The VW Beetle - why it still starts
12/15/2016
Nobody would advertise like that today:
"Off when the snow gets even higher .... Get in. Start. Drive. (If it's a VW)."
This message has not only gone out of fashion because there is hardly any snow at lower altitudes, but also because every driver expects their car to start and run reliably even at the lowest temperatures.
However, this was by no means the case in the past. In those days, prolonged "organ-grinding" was the least of the evils, and many a car had already exhausted its battery before the spark had really jumped. And many cars could hardly be moved for the first few kilometers without almost hitting your head on the windscreen due to the bouncing produced by the engine, which did not rev cleanly.
For decades, VW engineers optimized the carburetor system of the VW Beetle to make it start as well as possible in the Alps in winter and in the desert in summer. If you take one of these carburetors apart today, you may still see the traces and changes that new improvements have left behind.
For the sake of completeness, here is all the advertising:
