recommendations for an 80's/90's dirt road cruiser with rally vibes

[j44ke]

Not sure how reliable they are. But amazing how many things could be broken and still get the car home. No clutch? Only 3 working spark plugs? Battery dead? No problem.

[lumpy]

Beetles were really fun to drive in the snow.

As long as you didn’t have too many people inside to fog the windows.

And only if the precipitation outside was cold and dry enough not to stick to the windshield.

I remember driving mine through snow deep enough that I could hear it and feel it against the floor pan. And see it too, coming through the holes. Braaaaaap!

I had a buddy with a yellow super beetle. The heater channels were rusted out so he blanked them off and ran a hair dryer hose up from the exhaust jacket. The passenger's job was to play the warm air over the windshield to keep it clear(er).

[thollandpe]

Not sure how reliable they are. But amazing how many things could be broken and still get the car home. No clutch? Only 3 working spark plugs? Battery dead? No problem.

One thing they could not handle was dumping the clutch at relatively high revs. The helical drive gear would spit out the distributor, and the spring would pull it back in, most likely out of phase. You'd re-engage the clutch and massive misfiring would ensue.

I had a buddy with a yellow super beetle. The heater channels were rusted out so he blanked them off and ran a hair dryer hose up from the exhaust jacket. The passenger's job was to play the warm air over the windshield to keep it clear(er).

Mine had a sunroof. And a spatula. The passenger's job was to stand up, lean over, and scrape the windshield while we were driving. One way to deal with wintry mix.