SuperBeetles.com | History

Included for that low price were side body decals with the Baja name, mag wheel style hub caps, a special shifter, Bosch fog lights, walnut colored trim for the dashboard, bumper guards and chrome taper exhaust tips. It's 1973 and the cover of the 8-page color brochure for the Super Beetle read, "The '73 Beetle. All small cars are not created equal", a fact that Volkswagen had proven with years of constant improvements to the Beetle. The updates that took place with the 1302 were just the beginning of the plans to continue to modernize the Beetle. In 1973 Volkswagen took a huge step forward with the introduction of a new and improved Super Beetle called the 1303.

The 1973 Super Beetle had VW purists rubbing their eyes when a redesigned, full sized, padded dashboard replaced the traditional flat one that had been used since 1958. This new dashboard was designed to house future air bags and to improve ventilation inside the car. By using an air vent channel that stretched from side to side near the front windshield a greater volume of fresh and heated air could be delivered to the occupants. The single gauge still remained but now was housed in a plastic binnacle in front of the driver. Other switches were moved downward, directly in-line with the radio and right at the driver's fingertips. The glove box in the new 1303 was a good size but for some reason was divided into smaller compartments. Unfortunately for coffee drinkers everywhere the glove box lid would no longer open fully to double as a beverage tray.

There was also a new fuse box located centrally for easy access in case of an electrical failure. In the rear of the Beetle were the largest taillights ever installed on a Volkswagen and most other cars of that era. These soon earned the nickname "elephant's feet" in VW circles and were thought to be ugly compared to the stylish "tombstone" taillights that preceded them. One well-known special edition for 1973 was the beautiful Sports Beetle. For an additional $250.00 this 1303 Super Beetle came with distinctive red and black stripes that encircled the car. Tapered tail pipe tips, door trim, door handles, wipers and bumpers were all given a matte black finish and 5 ½" silver Lemmertz GT wheels with radial tires were installed to complete the package. The Sport Bug's sales brochure featured black headlamp rings although some of the cars were fitted with the standard chrome ones.

The interior came with sports bucket seats, a leather sports steering wheel and leather gearshift knob, how sporty! The new and improved Super Beetle was now being produced outside of Germany. With its importer UNIS, Volkswagenwerk AG set up the joint venture with Tvornica Automobila Sarajevo in Yugoslavia, with headquarters in Vogosca. TAS started off by manufacturing replacement and series parts for Volkswagen. After a period of one year on November 10th 1973 assembly of the 1303 model started in the new factory. Production capacity was a mere 20 cars per day. Meanwhile in Australia the 1302 had already been produced from 1971 to 1972 and was called the Volkswagen S. The 1973 to 1975 Australian built 1303 was called the Volkswagen L. All had 1600cc motors with front disc brakes as standard equipment.

In 1974 the last Standard Beetle rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg to make room for the new Golf model. As usual, Volkswagen brought out a few more changes for the Super Beetle. US regulations now required that every car be able to withstand a 5 mph front and a 2½ mph rear impact and sustain no damage. To comply with this new hurtle Volkswagen added what were called self-restoring energy absorbing bumpers. Impact-absorbing shocks were added to the new thicker steel front and rear bumpers to accomplish this task. To ensure the front occupants were wearing their seat belts an ignition interlock was installed so that the car could not be started unless the front seat belts were fastened. Some inventive owners found out that this system was quite easy to disable by merely unplugging the sensors under both front seats, so much for technology!

To improve handling under hard braking the Super Beetle now had a negative kingpin offset. Also in 1974 the old style generator was finally replaced with a modern alternator and new type of alloy was used to improve the cylinder head life. The now 16 page sales brochure featured both standard and Super Beetles. On the cover was a picture of a red 1303 Beetle floating in the ocean with the caption, "The VW Beetles. Built better than ever." This would be another year for the special edition with the introduction of the famous Sun Bug. Available in Standard, 1303 sedan and convertible models, the Sun Bug was painted a beautiful Hellas Metallic Gold and came fully loaded.

Stamped silver sports wheels, Kamei tunnel console, a sunroof with wind deflector (Sedan only) and wood finish dash panels were just some of the goodies that came with this special edition. The seats had special Nut Brown upholstery as did the matching door, side panels and loop pile carpet. There was a Sun Bug logo on the gearshift knob and one that was installed on the engine lid by the dealer. The sales brochure for the Sun Bug even had the words to a song written especially for the car entitled "Let a little sunshine into your life" by Keith Konnes.

"Fresh air and scenery, it's all there and it's all free
Open your eyes, it's there to see
Let a little sunshine into your life!
Keep your disposition from draggin' in a golden Sun Bug from Volkswagen
Even make a short trip set your heart a waggin
Let a little sunshine into your life!
Sun Bug Beetle or Super Beetle opens up a window to the sky
Sun Bug convertible goes the whole route so you can wave at the world as you go by
Great gas economy, easy on the world's ecology
That's the Sun Bug philosophy
Smile your way through problems and strife and let a little sunshine into your life"

Improvements were once again in order for the Super Beetle in 1975. The worm and roller steering box was replaced by modern rack and pinion steering and improvements in the rear end geometry where made. The engine case would now be made from a better alloy classified as AS21 and the twin tail pipes that had been on the Beetle since 1956 had now become only one. Again US regulations forced Volkswagen and other car manufacturers to clean up their act pollution wise. Unleaded gas would be the new diet for the Super Beetle as computerized Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection was added.

This boosted the Beetles fuel economy from 25 to 33 mpg. A silver "Fuel Injection" logo was added to the rear engine lid where the traditional Volkswagen script had been for years. Beetles produced for California sported a catalytic converter under the now bulging rear apron and pretty soon all the States would require one. 1975 produced a number of special edition Beetles as well. One of which was called the La Grande Bug. This 1303 Beetle was basically a reworked Sun Bug minus the logos and some of the trim. The sales brochure for this one proudly exclaimed, "You don't drive in it, you arrive in it" with a picture of a uniformed chauffeur in front of an elegant mansion along with two La Grande Bugs, one with its sliding steel sunroof open.

Sales for the Beetle had dropped by almost half in 1975. From 791,023 the previous year to only 441,116 and it didn't look like it was going to get any better. Although this may still seem like a huge number of cars compared to today's sales figures, Volkswagen had been selling over 900,000 Beetles annually since 1964 in the US alone. In February 1975 Tony Schmucker took over as chairman of Volkswagen and decided to end production of the 1303 Sedan and direct more resources to the newer products. Only the Super Beetle convertible and a standard Beetle sedan were to continue and for how long was anyone's guess. In September 1975 the new Golf Gti debuted at the Frankfurt Motor show. Its powerful water-cooled 1600cc engine put out 110bhp.

That was more than double the horsepower of the Super Beetle. It seemed that the writing was on the wall for the European production of the Beetle as more plants were needed to produce the newer models that Volkswagen had based their future on. 1976. The 1303 sedan had faded into history but the 1303 Super Beetle convertible remained. The MacPherson front suspension, full sized instrument panel and panoramic windshield that characterized the Super Beetle Sedan continued on in the convertible. In 1976 there were very few convertibles being produced by US auto makers The Super Beetle was one of the only choices for those who wanted the open-air experience. Worldwide demand started to increase again so the order was sent to Karmann in Osnabrück to increase production of the convertible from 33 to 50 units per day.

The increase in sales sparked the release of one of the most popular special editions, the Triple White convertible. White was Germany's national racing color so this 1303 came with Alpine white paint, Opal (white) upholstery and a white convertible top. US sales for the convertible had been increasing by over 5,000 units per year since 1974. And in 1977 the Champagne Edition was Volkswagen's latest special offering. Like the Triple White this Beetle was painted Alpine white with Opal upholstery, but this time it came with a light ivory (or light sand) colored top. There was a gold stripe that was applied just above the running boards on each side of the body, a rosewood dash insert, sports wheels and even white wall tires. These 1303 Super Beetle convertibles were some of the nicest equipped Beetles ever so Volkswagen decided to make it even better with the addition of a rear window defroster and adjustable front headrests.

The new federal safety and pollution guidelines had been delayed and that allowed the Beetle to pay North America its final visit. The very last one page brochure for the Super Beetle simply stated, "After 29 years, millions of Beetles, and countless improvements, the 1979 Convertible is still a very sensible way to flip your lid." All of the options that were on the Champagne edition Beetle were now standard equipment. The Super Beetle was now the only four-seat convertible for sale in the USA and at $6,495.00 was still a very good deal. The last special edition Beetle produced was fittingly called the Epilog Convertible or simply the "Triple Black." This rare Beetle featured black paint with matching interior and top.

The Epilog was produced to show the special bond between the first Kdf-Wagen convertibles assembled at the Karmann plant 40 years prior to this date that were also painted black. Included for the $200.00 extra that the Triple Black option cost, was an AM/FM radio that was added to the other standard equipment. The news started to spread that this was finally the last year of production for the Beetle convertible. This created a huge backlog of orders at the Karmann plant. Production that was supposed to end July 31st 1979 was kept up until January 1980 to fill the thousands of orders that poured in from around the world. Despite a surge of popularity and on that fateful day of January 10, 1980, the last triple-white Super Beetle convertible rolled off the production line and into history forever. This historic Super Beetle can be seen on display in the Karmann museum in Onasbrück Germany.

The definition of the word "Super" speaks volumes about this amazing Volkswagen. Super: 'sü-p&r [adj] 1. Excellent, extremely good or wonderful. 2. Extra good or large of its kind. 3. Above, beyond or over.

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