![]() ![]() Gone was the flat metal dashboard (unless you bought the povvo 1300, in which case it was the same but cladded in plastic), replaced by an almost conventional padded dash, with side window demisters and just one prominent binnacle for a speedo with integrated fuel gauge and warning lights. While mechanically identical to the Superbug S, from the inside the ‘L Bug’ had transitioned into modernity. Dubbed Superbug L in Australia (and 1303 S in Europe), this 1303-series Beetle remains the pinnacle of Ferdinand Porsche’s original Volkswagen design. The Superbug S was updated in 1972 with a flat-faced four-spoke steering wheel, a column-mounted wiper stalk, an ignition lock, high-back bucket seats, extra engine-lid vents and a slightly larger rear window, but the biggest change happened in April 1973.Ī massively curved windscreen with 42 percent more glass area replaced the marginally curved screen introduced in ’68, and it was joined by enormous ‘elephant’s foot’ tail-lights that could be seen from space. So for much of the ’70s you could effectively choose from two very different Beetles – one significantly superior to the other, but each looking almost identical, badgework aside, to the untrained eye. ![]() Lurking beneath the Superbug S in VW’s Aussie line-up, though, was a basic 1300 Beetle (re-introduced as a price leader in 1970), which revived drum front brakes (the 1500 Beetle had debuted dual-circuit discs in ’68), the previous torsion-bar front suspension design and rear swing axles, all of which it retained until its demise in mid-1975. ![]()
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