Just curious really. There's a few in the UK but not many.
Also if anyone knows what type they are i.e. 1500s, 1302s, 1303s, etc etc that would be appreciated.
I'd like to know if we have the rarest VW in our club - the winner so far is a 1953 oval. :wink:
Hi Wayne,
I know of about 20 autosticks in Australia [on the road]
most are 1968 1500 models
then there are the 1302 Supers
and I've only seen One 1303 Autostick in Australia
it was on ebay last month.... so its the rarest autostick in Australia.
it must have been a special order, as all autosticks were German made.
Most VWs in Australia were made in Australia , or at least made from a Knocked Down Kit... From the early 50s to 1976...
I've also seen a few Karmann Ghia cabriolets that have been imported from the USA and they were also AutoSticks...
There are still a lot of AutoSticks in the USA....
but numberwise I don't know....
cheers
Lee - 68Autobug -- Australia --
http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug
Thanks Lee!
Well I know of at least 12 in the UK now as I asked this on a UK-based VW forum plus there's stcos85's convertable 1302S semi-auto (which sounds like the rarest semi-auto in the UK!)
Hi,
I forgot about Karmann beetle cabriolets...
there are a lot of those in the USA too...
plus the Karmann Ghias - hardtops and cabriolets,
plus the Beetles...
so still a lot of autosticks in the USA...
so a few parts are still available... over there...
cheers
Lee -- 68autoBug -- Australia --
Hiya Wayne,
Scroll on down the list of threads in this forum until you get to "AutoStick Production". There should be some more relevant information in that thread for you.
Me and my business partner have two in bits at the moment, a 72 1302LS and a 69 1500 but at one point our two families had five between us, the 1302, three 1500's and a 1300 which was so slow you could feel yourself age as it accelerated.
Hiya Crasher,
Quote from: Crasher........ and a 1300 which was so slow you could feel yourself age as it accelerated.
Had to time it through the quarter mile with a calendar, huh?
Slow auto sticks....
Did You use the 3 forward gears??
using Low, drive 1 & 2...
using Low gear to take off really makes a difference...
although I'm finding the MPG fuel usage is rather high...
I see a few graphs in some of My Books,
and the autostick did use more fuel the faster you went...
more than the standard gearbox beetle...
and driving at 80kmh does save a lot of fuel...
There were no 1300 autos in Australia... 1500 or 1600 engines..
I don't think there were any in the USA either..
cheers
Lee - 68autobug - Australia -
http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug
Driven hard or not, it was slooooow!
Quote from: bookwusHiya Wayne,
Scroll on down the list of threads in this forum until you get to "AutoStick Production". There should be some more relevant information in that thread for you.
Cool! So we're looking at around 610300 produced on the Type 1 chassis (so that includes Ghias too)
Still, not a huge amount considering how many manual transmission Beetles were produced.
Hiya Wayne,
Well, the information in that thread does come with one caveat...........
That 10% figure is good for North American imports only. I'm not sure what the breakdown for other sales areas was. And do realize that the AutoStick was an attempt to appeal to those with disposable income who wished for either a second car or an entry level car with a semi-automtic shift. In other words, housewives and students. It's always been my impression that the USA market was the main marketing target for the AutoStick.
Quote from: bookwusHiya Wayne,
Well, the information in that thread does come with one caveat...........
That 10% figure is good for North American imports only. I'm not sure what the breakdown for other sales areas was. And do realize that the AutoStick was an attempt to appeal to those with disposable income who wished for either a second car or an entry level car with a semi-automtic shift. In other words, housewives and students. It's always been my impression that the USA market was the main marketing target for the AutoStick.
I would reckon that there wasn't a huge amount sold outside America so the 610300 is proberbly pretty close to the total production amount. The current figure of known AutoStick Bugs in the UK is 14 - given there's thousands of normal Bugs on the road still, that's a pretty low figure.
In the UK, we never really liked Automatics - proberbly because British Leyland couldn't make automatic transmissions without the gears slipping! In fact the first automatic transmission car I've ever owned I bought last year (I've been driving for 10 years) which was a very tired but cheap BMW 5 series.
Hello Wayne,
My '68 automatic stick shift is in Clayton, California near San Francisco. When I bought it about 18 months ago it wasn't in very good shape. After putting a little bit of work into it, I saw Herbie Fully Loaded with my kids.
They enjoyed the movie so much that I painted the car to match Herbie! I'll figure out how to post pictures and put one up.
Michael
Quote from: Michael in ClaytonHello Wayne,
My '68 automatic stick shift is in Clayton, California near San Francisco. When I bought it about 18 months ago it wasn't in very good shape. After putting a little bit of work into it, I saw Herbie Fully Loaded with my kids.
They enjoyed the movie so much that I painted the car to match Herbie! I'll figure out how to post pictures and put one up.
Michael
Ah the Herbie thing! :D
I remember back when I first got my Baja Bug on the road many years ago. It was just before Christmas and every Herbie film was being shown on TV on the run up to Christmas so every red light and every crossing all I could hear was kids shouting "It's Herbie!"
I'm looking forward to having a good drive of our 1302 semi auto. I've never really driven one for any distance. As mentioned above, I'd never owned a car with full automatic transmission until last year.
Quote from: Michael in ClaytonHello Wayne,
My '68 automatic stick shift is in Clayton, California near San Francisco. When I bought it about 18 months ago it wasn't in very good shape. After putting a little bit of work into it, I saw Herbie Fully Loaded with my kids.
They enjoyed the movie so much that I painted the car to match Herbie! I'll figure out how to post pictures and put one up.
Michael
A bit like this
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/Jack-the-Bug/Herbie%20goes%20to%20Wentworth/wentworthherbie1.jpg)
Herbie looks great... and that towel rail bumper makes him look like a real Herbie....
but after watching that latest Herbie movie a few times...
there were a lot of modifications to those Herbies.....
there were certainly a lot of beetles used in that movie....
I am pleased with the way My Beetle goes in LOW gear, and really pleased with it in 1st gear....
although I'm in a country town, without traffic lights, but I think I keep up with the traffic OK... especially in 1st gear....
I believe there maybe now about 40 road registered Semi Auto beetles in Australia, as there have been many for sale recently....
and it may be as high as 50....
I know years ago, they were sought after to get a beetle chassis with IRS rear suspension, as the 1968-69-70-71-72-73-74 Non Supers all has swinging rear axles.... only the Supers and the 1976 Non supers had IRS rear suspension....
but 10 years ago, it was difficult to find anyone who even knew about the semi auto beetles... [in Australia]
Lee Noonan - 68AutoBug -
http://community.webshots.com/user/vw68autobug
Quote from: 68AutoBugI know years ago, they were sought after to get a beetle chassis with IRS rear suspension, as the 1968-69-70-71-72-73-74 Non Supers all has swinging rear axles.... only the Supers and the 1976 Non supers had IRS rear suspension....
Sounds about the same as the UK Bugs. In fact non of the non-supers had IRS even right up to 1978!
With my Baja Bug (which is currently swing axle) the plan is eventually to graft on the rear suspension from a scrap 1989 BMW 5-series I have in my back yard:
(http://www.realoem.com/bmw/diagrams/o/l/0.png)
I'll be installing a Type 2 Baywindow gearbox in place of the BMW's differential unit - which is easier than first thought as I've discovered the BMW's CV joints match the Type 2's output shaft bolt pattern. Also means I get rear disk brakes for free!