Wow, brings back memories. Vacation in 1966, in Dad's 1964 camper bus. Gasoline furnace in that thing. My mother's cool brand new 1963 Beetle had 40 hp, not just 36, like her 1956 model. And a big rear window (since '58 I believe), not a little oval like the '56. And really cool, it had an actual fuel gauge, not just a reserve valve you kicked when the engine cut out. Yes, it used the spare under the hood to pressurize the windshield washer.
The VW Thing is basically a WWII Kubelwagen, except it has a high, less steeply sloped hood, and carries its spare inside instead of on top of the hood.
As a kid, our "brush car" was a VW that Dad had bought cheaply after the owner rolled it, the "Bent Beetle." Used a Porta Power to jack out the roof a bit. Never replaced the windshield (you didn't have to get out to shoot a grouse). If you slid on wet ground and leaves, and smacked a tree, you got out and pulled the fender away from the tire, then off you went. It got run out of oil a few times, froze/quit. Hike home, get oil; get back with oil and it was cool. Pour it full of oil and off you went.
The air/oil cooled VW did not like to be lugged but had bombproof bearings. Run it flat out on the highway and it would run forever. Lug it, and it would swallow #3 exhaust valve - sometimes about every 25,000 miles. Coaster wagon is handy to slide engine back out of van. You can drop Beetle engine on ground then have friend help you lift rear of Beetle a bit and roll it forward. The 6v battery under rear seat was weird, but you got used to it.
That 1964 van had the same wheelbase as the Beetle, but it had the gear reduction final drive, so it had effectively lower gearing and more ground clearance. BTW, it's possible to assemble a transaxle with the ring gear on either side. Assemble it the way you would for a bus, with its final drive, and you could end up with a Beetle that had four speeds backward and one forward.
Trivia: Ferdinand Porsche whipped up the "people's car" when der Fuhrer demanded it, largely by copying from the Czech Tatra he had recently studied.
