Aircooled VW South Africa

A very interesting 4-page article from the October '85 issue of a South African CAR magazine. I scanned it in high resolution, so that you can read it easily, just click on the pic to enlarge - gripping stuff, it is like the background of a Wilbur Smith bestseller. The buggy mentioned is a South African Glitterbug - an exact copy of the famous EMPI Imp buggy. I saw one in Pretoria two years ago, and there has been standing another one for ever at Van der Brink Motors, a local VW shop - one of the most notable features of this buggy and the Imp is the external pod for a tachometer, outside the cabin on the bonnet, so you actually look at it through the window.

Very interesting.....20l per 100km..................................

The nicest part of that Buggy are those side pods. Looks very cool!

Pine, do you have any more pictures of the Glitterbug?

Blitzkrieg wrote:Pine, do you have any more pictures of the Glitterbug?

Yes, I do! (Sorry for the late reply )








But wait! Before you all start 'YUCKING' and 'UGGGGGHing', THIS is what an EMPI Imp could look like, the bodyshell above is the SAME thing!

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This is not the Blitterbug that I know.

The Glitter Bug that was build in Cape Town, Parow looks like todays Beamish Bug.

They also all had glitter in the gel coat.

This was also the Buggy you could buy new from the VW Dealerships floor.

Like these?

Thats the Glitter bugs I know.

They also lost there moulds to a fire.

After This they produced the Sand Shark. This is when I was introduced to my buggy world.

My Dad had a Friend that Bought a Brand New RED Non - Glitter

After a while the paint wore through to expose a good looking Glitter Green.

Some Day I must dig through my folks old Pics and post "the good old days here"

In the 70 and 80's there were lots of buggys in Cpt and over Xmas Hermanus was flooded with Buggys from the entire country. Being a young kid and into buggys I took note of all the differant types and this is the first time I have seen a Buggy like the Top Pic.

But I will Check with My Dad (Tom Snr) if he knows about this body.

It is a straight mould from the EMPI Imp (which, to the best of my knowledge was never available in SA), you can even see the oval on the side pods for the EMPI logo. There was another one standing at VandenBrink Motors a while ago, but I never took a pic of it.

A similar bodyshell was also made & sold by Karmann...

The reason for the 20L/100km fuel consumption is obvious. It's because of the aircon. They had to keep the motor running whenever they stopped to look around so the aircon could keep things cool.

Pine wrote:It is a straight mould from the EMPI Imp (which, to the best of my knowledge was never available in SA), you can even see the oval on the side pods for the EMPI logo. There was another one standing at VandenBrink Motors a while ago, but I never took a pic of it.

Was at VdB last month again, and it was still there! Unfortunately it was an SWB shell, converted to LWB. The bulge on the bonnet is actually meant for an external rev counter, not the filler cap!