Could New Beetle Signal Another Social Revolution?

Five years after its introduction, VW's "new" Beetle is a success. People of all ages, mostly women, are flocking to the dealerships and buying the cute little retro-cars nearly as fast as they can be off-loaded from the delivery trucks. The new convertible model is so cool that it's hard to say anything negative about it, and the Turbo Beetle is a stealthy highway-eater.

"Twentysomethings" buy them because of the carefree image the Beetle represents. The 30-40 age group is buying them because they represent a pretty good value. We "Boomers" are buying them because they remind us of our youth, specifically the '60s. Right on, man!

Many would argue that the original Beetle made the '60s. Wrong! The '60s made the Beetle and here's why: the ugly little VW Bug was introduced to the US in 1949 and only a handful were bought each year, that is until the late 1950s. The reasons for its lack of enthusiastic buyers were obvious: no power; lousy visibility; ridiculous heating system; marginal brakes, catastrophic rust and - although no one recognized it at the time - an overall design that made it unstable and unsafe at any speed over 50 mph.

By the early 60s, Falcons, Mustangs, Valiants and Chevy II's were much better cars for the same money. However, VW's advertising folks started capitalizing on the car's basics - fuel economy and air-cooled engine - and created an extremely cute ad campaign which even today hasn't been surpassed. Boomers' parents started buying the cars for urban commutes and within a very few years the Beetles went to college with us.

History will eventually show that "THE 60s" (the social revolution that questioned tradition, government, religion and sexual mores) officially started with the assassination of JFK and ended with Nixon's resignation in 1974. That revolution was made possible because 40 million of us - or so - had the wherewithall to attend college and spend our time talking about what was wrong with the world, rather than actually doing anything about it.

We were the counterculture and we embraced any image that demonstrated the fact. Denim vs Brooks Brothers suits, miniskirts vs dresses, long hair vs "white sidewalls", no bra (thank you very much!).

As for cars, well the Beetle fit the counterculture just fine. It was cheap, not flashy (barely any chrome at all) and was the opposite of Detroit's big, plush, powerful, heavy machinery. It was the perfect car for the times.

The back seat of the Beetle became almost a mandatory right-of-passage for the sexual (and chemical) experimentation that the Boomer generation attempted to legitimize. The plain truth of the matter is that if the 60s hadn't happened the Beetle would never have become such a large seller. That theory is borne out by the car's utter demise in the middle 70s because nearly every car available was demonstrably better than the obsolescent - and uncomfortable - Beetle.

So now we have the new Beetle and we Boomers are hitting our 50s real hard. We "social revolutionists" have become whining wimps and our children a generation more conservative than our parents were (that's irony for you) and one that feels it is entitled to a risk-free existence.

However, there's still a spark of counterculture in millions of us and pretty soon we'll collectively be secure enough to make some new statement to the world. When we do we'll no doubt need some symbol on our banner.

That's where the Beetle comes in. It won't be long before lots of them sport peace symbols, paisley decorations and other badges of the 60s. Long hair (if we have the ability to grow it!) will return and millions of 60-year-old "flower children" will fill the Viagra prescription, split for the coasts and leave the world for their children to worry about.

And the Beetle will be right there with us. Except this time it'll actually be a good car.