowmobiling.
Volvo opened up a Canadian assembly plant in Halifax in '63 where they built Volvos for the Canadian and U.S. market. In fact, both of my last two Volvos were built at that assembly plant. Volvo may not be an actual Canadian car, but they are suitable cars for Canada's "northern conditions" which are very similar to Sweden's.
Sweden is similar it’s true, but our winters are much colder. Volvo recognized this and modified their cars accordingly. The British tested their cars in Sweden, for North American export and buyers here were of British cars were left with frozen immobile couches on wheels. 😊🇨🇦
I owned a new 1968 VW and had two friends with Jeeps. We were not doing any rock crawling but muddy dirt roads, plowed fields and snow days I followed and lead the pack in my little VW-Bug. We often went camping in really remote USFS areas and back logging roads. The steeper the terrain the better it pulled to a point. We chased deer across pastures at 45 plus MPH. My 1974 Plymouth Duster slant six straight drive with radial tires went well in ten or eleven inches of snow with 300 pounds in the trunk. P.S. I drove a county salt truck.
I tried it with 1991 Fiat 126 Bis it's a little bit modern water cooled fiat 500 but still rear engined rear wheel drive and 2 cylinders. It's about 600kgs and made suprisingly well in snow too
I had a 1969 VW van working on Newport Coast in Southern California El nino season rain driving the construction site with nothing but clay muck I drove All around The hills up and down that place passing all the guys with the big beautiful four-wheel drive Fords and I never got stuck anywhere, the positraction is awesome!!!! Great video
I’ve heard the same myth. Kept my ‘66 beetle on the road last winter until Christmas (decorated with lights and tree on top). Ended up getting snow, and needless to say it was fun, but sucked. Of course, that was most certainly due to the old summer tires that are low on tread, and the fact that the car sits quite low so the rear wheels have a ton of camber and don’t make best contact with the road.
@@leadnsteel1428 those are great winter tires! Goods winter tires make a world of a difference for driving in ice and snow. What year is your golf? I have a 2015 GTI myself, but don’t winter drive it. I’ve had a few mk4 golf’s and Jettas that I did, and they were also great cars including in the snow (with winter tires… terrible when caught in the snow with the summer tires still on)
2:40 about the heater: in older beetles -- I had a 1956 in the late 1960s -- you could get decent amounts of heat but only after driving for a good while. So for a short trip to school or work in midwinter, I'd keep my parka and gloves on. But I loved that car; it had 183,000 miles on it and nothing could stop it. A while back I was told it's still owned by someone in my hometown, AND somehow still running!
Had a '69 Beetle in that year and then bought a new '73 Super Beetle in that year. Today I have a restored '72 Super Beetle. I have loved them all. So much fun to drive.
I had a '72 Super Beetle and loved it. Living in Georgia, we never had the opportunity to drive it in the snow but it was a beast. Hester worked well too!
That's what they were thinking of with the Baja. But if you want to see unstoppable, put chains on a Bug. Snowy roads wouldn't even be a worthy adversary - I'm confident it could go straight up a green ski run, not sure about a blue.
Beetles with real winter tires are unbeatable. I had also a Smart car in Canada with winter tires equipped. It drove amazing and my neighbors were not believing me that I actually drove it.
I was living and working in France when I purchased an early 1950s VW Beetle. In mountainous Northern France the temperatures drop very low and snow comes for a fair time, deep snow. The Beetle would never start in the cold mornings, (6v) and had to be run down a hill near my home: provided it had not iced over. In the snow it was good for traction but a pig to steer on moderate snow. I do not know if later models were any better but the early ones were as most rear drive vehicles in snow. A pal had a WW2 Kubelwagen which was basically a Beetle in military garb: that one was a lot better in snow.
My good friend had one in the late 60's. It was almost unstoppable, and with a couple of passengers to provide a push now and then, it WAS unstoppable.
At your trail with the stop on the middle of the hill. (5:37 min.) You can use the handbrake (during your starting). Pull the hand brake softly. This has the effect, that booth back wheels will turn. This works like a limited-slip differential. You have to play with the hand gear a little bit. The pull has to be not to less, but also not to strong.
A friend of mine had an old 68 Corvair that did really well in the snow with tall skinny snow tires in the rear and fairly aggressive treaded all seasons in the front. It only had issues when the snow was deep enough for it to drag the floorboards through the snow.
To do really well in the snow with a Beetle you need narrow tires. 155 is the best, but 165 is also good. The Beetle is so light that if the tires are too wide it just ends up sliding around on top of the snow. Studs are also a good help.
The stock vw goes pretty good in beach sand too...used to go down tracks to desolate beaches in baja... kinda worried about going back up but always did ....not super soft sand mind you...
We had a VW in the mid-70s - in the midwest there are some awesome blizzards and snowfalls - it could get hung up and have to be dug out. Normal winter road driving was pretty good. The outstanding point was it would always start - no mean feat when the wind chill is -40. But driving it in that cold was miserable - there was so little interior heat.
In the 70's and 80's I owned 4 Beetles and they were great. I live in Minnesota and we had a lot of snow. But I also had two sets of tires; one set for the summer and knobby snow tires for the winter. I don't ever remember getting stuck with my Volks when driving in the winter with good snow tires, I do remember actually pushing snow with the front of my Volks.
In 1968 there was a publicity stunt where a VW bug crossed an entire lake, mechanics and technicians worked on this bug so water would not leak in to the engine and to the cab. In total the little VW swam 24 kilometers. Now this bug is in private hands, but you can see it every now and then on exhibitions. This happened in Chapala's Lake and you can look it up for yourself.
I had a 68 Beetle and used to love taking it out after a fresh snow and cut donuts all over town. The best car I had in the snow was a 94 Toyota Tercel. Super narrow tires and front wheel drive. Unstoppable.
My dad had a dark blue ‘68. It was fun to ride in! He never got stuck! I bought a new ‘79 Honda Civic that had skinny studded snow tires on 12” rims. Like the VWs, it would easily plow through 5” of snow and never get stuck. Little cars are great!!!
First beetle was a '70 (with gas heater, yay!)". Great snow car - never a probem with traction. Worst problem I had in winter was when the mountain highway I drove on wasn't plowed and you had to follow the wide tracks made by the semis, so the wheels on one side were fine but the other side would be in the mounds thrown up from the other track. Got into Type IIs after that and they were pretty much the same as far as handling, just had to keep the speed down. A gas heater is essential in the Type II - mine just had the basic heat and it was terrible. I well remember a winter night trip over the Hope-Princeton with my passenger and I scraping the inside of the windshield frequently. We could see our breath the entire trip, which shows how well the stock heater worked.
No problem! I often took my 57' skiing up to Paradise on Mt. Rainier. Never once had to chain up and just street tires. The 1958 Volvo 544 was another good now rig.
One thing you missed about winter driving in the bug is that slush would drip off your boots and pile up around the bottom pivoted brake/clutch pedals. Once got stuck because that slush froze and I had to chisel the ice away before I could get moving. Oh and flat windows were best as you could reach inside and out to clear them; curved windows meant you had to stop!
We had a VW412LE Variant and that was pretty handy in snow. It got us from Devon to Manchester through the snows of the winter of 1981/2 which here in the UK was, to say the least "interesting". With temperatures that year going down to below minus 25C it was good to have an air-cooled engine too.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I remember the 60s VW TV commercial that showed a Bug starting out early in the morning driving through fresh powder snow touting the snow driveability of the bug. At the end he was pulling up to a large shop saying "ever wonder how the snow plow driver gets to his job"
That was 1961
And then the floors rusted out a week later.
My first car was 1960 bug with rag top. Drove it in snow and on beach East coast
@@GlamStacheessnostalgialounge I have a 1973 and the floor still good
@@aureliomartinez2633 same
The beetle is fitted for every single situation, hot dessert, no problem, no cooland, no boiling cooland, same for icy weather, no frozen cooland, a low and Light engine producing butueen 25 and 50 hp depending of the build year, it was so succes full, it realesed in 1944 and was produced until 2003, changing bairly
Gnarly
Its ability to warm up the car in the winter was very limited.
@@robertheinkel6225 so is it for every other car
My beetle was crap in the winter.
I had a classic beetle, 1971 and I always kept snow tires on in the winter (Ct.) That car would go thru anything in the blizzard of "78" it was one of the few cars moving.
The VW beetle, in my opinion was one of the greatest cars of all time
I remember that blizzard. I stayed overnight at my girlfriend's house in Forestville (MD). They were worried I get stuck. The next day, I drove up the steep hill with no problem. Cars were stuck all over that street. That was a great memory! Thanks!
Same here! We also had a '71 Beetle that survived Dad's Boston commute for many winters. But we actually got ours after The BIG Blizzard of '78!❄️
I also had a Corvair. 1 inch bigger wheels on the back and snowtires really made a big deference in the winter.
The downfall of the Corvair was GM would not license the VW pushrod tubes.
But at least Nader made a profit. Unlike FWD it does not bounce directions with uneven traction.
a modern version principally all the same, with same shell and safety reinforcement (put a cage in it!) would sell like crazy. a car that'd get you around while giving +50 mpg, I wouldn't care if its top speed was only 75 mph as long as I can maintain it myself with available+cheap parts. same reasons it was created and successful. there was an old guy who ALWAYS babied his bug, he drove it +450,000 US miles without a rebuild, just religious maintenance.. oil changes, valve adjustments, plugs points condenser rotor cap!
I left for boot camp 3 days before the blizzard. Feb 3. Sorry I missed the fun. Dad had a 68 Beetle and yes it would go through anything!
In Brazil it became the most popular car at the time because of it's simplicity and performance on dirty roads. I had one about 10 years ago and had a lot of fun on dirty roads, it goes really well. In Brazil there are tons of vídeos showing Beatles climbing steap mud roads at ease, passing stuck pick-ups.
Beatles?! 🤣
@@diogo_barros yeah, they always there if you need Help!
The Beatles kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
I love the Brazilian Fusca especially the front end which has deeper headlight sockets and a steeper angle to the hood and apron and its smaller bumpers. I however like the Mexican body with its wider windows like the German post 1963. The Brazilian also has a lower final drive which makes it a lot easier to go up hills and for zipping around slow moving traffic. The engines are also tuned to have such smooth idle characteristics. If you google about the Brazilian Beetle climbing hills you'd won't believe the kind of offroading they are capable of.
John, Paul, George or Ringo?
I had a 66 karmin ghia. You put a set of studded tires on it and a full tank of gas up front and it was a tank in the snow. I remember plowing through 2 feet of snow driving from McCloud to Mt. Shasta City Calif. on Thanksgiving day, snow flowing over the hood the whole way. I used to go out just to play in the snow with it.
Lived in Massachusetts during '78 blizzard and drove a '62 Bug with tire chains. It was unstoppable. Gas heater kept me warm as I transported nurses, doctors, police and others to work. Wish I still had her.
The Beetle was the 1st car in Antarctica simply because it was air cooled, easy to modify, and easy to repair. Other vehicles were on the continent before the Bug, but they were more or less purpose built for polar research.
Also because it's superior traction and build quality that kept the wind out
@@dipstiksubaru3246 and the fact that it was rear engine which put more traction to the rear and built for german winters, aka artic conditions
@invalidaccount2315 not sure if you know this, no part of Germany is in the arctic or sees similar conditions. They rarely get snow.
You clearly have never been to the Black Forest or parts of Bavaria just to name two examples in the winter
@RAZORCANITRUNCRYSIS neither of those places are in the arctic circle nor do they see as much snow or as cold of temps.
Thank you so much for actually showing us the car. Most YT car channels just put the camera facing the presenter, and you end up with an entire video staring at someone who is telling you how the car drives. I much prefer to SEE how the car drives and handles. If you want to put a camera inside the car, put it behind the driver, so we can still see how the car drives.
Anyway I find it amazing that most of the shots are of the car, please keep up the great work. Please do not become like other car channels that only show the driver's face. :)
They're used for hill climb trialling in the UK because they're so good. My dad had a gold 1303s Superbeetle with rounded windscreen and full size tail lights. The neighbours hated that car because it was so noisy, but they came knocking on the door when they needed a lift to work in the snow after they'd tried in vain to leave the street in their more modern hatchbacks.😄
The trick with a lot of the modern cars is drive in reverse, so the weight is on the powered wheels. I passed a Subaru in my Yaris on our steep mountain road because I had better tires and knew how to drive in snow.
Neighbors can be butt holes until they need something.
Never seen anyone do a hill climbing trial in a Beetle in the U.K. - have you ever visited the U.K.?
@@MarthaMansbridge type in 2021 lands end trial hill climb. Thetes loads of videos here on YT.
@@randomvideosn0wherehow would driving in reverse change the weight distribution of the car?
Yes, the weight of the engine over the rear drive wheels certainly helped The Bug to perform in the snow, just as it did when they were converted to Dune Buggies for the sand. If they did get stuck, they were easier to push.
My first beetle was a 1957 oval window. It was literally almost unstoppable in the snow unless you got high centered in deep snow because of the flat floor planes. The trick that you finally alluded to at the end of not letting the tire spin is the secret. Slip the clutch until it starts to roll without spinning. If it’s too slick for low gear put it in second and do the same thing and it will just startlugging away in 2nd second gear. As for the rear end sliding out, it’s actually very easy to control once you get used to driving a rear engine car. I would give my eyeteeth to have my old 36 horse 1957 bug back.
I had a '56 VW in 1959 in which I took my driver's test at age 15. I really liked it, even with it's 32HP engine. The smoothness of the transmission was incredible, you just moved the lever and it would click into gear (WEST German precision)! The "heater" was non-existant and the car was a HANDFUL in crosswinds. There was no gas gauge, you listened for the signs of engine "sputter" and hoped you were quick enough to "kick in" the reserve tank without stalling the engine (lol).
The part you guys left off was the tire chains. I was born in Germany. Army brat. At 5 y/o had a baby sitter with a beetle. Germany can see up to 10 feet of snow overnight. That beetle never got stuck. Hills didn't matter. It went through snow so deep the front wheels were lifted off the ground yet kept going. Trust me, there's a reason I keep my 69 beetle around here in East TN.
Actually the heater in the VW work very well if it's in perfect conditions, but you have to drive quite a distance to get the engine good and warm (hot) I had my brief cass on the back floor in front of the register and it actually melted it, but one thing to get it to push out hot air, is running the engine at a higher RPM because the cooling fan for the engine also acts as the blower for the heater.. 🇺🇸
I AGREE! And a good idea was to carry a scaper (for the INSIDE) while it was warming up) lol.
I had a 62 beetle, had a blower under back seat to boost heat, had to turn it off it got so hot during ski trip to Vermont
I have a ‘67 I’ve owned for over 40 years, and I assure you it will run on the snow like a jackrabbit. I always kept an extra pair of mud and snow tires standing by for snow, but it was always ALMOST as good on my stock tires. Nowadays I wouldn’t want risk it getting damaged out there in adverse conditions, but we have a lot of fond memories plowing through the snow with it. :)
Back in high school, I learned to drive on a Volvo that was probably an earlier version of the Volvo you guys showed. I had a female friend with a yellow bug like your convertible and a male friend whose bug was your color, but not a convertible. I drove both in the snow at various points and I can attest that they were great snow machines. I think the tires back then were not nearly as good, but my Volvo had trouble on flat ground without snow tires, but the bugs were amazing on hills, deep snow, whatever. Absolutely not a myth.
When I was a kid we lived on a street that went up hill. In the winter many of the neighbors would get stuck in front of our house but the guy with the VW bug always made it to the top.
At the absolute complete opposite temperature range: bugs also do very very well on loose sand/dunes
Absolutely..the weight is over the wheels.
Yup, I owned a Volvo 245 that was worthless in the snow. More recently, I had a Vanagon powered by a Subaru STI engine. That thing would pass RAM 2500s on hills like they were tree stumps. That Vanagon had Porsche 993 wheels and tyres, so 345s on the rear....
My bug in Alaska was very good in the snow. It had studded tires on the back. Idid try to go over a 5 ft snow drift I
got stuck in the middle of it and had to dig my way out the driver window. The heater was not hot and the motors wernt that reliable.
As a teen in the late 80's I had a 1972 Super Beetle. That thing really was unstoppable in snow. The only problem was that it had no defroster to speak of, so you had to drive with an ice scraper in one hand to scrape the INSIDE of the windshield.
I had a ‘71 Super Beetle. One morning (this was around ‘82) I was driving home with about 3”-4” of snow on the road, at a good clip, and the tires lost traction and the whole car spun around backwards. Learned later than it really needed a little extra weight up front, like a bag or two of sand, for best stability.
Oh wow hi there 😊I had a 73 Super Beetle ❤ in 1984
Multi tasking. I had installed an old school 4 blade fan, on the dash. I did help some, but the small generator wouldn't keep up. If I had the big car stereo on, wipers, head lights, stock fan and the dash fan. So I had to choose what was more important. So some trips I had to sing to myself.
Since car was flat underneath snow could pile up underneath and u has to unshouvel it out sometime. Also in those days 1960 it used to stop with carburetor icing. Lots of cars did and u could buy stuff to pour into your fuel to stop it icing up.
the vw heater system works quite well if it's maintained properly, what happens with them is over time the vibration and heating/cooling cycles causes the hose clamps and connections in the system to loosen up and leak. if everything is kept tight with no leaks, it will actually roast you out of the car on long drives.
I wish I knew that when I had mine, about 47 years ago. I did have have a new set of grippy winter tires and was almost unstoppable in the cold deep Canada snow. If I did get stuck, such as when I was off reading on a snowmobile trail, my passengers would easily push me out. Relate to that 70s show.
Yep, my 66 will roast me once it gets warmed up.
It works good in my 69 too, but I've never driven it in the winter, only chilly autumn days (I try to avoid salty roads), so I have no idea how well that works. The fresh air vents on my 69 are kinda useless, but hey, I know it's not an AC. Without the vent wings I'd die of hyperthermia. I have no idea how effective the window defrosters are.
I owned 2 different Beetles, a 1966 and a 1972, and I drove the 72 through 2 different upstate NY winters. As long as you put some weight in the front trunk (I used 2 bags of 60lb concrete mix; most weight in the least space..), they were VERY good in the snow, provided that you weren't concerned by the feeble heater. In VERY cold weather, unless you had a gas heater, you needed to direct all of your heat to the defroster.
I had a very old Saab a long time ago and it had very narrow tires. The guy at the tire shop told me he'd only ever seen tires that narrow on an old Volkswagen, and he said something about how narrow tires are meant to be better in snow because they "cut through the snow, to the ground below" better than a wider tire.
Yep. Wide tires are meant for flotation in the mud.
I fully believe this to be correct. I put 175 width "pizza cutters" on my car and the snow/puddle handling was FAR better than before. The taller sidewall also gave 1/2" extra ground clearance and better ride.
Yes. That was very much a thing in 80's Sweden when I grow up before it become out of fashion to have narrow tires.
Before the morning paper always arrived even if it was deep snow on the road with old Saabs, and VW 1 and 2 model golfs
but never today, new cars just get stuck..
Model t had narrow tires, went well in snow.
Why people think wide tires are better in snow never amaze me , people think snow shoes but thats wrong ,,,,,,
Yo, this video definitely needs more views. My gramps used to own a super beetle, and he mostly took it out on summer rides. That little car is a trooper. I WISH I had one.
I drove a 74 Super Beetle back in the late 70s while still living in the Denver area and NEVER had a problem driving in snow. It used to make the trip up to A
Basin with no problems but for being slow heading uphill. And it was the only VW I ever owned that never leaked oil! I'm still a big fan of old VWs and I miss listening to KBCO.
I live in Arvada and drive a '73 Super Beetle. Have gotten it stuck a couple times, but in slush-on-ice crap that would probably get a Ski-Doo stuck. I've driven it to Loveland ski area a few times, most recently with three people plus ski gear - I have a turbo on it so it has power, but I have to monitor the temperature gauge. And, like you, I probably have the radio tuned to KBCO most of the time!
Leaking oil means you did not do maint.
I had a 74 Super Beetle back in high school in Pennsylvania. Never got stuck in the snow, loved it ! I did have snow tires on the rear wheels .
I had a 1967 Beetle at the end of the 80s, still with a short front end and 4 drum brakes.
Back then, I was better able to get over the snowy mountain roads with worn-out winter tires than others with new winter tires.
Since I live in Austria in the Alps, it was the ideal car for me at the time.
I no longer own the 67, but some parts of it live on in my 72, which I still own to this day.
Love the sound of a beetle firing! I will get one again! It’s been nearly 10 years since I sold my 1303L
We had a 1968 VW and during the blizzard of 77/78 we went anywhere we wanted to go.....we froze our butts off getting there but we got there!!!!!
I had a 72 super beetle that I bought in the winter right after a blizzard. It was about the only car on the cheap lot that started. The heater didn’t work right the first winter, it needed some work, but it was tolerable if you understood it and used it right. It was fairly good in the snow, especially if you used it right and had good snow tires. Nothing is perfect. I grew up on a hill, and I once saw a Jeep apparently spinning all four at once. They had to back down. Often, especially starting on a hill, a light touch is necessary. It’s helpful to try starting in second gear, even in a beetle. That first gear is a real stump puller. Second gear gives you an automatic soft touch on the throttle. Stopping is awesome. I once got gently rear ended twice by the same idiot in a traffic jam in the snow in my old beetle. The tires are relatively tall for the era, and the ground clearance isn’t bad.
Back in 1979 my first car was a ‘69 Beetle. I loved that car and it was incredible in the snow! Once the neighbor was going to adjust the brakes for me and we went out to where it was parked and the snow was about 8” deep and he thought I was going to have to shovel the driveway to get the car out and I said no it’s no problem and just backed out to the street. He was impressed!
I do ice trials in Wisconsin (basically autocross on snow/ice) and members of a Beetle club routinely show up at some events. I have to tell you, those things fly around the course when properly shod.
I had a VW kit car that was VW based. It was a few hundred pounds lighter than the standard VW. That thing rocked in the snow. It was my daily driver for a couple years in New England and I never got stuck. The only issue was, when the rear end got loose, you were spinning all the way around.
I had a 73 beetle back in the 80's that I drove in the snow, due to it being my only car at the time. I did drive into a snow storm on my way to visit family one winter and the snow was coming down so hard that I had to stop several times to clean the snow off the hood so I could see. The heater worked, but still sucked. I still miss that car. Great video!
Best 2wd car for snow that I ever had was an early '60s Corvair van.
UK here.. my first car was a 5 yr old '61 Beetle 1200cc. Winter snowstorm dumped about 10" snow which resulted in about 50 cars stuck at the bottom of a hill (a car got stuck on the hill out so all all the following cars were stalled behind it.. very narrow roads). Community effort of pushing the cars for first 50 yds or so gradually cleared the log-jam. It was a real effort ! When it was my turn, the Beetle with 15" wheels shod on Michelin X tyres, went up the hill with no pushing necessary. Wet weather could be interesting though, a cwt sack of sand in the spare wheel well gave perfect 50:50 weight distribution improved handling and negated lively steering in crosswinds too. The heater was fantastic (air jacket around the exhaust).
Heater only fantastic when exchangers blown and basically filling car with exhaust fumes
@@garypeatling7927 not at all. The '71 I have will run you out of the car when it's freezing outside if you open the heat fully. No exhaust leaks.
But it has OE heat exchangers. The aftermarket replacements are not as good.
It was the Type 4 Varients and the 73 on Transporters fitted with the Type 4 engine had a reasonable heating system because they had an auxiliary blower fan in the engine compartment. This gave the heating system some independence from the engine speed. The Type 4 Varients and the later Bay Window Transporters (fitted with the Type 4 engine) were also available with a stationary petrol heater.
@@robertneill3057 the auxiliary gasoline heater was available for type 1s as well. I have one for my '71 super, but I haven't installed it.
The stock heater, works fine though, which is why the auxiliary heater isn't installed. Now this engine has all the factory cooling tin and OE heat exchangers not the crappy aftermarket ones that don't have proper fins.
Sure, need to keep RPM up when not moving, but at cruising speeds I can't have the floor vent open very much or my leg gets too hot.
It's a whole lot better than my '68 pickup. I have to block off half the radiator in winter to even try to use the heater.
@@TEDodd Agreed 100%. It's crappy pattern heat exchangers (about 30% of the originals' output) which have led to the 'poor heating' problems.
Back in the late 80s. I was driving a old bug to work and school for a few years. If you figured out, what works and its limits, it would be almost un stoppable. Good winter tires are a must-have. I have busted threw many snowbanks deep enough that the windshield wipers would stop, until I broke out to the other side, or tobogganed over it will hoping that the wheels would grab some road before it stops or ends up of the road. It was a great driving car, if you learned how to drive it
As a driver of a Beatle back in the 80's. I agree.
Yep - and you've got to know how to drive in Snow - - a mix of bossy agression and calm enough not to spin the wheels - both my 69 and 73 VW Bug and my front wheel drive 77 Rabbit I don't think ever got stuck - well....lots of years and lots of drinking so if they did - they were light enough to deal with
I used to live in New Jersey and any of my beetle's were great in the snow. I also floated past a police officer in a flooded section of highway in my 67 bug. I found a 69 Ghia that was heading to the scrap yard to be crushed. My son and I are working on it together 😊👍✌️ We have a couple of videos up and will be putting up more as we progress!✌️
VW's were well know to be good in the snow when I was young back in the 60's and 70's, but my best VW story concernes one that wasn't being driven. I was running up the James River (by boat) near Richmond, Va., one afternoon, and as I came around a bend I saw something in the river. "That looks like a VW Bug," I thought. Turns out it was....Just floating down the river, like it was on dry land. You could tell it had been sitting abandoned for some time, and must have floated into the river during a recent period of high water. It floated around with the tide for a while, no idea how long really, before it drifted up againts a rock jetty, and stuck there for some time...a year maybe? before someone came along and pulled it out of the water. I like to think it's been restored and is still running around somewhere.
@@richardjohnson4238 You can only hope!👍✌️
@@RIVERSIDEREVIEWS Thanks! The good thing about this one is pans and heating channels are in great shape. Just needs help everywhere else 😃👍✌️All is fixable. Our plan is to get it running and on the road and enjoy driving.✌️
I have one and also live in the same state it always goes no matter what
I have great memories of fixing vws with my father. Memories I'll hold near and dear forever. I'm glad someone else is keeping that alive. I hope to do it myself if I ever have kids of my own. I wish you and your son many happy memories.
I know alot of people here in Canada use to use them to go out ice fishing. They'd even cut holes in the floor pans to fish from.
There's a reason they took one to the Antarctic. Red terror 2
My first car was a ‘68 bug. Yes, the heaters suck. We put an aftermarket blower on them that made it so much better.
Where 🤔 you mount the blower?
@@christinewoodruff255 if I recall (this was in ‘95 when I was 15) they were in the vents on the floor. With a simple switch for off, low, high modes. I might be wrong, it might have been mounted somewhere else.
There are several kits to get better heat from the stock beetle. Simply wrapping the heat box in fiberglass turbo wrap makes a huge difference. I loved my 65 beetle until hurricane Hugo dropped a building on top of it…
The older vehicles did better in the snow with their heavy steel wheels with narrow tires.
I lived in Edmonton Alberta. Winter temp -20 to - 30 degrees F. I at one point, thought of buying a vw bug, but knew of their winter heating issues - read dismal. So I stopped in at a local ( ex-Pat) German vw repair shop. Was there anyway to keep warm in a beetle in northern Canadian winters? Oh, yes nodded the mechanic behind his counter . . . “Buy a snowmobile suit , gloves, and snow boots!” All said in a heavy German accent.
Actually the heaters work well enough when new, just they get so messed around with over the years. Two other points, Beetles with the double jointed rear axles, were one of the first small cars with the Honda Civic from memory, that could generate over 0.7g on the skid pad, even on skinny tires. VW even offered a ZF LSD for some markets in the fine print. Braking even with the US spec drums was 120ft from 60mph according to Road&Track, which is actually OK even today. The rest of the world got front discs.
My Dad really was a snow plow driver and he did have a 1974 Super Beetle that always got him to his plow even when the snow was deep. I had a 1970 Bug that worked great in the snow.
another great video Tommi ,if you saw what we did back in the 70's in high school with my friends Beetle you would of had us committed, he was my best childhood friend who lived 2 doors over ,his dad and uncle next door were both VW mechanics ,we had access to everything, big old shop falling over with no heat, we didn't care it wasn't outside and this was in Manitoba ,they taught us pretty much all we ever knew about bugs, his dad/uncle said in Europe in the winter you saw hundreds of them up in the ski resorts in winter and even saw a few black/white snapshots of them, his dad knew how to have/maintain good heat in the car in the winter it was a regular maintenance thing and an aftermarket fan helped keep windows clear pretty good, 2 of us got good at changing out engine/trans in a few hours, just using hand tools and 4 jack stands , and snow tires with studs was the best, virtually no one passed us on the road in the winter , we got stuck once in a snowbank cornering too fast leaving a party, we got out and pushed it back and went home and they hill climb like mad in the summer time, good times 👍
Yep. Once had a '64 Squareback that sat in the street for about 5 days and was covered in snow - first by a blizzard and then by snow thrown upon it from a passing snowplow. I started it and by rocking back and forth a few times, drove out of the snowbank it had been sitting in. The neighbor from across the street came over and asked if it was for sale. His car was stuck in the driveway. Told him "Sorry, nope!"
I had a 71 super beatle with automatic stick shift. With the skinny old school winter tires I went everywhere in the west kootenays. Even outdone some 4wd trucks going up a snowy forest service road. It had an auxiliary gasoline powered heater in the frunk even with the engine not running, it did well to warm up the interior. It exhausted under the front driver's fender
Learnt to drive on a 1969 VW1500 Beetle, learnt to work on cars on a 1967 Delux Type II and did all the things you do in any car in my bug - yes, everything! The only thing I have not done is drive in the snow - I did drive my '67 bus on a sandy beach - and now I have seen what fun I missed out on. Love that Red '71 Cabriolet. Enjoy it, keep it living, they are getting harder and harder to find as time goes on. Thanks for sharing!
Hello from the UK! For many years I drove rear engine Skodas, and have found them to have excellent traction in the snow. I remember waiting in a carpark while the driver of a modern fwd car tried and failed to leave via the exit, which was a frozen up slope. After a few minutes he gave up and left through the separate entrance, which was quite level in comparison. The old Skoda made it up the slope without issue. The only worry I have had about driving the Skoda in the snow was being stranded behind other more conventional vehicles, or if someone was unfortunate enough to lose control of their car.
Excellent video, btw - looks like great fun!
I've add a total of 6 Beetles. FYI They are outstanding on snow, mud, loose dirt, etc. The next best thing for a vehicle without 4x4. ;-)
During the 80's my brother and I used a VW bug with rear studded snow tires to go skiing every weekend on Mt. Hood, we never had to stop and chain up once.
Buddy of mine had a early 70's 4 speed Ford Pinto.
That little scooter would get UP on the snow and boogie all day long.
He had some severe snow tires on the back.
The only problem I had with my 72 Beetle driving in the snow was with ground clearance. It had great heat if you were moving, so I got a blower for it. Do you remember the JC Whitney catalog that was the place to go to?
Lol yup. Do you remember "How to Keep Your VW Alive forever?"
I LOVED the "before and after" cartoons in the JC Witless catalogs!
Had a '63 and a '66. Put Vredestein Snow Classics on them, either one would go until the floorpan was dragging in the powder. The '63 was still 6 volt, and one February where it didn't even get up to freezing for 2 weeks, that bug was one of maybe 3 cars that would start in the morning. As reliable as a sundial and only slightly more complex. Fantastic cars.
I had a 74 super in High School and I loved driving it in the snow. My bugs heater did work (a little too well). It had two settings; off and the fires of hades. A friend riding in the back burned her foot after the heater heated up the buckle on her sandal.
My father had a 1966 VW Beetle and a 1976 VW Beetle. He drove those cars in snow and it was great. He had snow tires on his cars. My sister had a 1966 and 1973 VW Bugs. They are excellent in snow!!!
My first car was a Volvo 850 GLT, and it did really well in the snow in the midwest. I loved it for having the "Winter Package" which included the headlight wipers! Always had people asking about those. Loved that car. It's cool seeing a old Beetle driving in the snow. I figured it'd do well, and it sure did.
I had an 850 a couple years ago, it was pretty good in the winter, but when traction was lost, it would understeer and plow like there's no tomorrow...
@@Vaino_Hotti I can understand about the plowing 😂
Every Saab and Volvo from those days and older had headlight wipers here in Sweden.
I think it actually was a requirement.
Never knew they was even made without.
@@hnorrstrom Yeah, at least in the US, you had to have the "Winter Package". I think it was a requirement in Sweden because the amount of snow that builds up. I doubt it is now, but I don't live in Sweden.
@@atmartens Yes I think you are right, as far as I know they skipped that requirements here long time ago.
Usually winter roads in the southern part of Sweden is covered with snow slush mix as temperatures are mostly around just below freezing and tonnes of road salt being used.
Here in mid Sweden, snow depth over half a meter or two feets are rare.
I drove a 67 beetle in Rochester NY in the mid 70s. Put retread snow tires on the back in November, would go thru anything. Even better, if you got stuck in a snow bank, 2 or 3 people could get out, pick the car up and put it back on the road. The scraper for the inside is truth BTW.
I find narrow tires best in snow. The old bug with snow tires could also take advantage of it's ground clearance. Fairly deep snow wasn't a problem
Skinnies are the best for getting traction in general for accelerating. However, the big downside is they have less lateral traction for cornering, meaning that you get up to speed on the ice no problem but when you take a corner on a hard surface you're at greater risk of sliding.
Ground clearance?
I think it was an inch more than the fwd bug. Sure beat my '72 mini !!!@@flight2k5
My parents had one and we lived on a hill. In the snow with the bug and winter tyres: no problem. BMW and Mercedes: no chance!
Another car that you have that will surprise you with its ability in the snow is the Citroen 2CV, you should go and try it.
We have an elderly Citroen 2CV, complete with rubber fenders and waiting room standard seats, in the family. My cousin uses it on his small farm and it will go anywhere, he cannot afford a Landrover and reckons the 2 CV is as good for what he needs.
@@robertjames6640 I've been watching a man on UA-cam called HubNut for years and the places he's had his and a Citroen Dyane he once owned beggars belief. It's really made me realise how wrong I was when I was younger about them being trash.
Im 61. Volvos back in the days needed "spikes" (i.e.. winter tyres). Same applies to the "Käfer" (Beetle). Im in Austria. Know what Im talking about.
My father had a fastback which went up a steep snow-covered road to the university quite easily
Had to wear super warm clothes, boots, gloves and hat though
As you may know, the battery was under the rear seat and once a couple of heavy-weight
rear passengers caused the seat bottom springs to flex and cause a short and a spark
and set the rear seat on fire. We redid the seat and Isolated the Battery terminals
I loved that car. Everything about it, the sound, smell of interior materials, ...........
Great story. Thank you!
My 73 Super Beetle took many, many trips between Fort Meade and Lexington KY. I drove this straight through only stopping for gas and food. This was before the interstate went through western Virginia and West Virginia. I only picked up the interstate at Charleston WV. The Beetle went through rain, snow, sleet, and some ice in the mountain on two lane highways. I'm sorry I traded it for a 79 Honda Civic. The Civic was a pile of problems. The only thing I changed on the VW was putting Radial tires to replace the Bias Plys. I also added fog lights to help with night driving. It was a great car. You were right about the heater. It burned my left foot but that was about all.
Looks like your super bug is running a wider tire from the earlier bugs. I had a bug 68' converted from auto stick to 4 speed with narrow snow tires and it worked very well as long as the snow wasn't so deep that the belly pan would get floated on the snow. You just needed to keep a fully tank of gas for better steering. Then converted it to a Baja that ran mud-dog retreads and with the wider tire the bug would tend to float on the snow but would always dig its way through. I raised it up a bit over stock so getting the belly pan stuck wasn't really a problem. Besides you could always back out if you did get stuck but it was able to keep up with most 4WDs, surprisingly.
the super beetles were not as good or really anything after 66 due to the ball joint frontend vs kingpin, the car got wider after 65, and switched to 4 lugs.
@@invalidaccount2315 The newer torsion beam front end allowed for the fairly easy installation of a lowing kit I installed upside down to lift the front end. Being a '68 auto stick it got the IRS a year early. A little grinding and re-orienting the torsion splines to trailing arms lifted the rear suspension for free. Only problem was if the front end was set too high, front end would dive during hard braking. It was a geometry thing.
I got caught in the blizzard of 78 on my way to work from Nashua, NH. So I turned around, and my trusty 73 Beetle took me safely home. I bought the car new in New Jersey and was impressed how I didn't need chains on the rear tires, as I used to use on my previous rear wheel drive sedan. I get so nostalgic every time I see an old Beetle!
it's awesome that Tommy takes after his dad and partakes in TFL. i've been watching TFL for years and i always enjoyed their content. keep up the work everyone (Andre, Roman, Tommy, Nate, Toby [sorry if i missed anyone else; these are just the common faces I see])
On Christmas leave in 1964 I drove from Ft. Sill OK to Los Angeles on Route 66 in my 1958 Beetle. It was the coldest winter I had ever seen up to that time, I was 21.
As we entered Amarillo the traffic stopped at a light. When the light changed nobody moved until the car in front of me began sliding to right because of the crowning of the road. Then I noticed other car's rear tires were spinning but the cars weren't moving forward.
I just put the car in gear and drove around them all. I will never forget that.
I've been daily driving my 70 bug in the snow for years and it has always worked like a charm. My heater even works! It actually works a little too well cause I have to crack a window. I will agree that the idea of getting in an accident is horrifying though!
I had great heat in my old Bug, added a squirrel cage fan under the back seat
How you keep it from rusting out?
@@christinewoodruff255 I just try to keep up with it. Every fall I coat the bottom with some kind of coating and throughout the winter I try to keep it clean as best as I can. I haven't completely stoped all the rusting but everything is still intact for the most part.
@@D.ChrisPeterson clean scrub convert the rust scrub clean again and use a gallon of epoxy paint for concrete floors, hardware store can pigment it blacker for ya. 3-4 coats of that sure isn't going anywhere soon. if its got undercoating (auto parts store crap) get rid of it, it collects and holds moisture instead of repelling oil and water and salt and..
ill say i drove my 68 beetle in the snow last year and it did great. Also my heater worked very well it will burn you up in a couple minutes without the window cracked open. Most of the time I hear people say things about the heater it generally means somethings not hooked up properly or its clogged with some sort of junk
When steering a Beetle in deep snow, don't just turn as you would on a dry road. You need to work the wheel back and forth in the direction of your turn. It grips better and you can stay on the throttle.
This is my personal experience. Back in 1983 - 1986, I was stationed in Germany and drove a 1966 VW bug, and I mean drove, loved that car. During winter, I drove it nonstop, even with several inches of school, never got stuck or lost control of the car. However, I drove it very slow in order to help the car stay on the road. Years later, in 2010, drove a 1974 super bettle in Colorado Springs, CO. The experience was very similar, but the accumulation of snow made it harder to drive, but it was still manageable. Enjoyed the video.
It just proves you're never to old to play in snow!
Agreed. It doesn't snow much in the UK any more, but I'm out at the first sight of it!
Great Video! I had a 1974 super Beetle in MA and I also had all season tires plus 50 lbs of sand in the trunk for better steering. It never got stuck and always started easily. The heater did have an auxiliary fan to help with heat distribution. 60 HP. Perfect. BTW, I love the S2A Landy in the background. I also own a 1970 S2A. 77 HP! And it also never gets stuck...ever!
We used to have a VW Variant in the family which is a station wagon version of the Beetle with 1.8 fuel injected engine. It was fantastic in the snow but you needed a toolbox in the frunk to provide steering traction. 😎🤣😇
FYI, he VW model designation for the wagon was the Type 3.
I had a Super Beetle within a year or so of the one you have back in '79. Lived in New England. Never had a problem in the snow. You CAN bog one down, but with any kind of sense involved, it's hard to do.
Thanks for the memories.
Yes, let’s see how the Baja Bug does in snow! That should be fun.
They haven't owned one, had a 64 with a 1835 in it. Big bear in southern Cali, kicked my bugs butt without any issues.
My grandparents had a book that castigated Canada for not building vehicles for its own environment. Sweden had roughly the same population, but had a couple of vehicle manufacturers of their own built for northern conditions.
My other grandfather was the local guru on VW's and liked that they were good in snow, but his main ride was usually an Impala. He lived in a popular area for snowmobiling.
Because GM, and others, fed Canada it's cars.
Volvo opened up a Canadian assembly plant in Halifax in '63 where they built Volvos for the Canadian and U.S. market. In fact, both of my last two Volvos were built at that assembly plant. Volvo may not be an actual Canadian car, but they are suitable cars for Canada's "northern conditions" which are very similar to Sweden's.
Sweden is similar it’s true, but our winters are much colder. Volvo recognized this and modified their cars accordingly. The British tested their cars in Sweden, for North American export and buyers here were of British cars were left with frozen immobile couches on wheels. 😊🇨🇦
I owned a new 1968 VW and had two friends with Jeeps. We were not doing any rock crawling but muddy dirt roads, plowed fields and snow days I followed and lead the pack in my little VW-Bug. We often went camping in really remote USFS areas and back logging roads. The steeper the terrain the better it pulled to a point. We chased deer across pastures at 45 plus MPH. My 1974 Plymouth Duster slant six straight drive with radial tires went well in ten or eleven inches of snow with 300 pounds in the trunk. P.S. I drove a county salt truck.
Would be interesting to try the same test with the fiat 500 and the 2cv
I tried it with 1991 Fiat 126 Bis it's a little bit modern water cooled fiat 500 but still rear engined rear wheel drive and 2 cylinders. It's about 600kgs and made suprisingly well in snow too
I had a 1969 VW van working on Newport Coast in Southern California El nino season rain driving the construction site with nothing but clay muck I drove All around The hills up and down that place passing all the guys with the big beautiful four-wheel drive Fords and I never got stuck anywhere, the positraction is awesome!!!! Great video
I’ve heard the same myth. Kept my ‘66 beetle on the road last winter until Christmas (decorated with lights and tree on top). Ended up getting snow, and needless to say it was fun, but sucked. Of course, that was most certainly due to the old summer tires that are low on tread, and the fact that the car sits quite low so the rear wheels have a ton of camber and don’t make best contact with the road.
I drive a vw rabbit 2.5 litre gas with Bridgestone blizzak winter tires and that is pretty good in snow even just front wheel drive
@@leadnsteel1428 those are great winter tires! Goods winter tires make a world of a difference for driving in ice and snow. What year is your golf? I have a 2015 GTI myself, but don’t winter drive it. I’ve had a few mk4 golf’s and Jettas that I did, and they were also great cars including in the snow (with winter tires… terrible when caught in the snow with the summer tires still on)
@@JMKGarage mines actually the rabbit with the 2.5 litre and it's been great. With winter tires it's a beast with just front wheel drive.
@@leadnsteel1428 nice, those are good motors. A buddy had the same car… Despite being slammed and pushing snow, it did pretty good.
2:40 about the heater: in older beetles -- I had a 1956 in the late 1960s -- you could get decent amounts of heat but only after driving for a good while. So for a short trip to school or work in midwinter, I'd keep my parka and gloves on. But I loved that car; it had 183,000 miles on it and nothing could stop it. A while back I was told it's still owned by someone in my hometown, AND somehow still running!
Fun and lovely little car. Would love to own one.
Had a '69 Beetle in that year and then bought a new '73 Super Beetle in that year. Today I have a restored '72 Super Beetle. I have loved them all. So much fun to drive.
I had a '72 Super Beetle and loved it. Living in Georgia, we never had the opportunity to drive it in the snow but it was a beast. Hester worked well too!
Imagine what it would do with deep lug snow tires and/ or lower air pressure!
That's what they were thinking of with the Baja. But if you want to see unstoppable, put chains on a Bug. Snowy roads wouldn't even be a worthy adversary - I'm confident it could go straight up a green ski run, not sure about a blue.
You could rev it up and pop the clutch. The tires would barely spin. Especially with two girls sitting in the back seat for extra traction.
ya with snow lugs/traction tires they really were basically unstoppable in the snow.
Beetles with real winter tires are unbeatable. I had also a Smart car in Canada with winter tires equipped. It drove amazing and my neighbors were not believing me that I actually drove it.
Old stuff was made to last unlike the modern commercialism where everything is LITERALLY designed to fail...
I was living and working in France when I purchased an early 1950s VW Beetle. In mountainous Northern France the temperatures drop very low and snow comes for a fair time, deep snow. The Beetle would never start in the cold mornings, (6v) and had to be run down a hill near my home: provided it had not iced over. In the snow it was good for traction but a pig to steer on moderate snow.
I do not know if later models were any better but the early ones were as most rear drive vehicles in snow. A pal had a WW2 Kubelwagen which was basically a Beetle in military garb: that one was a lot better in snow.
My good friend had one in the late 60's. It was almost unstoppable, and with a couple of passengers to provide a push now and then, it WAS unstoppable.
At your trail with the stop on the middle of the hill. (5:37 min.) You can use the handbrake (during your starting). Pull the hand brake softly. This has the effect, that booth back wheels will turn. This works like a limited-slip differential. You have to play with the hand gear a little bit. The pull has to be not to less, but also not to strong.
A friend of mine had an old 68 Corvair that did really well in the snow with tall skinny snow tires in the rear and fairly aggressive treaded all seasons in the front. It only had issues when the snow was deep enough for it to drag the floorboards through the snow.
To do really well in the snow with a Beetle you need narrow tires. 155 is the best, but 165 is also good. The Beetle is so light that if the tires are too wide it just ends up sliding around on top of the snow. Studs are also a good help.
The stock vw goes pretty good in beach sand too...used to go down tracks to desolate beaches in baja... kinda worried about going back up but always did ....not super soft sand mind you...
We had a VW in the mid-70s - in the midwest there are some awesome blizzards and snowfalls - it could get hung up and have to be dug out. Normal winter road driving was pretty good. The outstanding point was it would always start - no mean feat when the wind chill is -40. But driving it in that cold was miserable - there was so little interior heat.
In the 70's and 80's I owned 4 Beetles and they were great. I live in Minnesota and we had a lot of snow. But I also had two sets of tires; one set for the summer and knobby snow tires for the winter. I don't ever remember getting stuck with my Volks when driving in the winter with good snow tires, I do remember actually pushing snow with the front of my Volks.
In 1968 there was a publicity stunt where a VW bug crossed an entire lake, mechanics and technicians worked on this bug so water would not leak in to the engine and to the cab. In total the little VW swam 24 kilometers. Now this bug is in private hands, but you can see it every now and then on exhibitions. This happened in Chapala's Lake and you can look it up for yourself.
I had a 68 Beetle and used to love taking it out after a fresh snow and cut donuts all over town. The best car I had in the snow was a 94 Toyota Tercel. Super narrow tires and front wheel drive. Unstoppable.
My dad had a dark blue ‘68. It was fun to ride in! He never got stuck! I bought a new ‘79 Honda Civic that had skinny studded snow tires on 12” rims. Like the VWs, it would easily plow through 5” of snow and never get stuck. Little cars are great!!!
I had a day once when my partner's 4wd Jeep Cherokee couldn't get out of the neighborhood, but my 1966 Baja beetle did just fine.
First beetle was a '70 (with gas heater, yay!)". Great snow car - never a probem with traction. Worst problem I had in winter was when the mountain highway I drove on wasn't plowed and you had to follow the wide tracks made by the semis, so the wheels on one side were fine but the other side would be in the mounds thrown up from the other track. Got into Type IIs after that and they were pretty much the same as far as handling, just had to keep the speed down. A gas heater is essential in the Type II - mine just had the basic heat and it was terrible. I well remember a winter night trip over the Hope-Princeton with my passenger and I scraping the inside of the windshield frequently. We could see our breath the entire trip, which shows how well the stock heater worked.
I had a 57 oval window in 1969-70 as a senior in high school. Cost me $250. Hill climbs, snow, fording creeks. Awesome little car.
No problem!
I often took my 57' skiing up to Paradise on Mt. Rainier. Never once had to chain up and just street tires.
The 1958 Volvo 544 was another good now rig.
One thing you missed about winter driving in the bug is that slush would drip off your boots and pile up around the bottom pivoted brake/clutch pedals. Once got stuck because that slush froze and I had to chisel the ice away before I could get moving. Oh and flat windows were best as you could reach inside and out to clear them; curved windows meant you had to stop!
We had a VW412LE Variant and that was pretty handy in snow. It got us from Devon to Manchester through the snows of the winter of 1981/2 which here in the UK was, to say the least "interesting". With temperatures that year going down to below minus 25C it was good to have an air-cooled engine too.