Description
The Volkswagen Beetle, officially Type 1, is one of the most iconic cars of the 20th century.
Designed in the 1930s by Ferdinand Porsche as the “people's car”, it adopts a simple and ingenious layout: air‑cooled, flat‑four rear‑mounted engine, rear‑wheel drive, and rugged construction that makes maintenance easy.
After World War II, production restarts at Wolfsburg and the Beetle quickly becomes a global phenomenon.
Its mechanical simplicity, reliability and low running costs explain its exceptional success, with over 21 million units produced in total.
In the early 1970s the so‑called “Super Beetle” generation appears, with the 1302 and then the 1303 models.
Introduced in 1972, the 1303 is distinguished by a heavily curved windscreen, a modernised dashboard and larger taillights.
It mainly adopts a MacPherson strut front suspension, replacing the torsion‑bar front axle of the classic Beetles.
This evolution considerably improves handling, steering precision and comfort, while preserving the traditional rear‑engine layout.
Although European production halted in the mid‑1970s, the Beetle continued its career in other countries, notably Mexico, where it would continue to evolve technically.
The example on display is a 1982 Beetle 1303.
Originally it was equipped with a 1, 400 cm³ fuel‑injected engine, typical of the final developments of the Beetle built outside Europe.
Today it is fitted with a 1, 600 cm³ engine, the best known of Volkswagen's flat‑four boxer engines.
This air‑cooled four‑cylinder engine develops around 50 hp at 4, 000 rpm, with torque of about 106 Nm, fed by a carburettor and paired with a four‑speed manual gearbox.
This engine is renowned for its ruggedness, simple maintenance and wide availability of parts, making it one of the most cherished powerplants among Beetle enthusiasts.
This car underwent a full restoration in 2000, during which the mechanicals, bodywork and interior were all rebuilt.
More than twenty years after that refurbishment, it now shows signs of use, normal for a car that has been in use since its restoration, but overall remains sound and coherent.
It is fitted with electronic ignition and a new carburettor.
The gearbox has recently been rebuilt (shift forks, gears, bearings).
It testifies to substantial restoration work where virtually everything was redone, and today makes for an appealing Beetle at an attractive price.
