Volkswagen built the original Type 1 Beetle in essentially the same form from 1938 all the way through 2003, a production record approached only by that of the Hindustan Ambassador/Morris Oxford. There was only one version of the Type 1 that differed greatly from the original in its chassis engineering: the Super Beetle, sold in the United States from 1971 through 1979. We admired a used-up 1970 Beetle convertible in Nevada last spring, and now we’ve got this first-year Super Beetle in Colorado. Did you know it was known as the 1303 in its homeland?
The Super Beetle was an attempt by the suits in Wolfsburg to buy time until the introduction of modern cars with water-cooled engines driving the front wheels, which showed up here in the 1974 (Dasher) and 1975 (Rabbit) model years. The main feature that made the Super Beetle super was the replacement of its funky torsion-bar front suspension with a futuristic MacPherson strut rig, something most other cars didn’t utilize yet. Plus, the Super Beetle got a completely revised front body, increasing the car’s overall length a bit and proving more cargo space in the front trunk or “frunk.” For 1973, the Super Beetle got a space-age windshield with curved glass, making it look like it came from the future.
You need to be a fairly serious air-cooled VW aficionado to tell the Super from the regular Beetle at a glance; the most obvious giveaway is the longer and flatter hood. Despite that noticeable difference, the Super’s rear suspension was the same as all the (1968 and later) Beetles.
The engine used between the two models is the same as well. If this is the original (which is possible but doubtful, given how easy it is to swap VW air-cooled engines and how plentiful they used to in the junkyard ecosystem), then it’s a 1585cc boxer-four rated at 60 horsepower and 81.7 pound-feet. Unfortunately, this particular engine can no longer be found as some junkyard shopper yanked this engine but didn’t buy it. The oil-cooler doghouse and carburetor are gone, though we can’t know whether they were off the car when it got here or bought from U-Pull-&-Pay. Note the heat-exchanger outlets coming off the exhaust manifolds; they (theoretically) provided heat and (often) carbon monoxide to the passenger compartment during times of cold weather.
After all these insights, it’s important to note that some points of the content may be outdated and may not reflect current technologies, practices, or information within the automotive industry. Therefore, it’s important to consult updated sources for the latest automotive information.
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