As a child, VW Beetles were a commonplace sight, whether parked on the street or seen driving along roads, their passage announce by distinctive air-cooled engine sound. Sometimes I would be overjoyed to see one that had been painted to look like Herbie.
But over time they faded from view and it wasn’t until the new, much worse looking (in my opinion), New Beetle arrived in the late 1990s that the cars began to be widely seen again, on British roads at least. The New Beetle lasted from 1997 to 2011, when it was replaced by the sleeker-looking Beetle A5, which itself was finally retired in 2019.
The original Beetle design is a classic and as a result there are still many being maintained, so it’s easy to find one (or several) at classic car shows, and they also turn up in customised form. There’s a customised green Beetle often to be found parked near my local fish & chip shop which I’ve thought about photographing but, apart from a digital snap I took a few years ago, I haven’t gotten around to doing so.
When I spotted this pristine Beetle in Lido di Jesolo, I just had to get a few pictures. It’s nice to see one in such pristine condition in the wild.
Olympus Trip 35 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.
Taken 5 May 2023.
Steel City Snapper photography 
I tend to see a bunch of VW Beetles here in Portland, along with 1st gen Microbuses. But I mostly see them parked on the street or in driveways, rarely on the road. I’ve definitely taken my share of pics of them.
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I tend to see more VW campervans than I do Beetles. Here in the UK a lot of older cars were lost as part of government scrappage schemes to promote cleaner cars (many when unleaded fuel was made a legal requirement). It means we don’t get so many old cars on the road (or on driveways even) any more, apart from those in the hands of enthusiasts.
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Excellent images from the Olympus Trip, must load up the one I have and give it a go. I really like the old VW Beetles, I’ve had 4 of them over the years, wish I had one now.
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Thanks. It really is a very good little camera. Maybe limited in terms of control, but it really produces the goods in terms of nice pictures.
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Hello! What’s all this talk of Beetle? It will forever be Herbie, and they should all have a 53 on the bonnet! I remember sitting at the front on the top deck of a double decker (bus not chocolate bar!) as a kid and “spotting” them as we went along! Quietly in my mind I still do when I drive past one! Cheers for the memories!
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There was someone who lived in the same area as me when I was little who’d painted their Beetle with Herbie’s No. 53 and racing stripes scheme. It was always am exciting moment to see that!
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