I had several VW Beetles,my first car was a '63...bought it off a neighbor for $150 when I was 15,didn't even have a learners permit yet!..he let me pay him a little at a time,by the time I got my permit it was paid for..
I later bought a '59 VW I found in Fall River MA,it was stashed in a barn for almost 20 years..it only had about 40K on it,the original 36 HP engine ran sweet--until I drove it 70 miles home,and the mouse nest in the fan shroud made it overheat--at first I thought it was the fuel pump vapor locking ,so I bought a 6V electric pump,and it ran great,didn't bog down or stall once ..but the next trip back from to my parents house 70 miles away,it got so hot the #3 cylinder had its exhaust valve drop into the piston,it hammered a hole in the piston ,made its way into the crankcase,where it wedged between the crank counterweight and the block...had to get another engine,all I could find was a 40 HP...
My uncle had a '63 VW "Khombi" factory camper,that he and another uncle both drove to CA twice ,and as far as Alaska..when one uncle who owned it first died,the other one who inherited it had the engine rebuilt in CA..after he was done seeing the USA,it sat in his backyard a few years,and he sold it to me for $1 !...I wish I had kept it,despite it having quite a bit of body rot and being patched up,I bet it would fetch 20 grand today easily..
I never owned a Karmann Ghia,I came close to buying one from another neighbor,but it had sat too long on grassy swampland and was badly rotted--I was going to get it just for parts ,but it got scrapped soon after I asked about buying it..
We had one at a junkyard I worked at that was from CA,it had factory A/C,first air cooled VW I ever saw with it!..a customer bought the whole engine just for that,despite it being seized up and was likely blown up before it got junked..
I wish they still sold air cooled VW's..or the few left still running were not priced so ridiculously high..one would fit my transportation needs fine now..my only dislike about them was no heat in the winter,and my 6 foot 5 inch body doesn't fit too well in one..