Mace Canute
Elite Member
I had an old 1961 Beetle with the gas heater. That heater would drop your mileage in half but it gave heat the instant it was turned on.
How Does the Man Who Drives the Snow Plow Drive to the Snow Plow ??
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I had an old 1961 Beetle with the gas heater. That heater would drop your mileage in half but it gave heat the instant it was turned on.
mark02tj
Platinum Member
In high school I drove a 1970 VW Camper/van that my folks bought new when we were stationed in Germany. That thing was great in the snow! About 11" of ground clearance and the engine weight right over the drive wheels!
When I was 18, I bought a brand new Subaru Brat. Subaru was fairly new to the US back then and known for their FWD and 4WD vehicles. That little Brat had shift-on-the fly 4WD and was also great in the snow. This was back before everybody and their brother had 4WD SUVs. It was great looking forward to a good snowfall and having fun while everyone else was stuck home!
PILOON
Super Star Member
I owned a few VW's. Great car for the $$s.
The floors were flat so with front weight the rear always had good traction plus you needed frt wt to retain steering.
I once 'left the road' and the snow bank simply went over the roof and since wheels were still making contact I simply backed out.
Another stunt was that I created a 'snow plow' with plywood and some bracing and hung that on the front bumper. Worked great!
My plow lift mechanism was an old hockey stick bolted vertically and a rope that I pulled to lift via the driver's open window.
Sore beat shoveling our 300' drive with an old wooden snow shovel. (remember those?)
And a VW with chains beats just about anything in snow and ice.
I had '55, thru '62 with the '62 being the nicest. The '58 was the warmest and some had gas heaters with one having both manifold and gas heat. The trick was to drive them flat out in every gear for heat.
Had one catch fire as the rear passenger was overweight and shorted the battery. (battery was under rear seat)
With 4 guys and good snow tires we would cross thru the snow banks and drive on the sidewalks to get around stalled traffic on unplowed roads in ski resort areas north of Montreal.
The floors were flat so with front weight the rear always had good traction plus you needed frt wt to retain steering.
I once 'left the road' and the snow bank simply went over the roof and since wheels were still making contact I simply backed out.
Another stunt was that I created a 'snow plow' with plywood and some bracing and hung that on the front bumper. Worked great!
My plow lift mechanism was an old hockey stick bolted vertically and a rope that I pulled to lift via the driver's open window.
Sore beat shoveling our 300' drive with an old wooden snow shovel. (remember those?)
And a VW with chains beats just about anything in snow and ice.
I had '55, thru '62 with the '62 being the nicest. The '58 was the warmest and some had gas heaters with one having both manifold and gas heat. The trick was to drive them flat out in every gear for heat.
Had one catch fire as the rear passenger was overweight and shorted the battery. (battery was under rear seat)
With 4 guys and good snow tires we would cross thru the snow banks and drive on the sidewalks to get around stalled traffic on unplowed roads in ski resort areas north of Montreal.
Travelover
Elite Member
I had both a Beetle and a Ghia.
In the Beetle, I installed an electric heater fan from an old Imperial and pulled heat directly off the rear heater outlets (the ankle scorchers). It put out lots of heat that would have been lost in the rusted body channels that optimistically doubled as heat and defrosting ducts.
In the Karmann Ghia, I had a gas heater. It operated like an oil fired heater, only using gasoline as the fuel. If it didn't light immediately, when it did light, it sounded like a small explosion and it shot out flames. Scared the crap outta me.
On my Beetle, I hit a big bump on the way to work. When I went to start it to go home, it was dead. I lifted the rear seat only to find a big hole where the battery had once sat.
In the Beetle, I installed an electric heater fan from an old Imperial and pulled heat directly off the rear heater outlets (the ankle scorchers). It put out lots of heat that would have been lost in the rusted body channels that optimistically doubled as heat and defrosting ducts.
In the Karmann Ghia, I had a gas heater. It operated like an oil fired heater, only using gasoline as the fuel. If it didn't light immediately, when it did light, it sounded like a small explosion and it shot out flames. Scared the crap outta me.
On my Beetle, I hit a big bump on the way to work. When I went to start it to go home, it was dead. I lifted the rear seat only to find a big hole where the battery had once sat.
kevin37b
Veteran Member
How did gas heaters work ? Please explain .
