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Old April 25th 2007, 08:19
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oasis oasis is offline
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Location: timonium, md usa
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Anecdotal evidence is dangerous enough when drawing conclusions, even when others concur. Speculating on top of that may not be the wisest thing either. But that won't stop me.

I've been told by others the post-1974 standards also seem to be more prone to rust issues. For some reason, convertibles never had that kind of dividing line. Is that because they were assembled at the Karmann plant?

I would find it interesting if this was a US-only pattern or if owners in other countries belived the same patterns existed.

We do know Volkswagen went through some tough times during this period. After many years of trying to find a successor to the Beetle while hedging its bets by trying to upgrade it, Volkswagen was under attack from the Japanese imports, changing safety and emissions laws, as well as the Mark being under attack on the currency front. At the same time, they had acquired other auto companies -- all of which specialized in water-cooled cars.

By 1975, Volkswagen was producing the Golf (Rabbit), the Passat (Dasher), and the Scirocco. They had also by this time discontinued the Karmann Ghia, the Type 3, the Type 4, and the importation of the Type 181 (Thing). The notion of importing Brazil's sleek SP-2 was abandoned as well.

It put VW in a position to say water-cooled cars were the next best thing ("Please buy our Rabbit.") and at the same time say they were the next best thing ("Please keep buying our Beetle."). There was even a drought in advertising between the famous ads of the '60s to early-'70s and "Volkswagen Does It Again" of the late-'70s.

It would be easy to conclude with all this and more going on, Volkswagen may have cut a few corners. But it is all speculation, so who knows?
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