This is what my next door neighbour drives, when he’s not willing to take the W210 Mercedes. I can’t blame him; the whale blue (I made that up) 1967 VW Beetle is a prettier choice for summertime days.

Since I’ve already done a few more thorough Beetle posts – with worse-quality snapshots to be honest – this will be more of a photo-led article.

This Beetle’s a good-looking thing and the colour is absolutely right. My neighbour and his dad restored it some ten years ago, and after that it’s been in storage for quite some time. This spring, he pulled it out and got it inspected again.

Yeah, that’s my Mazda behind it. You can also see one of the town’s numerous El Caminos.

The plates are the car’s originals, the upholstery’s too worn for the car to make historic plates just yet. There are a couple little things to fix, but the car’s getting regular use.

The guy says that despite the absolutely enormous 1300 engine, the car does run out of puff on inclines. It’s still the easiest cruise control solution to drive with the pedal in the metal at all times.

 

[Images: Copyright 2012 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen]