Somewhere between rear-engine and front-drive, Volkswagen lost traction trying to better the Beetle.
Take the 1500 sedan, new in 1961. Few did, take it that is, notably Volkswagen of America, which opted against trying to sell the model that Volkswagen hoped would broaden its range and attract mainstream buyers.
But Glen Konorowski was among the minority who “got” the 1500, even as a kid, when Volkswagen Canada gamely introduced the model. He’d been a fan of all things Volkswagen since age six, when an uncle arrived in Oshawa from Montreal in a 1960 Beetle and the neighbours, who worked at General Motors, marvelled at its build quality.
Most still don’t get the 1500. “Hey, you’re putting the gas in the wrong end,” a guy with a pickup truck says as Konorowski pumps gas into the front fender filler in preparation for a demo drive.
Konorowski responds without hesitation to the line any driver of an early VW or Porsche has heard a million times: “I am not putting the gas in the wrong end – and here’s a challenge for you, my friend, just try finding the engine in this car.”
Here’s the point. Here’s the charm. Obviously, the 1500’s engine is not in the front along with the gas tank. Apparently, it’s not in the rear, either, because opening the rear hood reveals only cargo space – enough room for a sizable suitcase and two smaller bags.
Had the trucker taken the bait, Konorowski would have grandly raised his trunk’s insulated floor – Shazam! With a wave of his cape, the magician produces a rabbit from thin air – revealing the compact, flat engine hidden within. It sits under the trunk floor, like a space-saver spare tire.
This placement creates luggage space complimenting the front trunk while lowering the centre of gravity. “Look how Porsche designed the engine installation mounted to the cross-member, like in the 911, but before they brought out the 911,” he says.
Porsche? While it’s common knowledge that Ferdinand Porsche’s engineers designed the original Beetle before the Second World War, VW devotees know Porsche continued under contract to perform all of Volkswagen’s research and development. This feeds Konorowski’s fascination.
He found his car in British Columbia on thesamba.com, a VW buffs’ website, its rust-free 1965 body mated to a 1973 chassis. He has $15,000 invested in it, what with purchase, shipping and his own refinements, but says it will be easy to sell, should he come across another VW he has to have.
Starting the 1500 requires two or three pumps of the accelerator priming the twin carburetors. The eggbeater chorus of push rods and pistons seems hushed compared with a Beetle’s threshing machine.
The low effort turning the thin white steering wheel, owing to the car’s light front end, is reminiscent of the pleasure afforded by every Volkswagen prior to the company moving to front-wheel-drive. Shifting gears is similarly dreamy, pushing the lever in the general direction of the next gear and somehow you’ve accomplished an upshift or down. A Hurst shifter introduces some precision, and hints of further modifications.
The remote roads with enticing curves at the outer limits of Whitby and Oshawa are recalled from his teens. “We used to get airborne here in my friend’s Pontiac,” Konorowski says of one railroad crossing, as the 1500 remains pinned to the road by its KYB shocks and Porsche-refined suspension.
Riding a camel, though, wouldn’t be much rougher. Konorowski wants it this way, the suspension firm, anticipating solo competition runs through pylon courses or race tracks.
A locksmith for many years, an electrician on movie sets for a time and now appraising classic automobiles for income while his wife, Fran, continues nursing, one constant in Konorowski’s life has been old Volkswagens occupying his garage.
Volkswagen gave up on the car in 1973. A second try at courting mainstream buyers, the larger 411 model introduced in 1968, was so unsuccessful that Volkswagen in 1973 dropped its contract with Porsche for research and development.
The 1974 Golf – the Rabbit in North America – with a front engine and front drive inspired by Auto-Union, a company Volkswagen acquired in 1964, emerged as successor to the Beetle. Porsche’s vision for a Beetle replacement, this time with the engine tucked beneath its rear seat, went unrealized.
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