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On this day five years ago, the last of the old-style VW Beetles rolled off of the assembly line. I always wanted to own an old, convertible-style Bug. Practical for the cold Iowa winters, no, but I was madly in love with it. To commemorate this momentus occasion, I give you today’s Quick 10:
10 Beetle Bits
1. The Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Yeah, that Porsche.
2. Volkswagen didn’t start using the name “Beetle” or “Bug” until after the public did – it was originally known simply as the Volkswagen Type 1.
3. The very last of the old Beetles produced (#21,529,464) is now at Volkswagen’s Automuseum.
4. Lots of kids play Slug Bug here in the Midwest. If you see a Bug somewhere, you immediately punched whoever is closest to you and say, “Slug Bug, no slugs back.” Apparently the game is called Punch Buggy everywhere else in the world.
5. In Denmark, the Beetle is called Boblen (the bubble).
6. If you’ve only seen the movie version of Transformers, then you don’t know that Bumblebee was originally a Beetle. Michael Bay didn’t want the audience to make comparisons to Herbie the Love Bug, so he changed Bumblebee to a Camaro for the big screen.
7. The Beetle on the cover of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album was sold at an auction for $23,000 in 1986. It is now on display at the Volkswagen museum.
8. The Fremont Troll in Seattle, a huge statue lurking under the Aurora Bridge, is clutching an actual Beetle.
9. Beetle engines are often hacked into other things, including ski lifts, small airplanes, air compressors, water pump-powerers and motorcycles.
10. The factory at Wolfsburg, Germany, was supposed to be given over to the British after WWII. No British car manufacturer wanted to take responsibility for the company, though, saying that “the vehicle does not meet the fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car”, “it is quite unattractive to the average buyer” and “To build the car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise.” Whoops.
If you are bored and a little tipsy on a friday night get about 6 of your guy friends and an OLD beetle. Have them flip it over and spin it around. It is funny to watch. awwww.. good times!
posted by Jennifer on 7-30-2008 at 3:23 pm
The Transformers movie couldn’t get the rights to use a Beetle from Volkswagon because it was a “war movie.” AND they got a huge endorsement deal from GM to use all GM cars.
posted by Hayworth on 7-30-2008 at 3:37 pm
It’s called Punch Buggy EVERYWHERE, even on the Simpsons. Slug Buggy? What planet are you guys from? The Midwest, sheeseh.
posted by fixedgear on 7-30-2008 at 3:58 pm
I thought that Bumblebee was not a VW Beetle in the Transformers movie because Volkswagen would not allow their vehicles to be used in a movie that featured violence. Plus GM paid a pretty penny to have their vehicles featured in the movie.
posted by Martin on 7-30-2008 at 4:16 pm
Here in Kentucky everyone says “slug bug, no slug back” too. I’ve never even heard punch buggy.
posted by stef on 7-30-2008 at 4:17 pm
It was “Slug-a-bug and no return” in the upper midwest. A fender cost $36, and your hearing was never the same after extended rides. The Whole Earth Catalog was the maintenance and parts manual.
posted by Tom on 7-30-2008 at 4:31 pm
I think one of the most interesting facts is that the prototype for one of the world’s most adorable (imho) and most recognizable cars was made by one of the most detestable men to have ever lived, Hitler.
posted by Alyssa on 7-30-2008 at 4:44 pm
fixedgear, it’s “Slug BUG”, not “Slug Buggy”. Who on earth would call it that? :)
Personally a fan of “slug bug, no return”. It has a nice rhythm to it as you lay the punch on your brother.
posted by kate on 7-30-2008 at 4:58 pm
It was called Slug Bug in California as well.
posted by Devin on 7-30-2008 at 5:11 pm
We always did “Slug Bug,” but we never did the “no return” part. Instead, you would call out “Slug Bug” the color of the car i.e. “Slug Bug Yellow”)while you were in the middle of winding up and punching your friend in the arm as hard as you can….Oh fun times.
And yes…i’m from the midwest.
Chi-town to be exact.
posted by Andy on 7-30-2008 at 5:18 pm
Slug bug here too. In recent years we’ve added Cruiser Bruiser when a PT Cruiser passes by.
posted by Jim on 7-30-2008 at 5:32 pm
I’m in Kentucky, and I’ve never heard Slug Bug. My kids drive me crazy with the Punch Buggy thing.
My parents bought their first bug in 1959, but soon upgraded to a Microbus. Back then, all VW owners WAVED to each other, but that soon died out when you could look out and see a dozen at a time.
posted by Miss Cellania on 7-30-2008 at 5:53 pm
I grew up in various places along the west coast from Seattle to San Francisco, and no one that IIIIIIIIII know calls it punch buggy. It’s slug bug. My brother and I require each other to call out the color as well, or else….
Slug bug, orange, green and yellow, crap, I think the bumpers pink! No slug backs!
posted by k8 on 7-30-2008 at 6:03 pm
Beetle Bop!! no slug bugs here in Chicago lol
posted by Paul on 7-30-2008 at 6:29 pm
Here in Maryland, it’s punch buggy yellow (or whatever color). Like Kate said, you then punch the person sitting next to you as hard as you can. I’m an elementary school teacher and it’s amazing that the little kids still do it. However; I have to intervene before the punch-fest begins. Ah, good times!
posted by Jennifer on 7-30-2008 at 7:25 pm
@ Alyssa
The prototype wasn’t made by Hitler…It was commissioned by Hitler, but he commissioned all of the car manufacturers to produce a “peoples car.” The Beetle won b/c Porsche was a automobile genius and the Beetle was far superior to the vehicles submitted by other manufacturers.
posted by Ssquach on 7-30-2008 at 7:44 pm
Another interesting fact, the Wolfsburg factory was the most technologically advanced and efficient automobile factory in the world, when it was built. During the construction, designers visited automobile factories all over the world, including the recently built Ford factory, and adapted the best parts of each. Only a few hundred Beetles were produced before the factory was converted to produce self-propelled bombs (the ones they used to terrorize London). After the war it took a couple of years to restore the factory to it’s pre-war condition due to the repeated Allied bombings…
I could keep going, but I think I’ll stop there. I’m kind of a classic VW geek (I even have a Wolfsburg crest tattoo).
posted by Ssquach on 7-30-2008 at 7:52 pm
In Oregon we call it Slug Bug too. But we say, “Slug Bug [color] no returns!” most of the time.
posted by Manda on 7-30-2008 at 8:10 pm
In the south it’s “punch bug.”
posted by Lindsey on 7-30-2008 at 8:39 pm
One cool use of an old Beetle I saw once was the “big on a box”. A Beetle body mounted backwards on top of a VW Microbus with the roof cut away under it.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 7-30-2008 at 8:56 pm
Growing up here in Florida I only ever heard “Punch Buggy.” We also did the color thing.. “Punch Buggy Red!”
I first heard of “Slug Bug” earlier this year from a girl who lives in Alabama, interestingly. So maybe it’s not just the Midwest?
posted by Celeste M. on 7-31-2008 at 12:41 am
I learned to drive a stick shift on my brother’s 73 Bug. I hated that car with a passion, especially after I got rear-ended in it and STILL had to drive it.
Now that it’s been sold and the new owner restored it, I wish we’d kept it.
posted by Melodye on 7-31-2008 at 1:07 am
God I miss my bug!!! had a ‘72 back in high school (in the late ’90’s) best car for a new driver, if you weren’t good a parking it didn’t matter, you could be totally diagonal and still between the lines! At the time my man had a Porche 944 and I would pick up my little bro from driver’s ed one day in the bug and the next in the Porshe, LOL.
I have an obnioxously large collection of modle ones now sitting here on my desk; including mardi gras bead ones, a coffe mug shaped like one, and a lamp.
Ssquach you’re my hero, you have a Wolfsburg tattoo?!?!?!?!
now I’ve got a PT Cruiser, I refuse to own a car without attitude (couldn’t find a new beetle I could afford and the old ones are way cuter anyway)
posted by Emmie on 7-31-2008 at 8:35 am
My best friend in high school drove a red Beetle - the floor eventually rotted out (as they do) and it became the Flinstones Car. Sooooo much fun was had in that car!
I owned a New Beetle (named Lefty) up until 2006 when I had to give him up to make way for a Jetta (which would fit a car seat, sigh). I loved that car more than I love most people and once my kid is no longer in a car seat, I’m getting another one.
posted by Rachel on 7-31-2008 at 8:59 am
@Jennifer….. make sure you and your tipsy friends flip your OWN bug…. i had a 72 superbeetle for my first car. it broke down and i had to leave it on the side of the road till the next day…. found it upside down and trashed with beer cans all around it. good times?? nah, it was totaled.
posted by motorkitty on 7-31-2008 at 10:39 am
Here on the East Coast it’s “Punch Buggy no punchbacks!” I have never heard slug bug before. Did other people also have elaborate rules like triple safety, when you get out of the car you can punch for the same car, etc?
posted by Lily on 7-31-2008 at 10:44 am
Growing up here in West Texas it was slug bug.
posted by Olivia on 7-31-2008 at 11:54 am
In North Texas we also said slug bug. And sometimes the color, although from what I remember it was just that a certain color (yellow maybe?) got you 5 punches instead of just one. Or something like that.
posted by Evan on 7-31-2008 at 12:32 pm
I really didn’t know there was a geographic theory to punch buggy vs slug bug.
I use both. A Slug Bug is in reference to the older beatles. A Punch Buggy is the new version of the beatle (you know, the one that looks to feminine for men to drive).
posted by EastCoaster on 7-31-2008 at 12:32 pm
Here in Texas, it was “Slug Bug [Color]! No tag backs!”
posted by LP on 8-3-2008 at 1:35 pm
It’s Slug Bug here in Utah too. Never heard of Punch Buggy.
posted by janel on 8-5-2008 at 1:56 pm