smell of a beetle

It is a very delicate recipe formulated carefully by the VW engineers.

• special floor mat scents

• hand picked seat stuffings

• some gas fumes from the filler pipe

• carefully tuned mixture of heated motor oil mixed with exhaust gases and air from the engine compartment blown into the cockpit for many years of time

• some secret VW aromas

Can someone here still remember and tell us, what did a Beetle smell like when new? A smell like new cars have or did they have the proper VW smell already as new.

I can't say what causes the **smell** but when I recently removed the rear seat from my newly acquired 79 SB...for a moment at least, it was 1969 again and I was sitting in my '62.

GaryT

That Grass seat stuffing,................The same type of stuff packed around the heater ducts under the rear seat to dampen sound as the heaters are open................yeah, the vivyl helps,...................two of my Bugs didn't come with Carpet like normal peoples did evidently they came with thick rubber matts which probably have a smell similar to tire rubber when new.....................headliner .....................oh yeah,...............maybe even some of that "hot paint" smell from the new exhaust and heater boxes...................

all in all, I consider this to be a rather odd smell I can't pinpoint to any one particular item in the vehicle.

Funny thing to me is, I used to ride around in a Squareback when I was in about second or third grade. I remember the experience vividly, and it was often. That Smell is the same smell I have in two of the cars out back, and that old squareback was just about new at that time...................( that is my closest to new experience)

I figure the Smell is likely something used in the seats and heaters , that gives off that odor that tickles so many VW owners.....

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply MUADIB®

I never bought a new one, but in '73 I got a super beetle with only 600 miles on it. It's hard to describe the distinctive smell, but ranks up there with new sneakers, my first real baseball glove, good window rubber, the ice on a hockey rink, and my eldest son when I first noticed he might someday need deodorant - all rolled together.

"Neil" wrote

I think the smell is too consistent among Volkswagens to have anything to do with previous owners. Almost everyone over the age of about 30 that gets into my '72 comments on the smell and how they remember the smell from a Beetle owned by a parent, grandparent, friend, etc.

I believe the smell comes from the natural sisal fiber that was used to stuff the seats.

-- Scott

"Olli Lammi" wrote in news:biabk4$qch$1@phys- news1.kolumbus.fi:

My gf's daddy bought her a brand new '69. It did not have that American new car smell (which I've heard comes in a spray can.) It did have the distinctive Beetle aroma-- mild, I guess the horsehair hadn't gotten sufficiently wet--along with that of new paint.

BTW not too long ago I gave an old lady friend a ride. Had to sell her '65 when she went blind in the late 60s. My God, she said, it still smells the same. And this with the top down!

I've owned several beetles and one bus. They all smell the same. When I took the back seat out and forgot to put it back, a few days later I could smell the VW odor from the driveway. It was coming from the back seat. So I agree the odor probably comes from the seat stuffing.