It looks good finally parked in our garage. It took a long time, but you can't change a basket case into a show piece over night. This is not just your average bug. When you get in there, you see a speedometer and little else. There is no digital clock, no gas gauge, no tach, no cruise control. The gas pedal is a roller, and there are three knobs; a manual choke, headlights, and windshield wiper. The location of the front turn signals, the roller gas pedal and the small rear window make this bug different from most others on the road. Those features all changed after 1957.
In order to get into reverse, you push down on the shift lever, then pull it to the left and come straight back. When you shift out of reverse, you are in neutral of a normal H shift pattern with 1st gear forward and 4th to the right and back. There is no 5th gear.
As you can see in the picture of the back, it has tail lights and a rear window that are miniture versions of those on later model Volkswagens. Visibility to the rear is limited by the small oval window, and a tiny left side mirrow doesn't help much. There is no mirror on the right.
The car even has a few options. There is a sunroof, an AM radio, and some little chrome dodads on the front of the rear fenders to protect them from flying gravel.
This model only had one support for the trunk lid, so there is a prop rod in the trunk painted the same color as the body. Did I mention that the trunk is up front like an elephant?
The engine is in the rear. It is a horizonally opposed, four-cylinder, air cooled, and much like those used in Piper cubs and other light aircraft. It even has an airplane sound. It goes much faster than you would expect with only 36 horsepower. Economy is good. The gas tank holds just over 10 gallons, and that is good for more than 300 miles. There is no antifreeze to buy for air cooled engines, and an oil change requires only 2.5 quarts of oil. The whole thing weighs about 1500 pounds.