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Date:         Mon, 18 Mar 1996 11:39:33 +0100
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         verbeek@the-hague.stbv.slb.com (Brian Verbeek)
Subject:      Re: MexiBugs LOOONG (was: appropriateness (was Re: finding bad syncro wheel bearing))

>The Mexican VWs do not live up to >the German VWs. If the original VW was like the Mexican made ones there >would not likely have been a VW Beetle phenomenon. The desire for the >Mexibugs and Mexibuses is an emotional tie to the German ones.

Unfortunately, this is true. Here in Holland we have (had) quite a few MexiBugs. Most of them are post '74/'75, awful things. They came with black bumpers, headlightrings, ventwings, sidemoldings and door/hood/decklidhandles. Some had black hubcabs but most of 'em had no hubcaps at all. 6 Volts, later also 12 Volts available, no glovecompartment door, (or hinge supports so you could bolt one in) two spoke steering wheel and no rear window heating. (which i don't mind) They had the 34 DIN Hp 1200, i believe it's known as the 40 Hp in the US, swing axle tranny, drumbrakes all round. No trim in/on the window- rubbers. Steel dash and very little carpeting, no tar boards. Headliner covers only the inside of the roof, all 'pillars' are visible, which is not so bad i see that as a good thing, the headliner is most of the time still in good condition. The body has indentations were the late German bugs had the vents behind the quarter windows, also a good thing because most bugs that have this vent have rust problems in that area. The licenseplate light is the plastic one with grooves on top, identical to the later US models. These models were often reffered to as 'Sparkafers' or 'SaveBugs'. VW still sold these in Europe till late 70s/1980 i don't know exactly. VW made em as cheap as possible, kinda like the whole thing started back in the 30s/40s. They didn't want the Bug and the Golf competing against eachother of course. After the late 70s/1980 the MexiBugs got their chrome back. Along came the padded dash with wrinkle finished dash- grilles and glovebox compartment, the Golf turn and wiper switches on the steering column and a 'deluxe' steeringwheel. They also had electric windshield washers, the tank/pump was mounted with a rubberband in the sparewheel which was now placed with it's hubcapside to the rear of the car. They had Golf-like seats with headrests and cloth upholstery and a heated rear window. Special models here in the Netherlands included the JeansBug, the SilverBug and the 20-Millionen Bug. The JeansBug was a bit like the '73/'74 JeansBugs, they came in red or white and, of course, had denim upholstery. On the side they had a two-tone pinstripe. The SilverBugs were what their name says: Silver, they came with a 2 or 3" wide stripe just above the runningboards with the letters SILVERBUG cut out. The 20-Millionen Bug was more or less the same as the SiverBug, only no stripes, the decklid got a 20-millionen badge and the shifterknob also showed the 20-Millionen logo, i believe there also was a key hanger with the logo but i've never seen one. Somewhere '83/'84 VW stopped importing these as well. A few months later, in '85, they came with the in Germany-known-as JubiKafer or Jubleum Kafer. This was a limited edition, pretty sought after nowadays. *Very* nice Bugs. they all came with a 1600 DP, alternator, H4 headlights, (not sure) Black headliner/sunvisors if i recall correct, Green tinted windows, grey vinyl door panels and seat backs and the tops of the seats had cloth upholstery. They also had what we call JubiFelgen, the steel four spoke VW wheel. I've seen a few of those, they all were charcoal grey metallic, i think that's the only color they came in. It's the last model that was imported into Germany and the Netherlands by VW.

So what i wanted to say was that these Mexican bugs rot like mad, there is no stopping it once it has started. Maybe it helps to treat the rust-prone areas (which we all know by know) before using the car. A friends' Grandpa worked as a tool turner in a Chrysler plant in Australia in the late 50s/ early 60s, he was a toolturner for VW, they made Bugs and Busses there. He worked on/with all tools and equipment there as it was his job to maintain all this stuff. He told me that VW used to have different paint and rust- proofing methods for the different countries they exported to. The Mexican plant maybe using one of the cheaper paint/underbodycoating methods for the warm South American countries. The JubiKafer is another story, i don't know anything about its paint quality, it could be that VW made this run of better quality because they were destined for Europe. Thanks to Bill Abbott i have the Mexican sales brochures of both '94 Bug and Bus, They look very good, especially the Bus, it looks to me as if VW is improving quality again.

In Brasil they made/make? some sort of hybrid, i saw a '90 Bug from VW Do Brasil, it was built around the pre '65 body, that's the nice thing, for the rest they are ugly as hell. They have a 1500 FI engine i believe. They got a square (!!!) speedo on some sort of recycled plastic sheet that's glued onto the dash. Really, the only thing these are good for is building dragsters and off road cars IMO.

Brian.


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