Our family has had a longstanding love affair with VW cars for the last 45 years. When we decided to take a tow vehicle with us on our current adventure it was an easy decision on what vehicle type to drag behind us….. an air cooled VW bug.
Recently we found a vintage 1969 bug in Southern Calif. with less then a hundred thousand miles on the clock. It still has the original paint, engine and trany with zero rust. In recent years it has become very hard to find cars in this kind of condition.
There are several important reason why we chose this vehicle as our tow rig.
~ Size and weight: The 1969 beetle only weights 1850 lbs wet. It’s very easy to maneuver and park in smaller campsites although all four of us do fill it completely.
~ Service and repairs: it is very easy to find parts and install them yourself, there are no computers on board. Simple tools and basic knowledge is all that is needed.
~ Economy: I recently drove this bug up the Alcan and fully loaded it got a consistent + 30 mpg with 36 as the high milage.
~ Tow ability: this vehicle is easily towed on its own 4 wheels. The trany is designed to self lubricate when ever its turning. To ready it for towing all thats needed is to set the ignition key to unlock position, move the gear shifter to the neutral position and insure the emergency brake is off.
Because of its size I can only see it with rear view cameras but with the addition of tire pressure monitors it’s a very easy to keep track off. With the new V6 turbo diesel Sprinter engine power I have to remind myself it’s back there even on hills.
And then there’s the fun factor. We are currently in British Columbia and at almost very stop light, gas station, parking lot or winery everyone wants to talk VW bugs. Everyone that had ever owned or has known someone that owned a bug wants to relay those memories to you…..it’s actually quit time consuming but very fun.
Incidentally we have not seen one air cooled vw on the road anywhere in Canada so far. So far we are very happy we brought the CABOSE with us. It has been a blast driving the back roads of the Okanagan Valley and being able to go to the local fruit stand, grocery store or Starbucks for our daily needs without having to move the motorhome.
I have included some photos of our past adventures in our VW’s, enjoy
gone with the dogs 
Can’t wait to see the cabose again!
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It will be awesome to follow along with your adventures! Love the “Cabose”!!!
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Love your Blog! We had a great drive North up the Casiar. We saw nine bears and numerous other animals along the way. We just missed your departure. The new truck is working out great – we’re getting around 16 mpg at 75, although now that we are burning #1 it has dropped. Let’s keep in touch! Elwood
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Hi Elwood, must have just missed you on the Alcan, we just missed 12″ of snow in Whitehorse. Your new truck sounds great are you going to load your camper on back? we just 16 mph on our rig on the Alcan, fuel prices were not good as you know, its cooling now in Canada and we should be in Washington in the next few days. Take care Tim
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Hi Tim,
I’m impressed that you are getting 16 mpg pulling the Bug!
I’ve got the frame mounted tie downs and air bags on the truck – so we are pretty much ready to use the camper. I pulled to trailer to our Talkeetna and was amazed at the ease and power of the truck. I’m thinking about extending the tongue of the trailer and towing the Prius behind the camper. We’ll see. Look forward to tracking your adventures!
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