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UFO encounter by SA Beetle driver

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:25 am
by Pine
Scanned from a October 1968 CAR magazine. I can only assume that Mr Terblance was driving a 1958 Beetle, since he refers to his '10-year old Beetle'...

Image

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:32 am
by Merlin
The pic's wrong...no sunroof was available in '58. :lol:

...and considering it's '68, I'm going to assume these "tranquilizers" were smoked, rather than popped. :lol:

Damn Hippies. :lol:

N.

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:06 am
by Pine
Never let facts spoil a good story

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:18 pm
by Pine
I really think this is an interesting story!!! Anyone else?

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:32 pm
by Chris
Interresting story and humorous.Although I think the fuel leak on that car was inside the car!

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:34 pm
by Pine
Hahahahahahaha :mrgeen:

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:38 am
by Pine
Seems like they've been here for a while..
UFO crashes in SA
2007-1-2 23:13

Pretoria - A UFO was sighted at Lephalale, where it was described as a strange object "on an orange cloud, singing like a million turbines" - hitting the earth with a bang at 04:33 on Saturday.
That's according to Leonie Ras, the administrative manager of Lephalale (Ellisras) who witnessed the spectacle at her daughter's farm just east of the town on Saturday morning.

"I was lying on my bed reading SMS-messages when I heard a noise like an Airbus aircraft firing up its motors."

"It was raining but there was no thunder or lightning. The noise grew louder and eventually it sounded like a million turbines screaming in unison," Ras said.

She walked to the bedroom window and saw the clouds taking on a bright orange-red colour.

"Suddenly, a bright object plunged from the clouds to the earth, at a terrible speed, and hit the ground with an almighty bang."

"It looked like Haley's comet, round in the front and with an orange-red tail following behind."

When the UFO hit the ground the low-lying clouds went orange.

"It was so exceptional that I started crying. I wished my children and grandchildren could have seen it. I had not been drinking and I was in full control of my faculties," she said.

She calculated that the object must have hit the ground near Beauty, between the Tambotie and Palele rivers.

Cobus Nel, her son-in-law, who was also in the house, woke up from the commotion.

"I woke up to a terrible rumbling, followed by a sound like an explosion. I woke my wife up, so that she could also listen, because the rumbling lasted more than a minute, becoming louder, then we heard the bang," Nel said.

Lephlale's fire service, police and disaster control centres seemed to have slept through the commotion.

"I want someone to go and have a look. The farms here are big, and it could have fallen somewhere, where the farmer doesn't even know about it," Ras said.

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:13 pm
by lowlight
Orange? nogal

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:30 pm
by fig
Merlin wrote:The pic's wrong...no sunroof was available in '58. :lol:
Sunroofs were available on Beetles since 1938.

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 5:34 pm
by Pine
Merlin wrote:The pic's wrong...no sunroof was available in '58. :lol:
Ever heard the expression 'Artists Impression'? This was in '68 FFS!!

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 10:22 pm
by Merlin
fig wrote:
Merlin wrote:The pic's wrong...no sunroof was available in '58. :lol:
Sunroofs were available on Beetles since 1938.
Not a rag'y, and not a 'vert, Fig. :)

A sunroof.

There is a difference. :D

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 10:30 pm
by fig
A ragtop is a sunroof.

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 10:53 pm
by Merlin
BS. :)

A "ragtop" is a complete roof area, in fabric.

A sunroof is a section - of metal.

Euro models were available with ragtops until '67, and sunroofs were an option from '64 onwards.

I suppose it was luck of the draw when you ordered a "sunroof" in Europe? :mrgreen:

N.

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:42 pm
by fig
Funny, because Volkswagen never sold anything called a ragtop, but they always offered SUNROOF model Beetles and buses.

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:58 am
by Merlin
So find me the names for the options offered in Europe in the mid '60s. ;)