During the first few years of my life, there were two cars in my parents’ garage. My mother’s 1978 Fiat 131 2-door and my father’s commuter workhorse, a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. This was a big year for the venerable People’s Car, with a number of upgrades on tap. For starters, a new 12 volt electrical system replaced the old 6 volt system. A larger engine with more horsepower could be found under the hood and a few refinements such as rear backup lights, two speed wipers and a external passenger side mirror were included. If one looked closely, they would notice a slightly different face on the Bug, with sealed beam headlamps to meet ever tightening US regulations.
The green 1967 Beetle I grew up with wasn’t my father’s first Bug, nor was it his first 1967 model. He was a fan of this model year and often waxes poetic about the ’67 Beetle he had when he was a bachelor, with a bored out engine, painted white with the chrome trim blacked out. It was a purposeful looking little thing, but sadly after he got married and moved to San Francisco, that locale wasn’t the best place for my mother to learn how to drive a manual gearbox. I’d like to think if he had to do it all over, a 1967 Bug like this one for sale in South Carolina would be at the top of the list.
