One of my dubs had a gas heater, I think it was a 72, it was like firing up a blow torch around your knees. As for the manifold heaters, yeah, they were bad but did anyone ever price out replacing them to get the heat??? Heck they would have cost more than I paid for any of my bugs. I often wondered though if I put an oil cooler inside the car, like in the back window or the storage/speaker box area, and put a fan on it would that keep the car warm in the cooler months... no control on it though but it was an idea.
The ovals were amazing looking cars, the split ovals.. to die for. I saw the body mod kits to turn your bug into a classic and I saw a couple cars that had them installed. Looked real good when it was done right. Anyway, dubs were a riot, cheap for parts, easy to put a new engine in, bad heaters and back seats were blooming tiny...
anywhoo...
Doug