The Towing Engineer of Saab 9-5 Wagon

I towed a 1953 Plymouth 4 door for 5 miles with a 66 VW (50hp) beetle.

Got up to 3rd gear,but it bogged down in 4th(overdrive).

Had to drop down to 2nd when the guy driving the Plymouth dumped the clutch to start it.

Tough little buggers,but they were high maintenance unless you did the servicing yourself,which was really simple;no oil filter,just a strainer,valve adjustment every 3000 miles,and easily accessible lube points.If you rotated the engine backwards when adjusting the valves,you could do the valve adjust without having to go side to side.The firing order was 1-4-3-2,backwards,it became 1-2-3-4.

Their Achilles heel was#3 cylinder,it ran hotter because the oil cooler blocked part of the cooling air to that cylinder.

The dropping of # 3 valve was a normal failure mode.

I remember having to pull my Beetle's engine and then carrying it inside to the kitchen table to get it out of the rain!

The bug engine was an aircraft engine enclosed in sheet metal,which made it run hot.Because of the characteristics of the fan,the faster it ran,the cooler it ran.

The stroke was so short,you could not blow the engine if you drove it coast to coast in first gear.First gear was a real stump puller.

It would run just as fast in 3rd gear as 4th,but 4th was overdrive,and had no torque left for more speed,but it could hold at whatever speed you could achieve in 3rd gear.

Hard to steer in a heavy wind,due to low moment of inertia at the front end,and a passing semi would almost blow you off of the of the road.

I had the hiccups one time and the car almost swapped lanes every time I hiccuped.

However,they made great dune buggies with a fiberglass body,and you could not stick them with balloon tires on the beach or in snow.Real fun to drive.

Smog controls killed the bug in America;Too much strain on the little engine to run the smog pump and other requirements at the time.

Shirley you jest...

https://media.landrover.com/news/2017/09/land-rover-discovery-tows-110-tonne-road-train-across-australian-outback

A couple of guys like this guy could do that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95OQvSTq97Y