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.