Skip to main content

Random # 166: Early VW Beetle (& a Short History of Rallying in Tasmania in the 1970s)


There are still plenty of Beetles getting about Hobart, as several other posts on this site show.  However, there are certainly fewer of these earlier versions than there are of the smaller headlight editions from the 1970s.   


This one, photographed in North Hobart, was particularly nice, featuring glossy paint, straight, shiny chrome and a tidy interior.  The rear window was adorned with several stickers, suggesting that the car's owner was well into the local Vee-Dub scene. 


In the 1970s, Beetles were very popular rally cars in Tasmania.  It wasn't so much their speed (what speed?, you ask inrcedulously!) that made them a common sight on the rallying scene; their rear-engined, all-independent suspension set-up gave them quite amazing off-road capability and that's why they were so successful.  



All that was required was a set of 'winter-tread' tyres (on the rear only, if the budget was tight), up-graded shocks, a skid plate under the front and a sump guard at the rear, a decent set of driving lights (Cibie Oscars were all the rage) and some basic navigation gear.  Engine mods rarely consisted of much more that an after-market carbie and a set of extractors.  


Another common modification was a set of 'hangers,' usually fashioned from nylon rope looped through the rear engine cooling vents below the rear window, that the navigator gripped as he or she stood on the rear bumper bar, bouncing up and down to gain extra traction to extricate the car from boggy sections of track.  It wasn't high-tech but it worked! 


Beetles were remarkably competitive, especially the later Super-Bug editions like that driven so successfully by Hobart-based Lin Gigney, although the outright speed of Datsun 1600s (P510s), Ford Escorts, Chrysler Galants and Lancers, and rotary-powered Mazdas eventually saw them fade from the rallying scene.  UMPH can't remember the last time he saw a Beetle set up for competition, other than a white one that ran in one or two early Targa Tasmanias.












U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

All iPhone images.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

EJ or EH Holden? (Up-dated December, 2022)

EJ or the later EH? Several years ago, I posed the question:  Can somebody please explain the difference between an EJ and an EH Holden ute or van?  The response at the time wasn't overwhelming, so I did a bit of Googling and ferreting through my photos and came up with my own rough guide to EJ and EH identification.  Sedans and wagons are easy to tell apart ;  the EH's vertical rectangular tail lights are a dead give-away.  However, the workhorse versions of both models share the rear-end treatment of the earlier EJ, making it harder to identify one from the other.    No super obvious hints here. Or here ...  . It turns out that the main clues are in the placement of the front   H O L D E N   lettering and GMH lion emblems, the style of the radiator grille and the width of the vents in front of the windscreen, with all EJs - sedans, wagons, utes and vans - having one combination and the EH line-up having their own . So what exactly are those diffe

Random # 301: Nanna-Spec KE36 Corolla

  Once upon a time - six or seven years ago, actually - there was a lovely pale yellow GC Galant station wagon getting around Hobart.  It was totally nanna-spec; its paint was umarked, the chrome work and hubcaps were immaculate, and its very original interior was pristine. Then someone stuck feathers in its dashboard.  Next, the windows were adorned with Tibetan prayer flags.  And a hubcap went missing.  And the the rear bumper was pushed in, mangling the bodywork behind it.  And a mudguard got dented.  And rust set in.   I fear for this sweet, innocent KE36 Corolla.  Somebody please save it before it's too late.  Nanna needs you to do it. U M P H (uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.) Photos by GlamRock.

Vick Auto Prima Fiat X1/9 Brakes: An Owner’s Assessment

At the end of 2022, I fitted a set of Vick Autosport Prima front brakes to my mildly worked 1.5 litre Series 1 Fiat X1/9 . I was fortunate, having picked them up at a very, very reasonable price, brand new but surplus to the needs of a fellow X1/9 Australia member who had imported them from the US. The kit included: New single pot callipers , new vented rotors (standard X1/9 front rotors are smaller, non-vented items), DOT approved stainless steel brake hoses, and all the necessary mounting hardware. They are a value proposition, being particularly well priced compared to other manufacturers’ packages - even at RRP - with everyone I’ve spoken to saying they’re made to a high standard, too. Here's a link to a piece that I wrote about them at that time, including some costings: https://uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-x19-gets-prima-brake-upgrade.html . Initial Assessment: I was a little underwhelmed by the brakes' performance, finding that although they had a tiny