Four Dogs And A Guy Who Reminds Me Of Pedro Pascal Are In Some Old VW Brochures

This is another one of those nights where I need to crank out a top-quality Cold Start before getting my ass to bed so I can get up stupid early to make a flight. This time I’m going to meet Matt and David in Vegas, where they are either at SEMA or laying this month’s payroll on the craps table; I don’t think they’ve completely decided which path to take yet. Oh and we’ll have a reader meetup in Vegas!

Anyway, from there we’ll be all driving in the CrossCab to Los Angeles, to prepare for the big Galpin/Autopian car show on Sunday, and I’m hoping I’ll get to see you there!

But before that I need to provide you with the high-grade Cold Start content you crave, you need, and I understand the gravity of this situation. Cold Start is like a drug, and the withdrawal is brutal, just brutal. I’m told it’s not dissimilar to quitting ketamine cold turkey. We can’t have that, so let’s make sure you get what you need.

And I think what you need is to see some old Volkswagen brochures that feature dogs and a person who I think looks oddly like Pedro Pascal, seen here in a 1974 Passat:

The French text says, basically, two up front, three in the back, and that seems accurate. But at the moment it’s more important to point out that, at first glance, I read the driver as Pedro Pascal:

You can kind of see it, right? Should a major studio decide to make a movie out of this old VW brochure, I think Pedro there is a shoe-in for The Driver. I’m not sure who I’d cast for the rest, exactly. Maybe Marisa Tomei for front seat passenger, and I can’t cast the kids in the back because that front kid’s hair is unsettling me.

Also, and this has to be some sort of illusion, but it looks like that kid with the unfortunate haircut has weird tiny arms in rust-colored sleeves? They must be the arms of the smaller kid by the window, right? I can’t quite figure out what’s going on there.

I do rather like these first-generation Passat wagons; we got them here as the Dasher – and there was a nearly identical Audi Fox version, too. These were among the first front engine/liquid-cooled cars VW sold (after the NSU-based K70) and differed from the later, more popular Golf/Rabbit in that the Passat had a longitudinal engine layout.

I promised you dogs. Let’s find some! We can go back to the air-cooled era and find three dogs in the back of a Type 3 Squareback, sitting atop the underfloor engine:

I love packed station wagon rear cargo-area shots. The floral setup is nice and lush, and the beach-equipment tableau and extensive groceries are also handled artfully. But, again, we’re here for dogs:

Look at these three big fellas! What are they, boxers? Something like that. That one on the left looks like he or she isn’t really crazy to see us there, while the other two seem to be tracking something with great interest. Maybe someone dropped a tray of meatballs?

There’s a decent amount of room for three good-sized dogs back there! And with the front trunk Type 3s had, all your luggage won’t end up smelling like dog.

There’s another nice cargo-area dog diorama in this 1977 Polo brochure. Look right above, second from right. I guess I can just show you here:

That’s a good-sized dog for what is really quite a small car. And he’s sharing that space with a big bale of hay and a saddle? Does a horse own this car? I guess horses may want to drive sometimes – what if it’s cold or rainy? Wouldn’t you rather drive than canter?

These shots of this Polo are also interesting, taillight-wise. Note how the light clusters are divided into three sections, but only have two colors, red and amber:

I believe this is because this Polo is a base-spec model that lacks reverse lamps, which would normally be in the smaller amber area. You can see a Polo with reverse lights, in action even, right here:

I guess it’s just as cheap to make a different lens for the non reverse-lamp equipped cars, instead of just leaving the clear section void of any bulb or wiring? I have to hand it to VW; this is a better way to have anon-functional section, because it would be confusing if there was the reverse lamp lens and it did nothing, The way they chose to do it isn’t so bad.

Okay, I need to get to sleep. I hope you enjoyed your four dogs and one non-Pedro.