{"id":14173,"date":"2022-07-26T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?page_id=14173"},"modified":"2022-07-22T08:48:28","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T11:48:28","slug":"volkswagen-1302-ls-limousine-ixo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/volkswagen-1302-ls-limousine-ixo\/","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen 1302 LS Limousine – Ixo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"1302\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1972 Volkswagen 1302 LS Limousine<\/strong>\nIxo - CLC334N (diecast)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Published 07\/26\/22<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The VW K\u00e4fer arrived in the US in 1949. At the time called just \u201cthe Volkswagen\u201d, it was not a hit. Yet, slowly the average American came to appreciate that German oddball as a sturdy, economical and reliable car. By the 1960s, it was immensely popular, and affectionately known as the Beetle. However, North American and even Japanese brands wised-up to the Beetle\u2019s success. With that, in the late 60s VW had quite a few competitors in the Beetle segment. Therefore, VW needed to improve their only passenger car, the VW Limousine<\/em>. At a huge expense, VW decided to reduce the price of the regular Beetle and introduce a new improved version. These new models were the 1302<\/strong> and the 1302 S<\/strong>. The 1302 was the cheaper one, with the regular 1.3-liter engine, while the 1302 S was the new 1.6 version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"1302\"\/
For VW, the project for the new 1302 was the most expensive improvement yet to the Beetle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
While in Europe the new model was called the 1302 S, in the US VW called it Super Beetle<\/strong>. The most striking feature of the 1302 S (at least for publicity) was the bigger engine. VW used the most powerful power plant ever on a Bug, the Typ 126<\/a>. It was a 1584 cm\u00b3 flat-4 with dual intake ports that delivered about 50 hp, improving top speed to almost 130 km\/h. However, just as important as the new engine, was the new suspension system. Up front, VW used a new MacPherson suspension<\/a> with helicoidal springs. That made the K\u00e4fer smoother to drive with a much more precise steering. Moreover, the new suspension setup freed-up space in the trunk. With that, trunk space grew by 86% (!) and now the spare tire laid flat<\/a> in the trunk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Super Beetle looks slightly more “bulbous” than the previous iteration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The first 1302 S came out of the assembly lines at the Wolfsburg and Emdem plants in August of 1970, as a 1971 model. Compared to the previous model, because of the improvements, the new 1302 S had a somewhat bloated shape. With that, Beetle enthusiasts initially didn’t have a very favorable reception to the 1302. Nonetheless, just in 1971, VW sold 700,000 units, and on February 17th, 1972, the 15,007,034th<\/a> came out. That day VW broke Ford\u2019s Model T production record established 60 years prior. With that sort of performance, to celebrate VW produced a handful of special editions in most markets. Nonetheless, in 1973 VW replaced the 1302 with the 1303, an even further-improved version of the Super Beetle. By then, most manufacturers had \u201ccompact and economical\u201d cars, consequently the Beetle had to evolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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While the air vents are not perforated, the “1302 LS” badge is photoetched.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In all honesty, I got this model because I was curious. So far, Schuco has delivered some fantastic<\/a> K\u00e4fer models to my collection. Simply put, the brand became synonymous with \u201cgreat K\u00e4fer in 143rd\u201d. Nonetheless, I\u2019m also a big fan of Ixo. From all the pics I found of Ixo\u2019s 1302 LS (a \u201cluxury\u201d version of the regular 1302 S), it looked the part. Besides, I \u201cneeded\u201d a Super Beetle for the W-143 Garage. With that, I took the chance and here it is. And as you can see, this 1302 LS really does look the part. Of course, I could do without the dead-eye headlights \ud83d\ude44, however Ixo delivered a pretty good model. Nicely detailed and quite cheap, I consequently consider this one as a home run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1972 Volkswagen 1302 LS Limousine Ixo – CLC334N (diecast) Published 07\/26\/22 The VW K\u00e4fer arrived in the US in 1949. At the time called just \u201cthe Volkswagen\u201d, it was not a hit. Yet, slowly the average American came to appreciate that German oddball as a sturdy, economical and reliable car. By the 1960s, it was … Continue reading “Volkswagen 1302 LS Limousine – Ixo”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14173","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14173"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14361,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14173\/revisions\/14361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}