VW? From a Jack to a Queen?

Volkswagen had recently stopped manufacturing, the updated upscale classic Beetle bug car.  Saying it just doesn’t appeal to men.  It was called in some quarters a girl car.  Some say a Chick bug.  Nonetheless, purchased mostly by younger single women.

Let me mention this, I had two vintage VW Beetles.  A 1958 VW with the classic small oval rear window.  Really cool looking. And then I had owned a 1963 VW with updated front and rear lights.  Still a classic VW Beetle.

What I liked about these two cars was its roundishness.  Rounded front sloping hood and the iconic roundish sloping rear.  And most of all the air-cooled rear engine with dual chrome exhausts.  But an automobile you wouldn’t take to the races.  Probably had about a hundred-horse power at best.  It went zero to sixty in about six days.

Never the less, both model cars I rarely saw women drive.  It was a guy car.  So what happened?  How did this classic German machine go from grassroots blue collar to Pinkish girly suburban transportation?

I suppose placing the larger water-cooled engine in front and flattening out the hood, roof, and rear deck.  Turning it into a morphed Girly Beetle.  Making it look cute instead of caveman basic.

Actually I could care less if a VW Beetle has “Road race” power and handling.  I loved my two Beetles because of the opposite.  It required more hands on and mental ingenuity.  Plus it had a real four-speed very manual transmission.  Shifting is what I liked.

So, if I were to advise VW on how to design the all-new 2012 Beetle, I would suggest to just pick it up where they left off in 1979.  Sitting high on independent suspension, Roundish, four-speed, and rear air-cooled engine.  Pretty much the same humble VW bug that was imported to the US in the 1960s.  I certainly would buy one.  Millions of manly men like myself would buy one.  Yes!  You bet.