This is one of those things that has been lurking in the back, disused areas of my brain for decades. You know, in the storage areas in the back of your brain that are usually only utilized for storing lyrics to songs you can’t stand yet know every freaking word of, or every word to some stupid commercial jingle, or phone numbers you haven’t needed since junior high. It has to do with the front seats in Volkswagen Beetles. And monsters.
As you probably guessed, the evolution of VW Beetle seats is a rich, complex field, one that likely deserves its own book or perhaps a feature film, maybe starring Aubrey Plaza as a renegade car seat designer trying to break into the male-dominated word of car seat design in 1960s Germany.
Today I just want to talk about the evolution of post-1968 front seats, which, at least for the American market, were all high-backed seats. I’ve had three versions of these seats in the three Beetles I’ve owned, and I have opinions about them. And not just opinions: also, each of them reminds me of a specific kind of monster or alien or supernatural creature.
First, let’s look at the evolution of these seats:
I’ve owned three Beetles in my life: a ’68, a ’71, and the ’73 I still have. I also grew up in the back of my dad’s ’68, too. So I have extensive experience with three of these seats, and I have thoughts on the ’74-76 ones, too. The separate-headrest ’77 and up seats are fine and arguably the best of the seats, but their more conventional look makes them less interesting to me in this context, so we’ll just be focusing on the ’68 to ’76 seats, if that’s cool by you.
One key feature of some of these seats that inspired the monstery associations is that the 68-72 seats had these buttons, on the fronts and backs, that reminded me of eyes:
The eyes, especially when I was a kid, really made these seats seem like creatures. And what sort of creatures, I know you’re likely screaming, alarming everyone in the office/coffee shop/cockpit! Well, I’m going to tell you, now!
The 1968 seats, the first ones I encountered, are actually my least favorite of all of these. The headrest area is just so huge, I think because this was the first year headrests became legally required on American market cars, and VW wasn’t taking any chances when it came to resting those heads. The headrest is almost the full width of the seat, and it really made the interior of the car feel more cluttered.
As far as monsters go, these seats always reminded me of some kind of tentacled sea creature, like a smaller Cthulhu-type beast. Like maybe a baby Cthulhus, ones that bud off the big Old One or whatever.
The 1971-1972 seats felt like there were others who agreed with me at VW, because the headrest shrunk in size dramatically here, leaving a seat with nice broad shoulders and a solid, square build.
Which may be why these seats remind me of the famous Golem of Prague, the brute made of clay by Rabbi Leow to protect the Jewish community in Prague. It was sort of like a robot, just, you know, full of rabbinic magic. The golem is often depicted in ways that remind me of this seat.
The 1973 seat was a one-year-only design, and was much more rounded and flowing than previous designs, with less of a break between the lower seatback and the headrest. These lost the button-eyes of the earlier seats, and sort of reminded me of ghosts/banshee-like beings.
These are actually pretty comfortable seats! They even have a bit of side bolstering.
And finally, the ’74-’76 seats reverted back to a more separate headrest design, but this time a little more sculpted than the ’71-’72 design. The headrest here also curves forward a little bit, and the back has a bit of a curved cross-section, too.
I didn’t have a good creature-association with these seats until 2016, when the alien invasion/linguistic challenge movie Arrival came out. The aliens in Arrival, known as heptapods for their seven-tentacled lower sections, have an upper body shape that really feels like these seats. I’m pretty sure that association is what director Denis Villeneuve was going for.
I hope these help! I bet you’ll be referring back to this many times to find what VW seats look like what creatures now that you have it handy.
General seat question. Are separate headrests the requirement now? I guess because of the ability to adjust high.
Although I guess there are Recaro style sport seats still in production cars that have an integrated headrest. So maybe it’s something else.
What about the 77-79 seats?
Headless horseman?
Is that the Squibillie model on the 1968 seat?
Jason; there is a tough of insanity in your posts frequently. This is a prime example. Keep it up!
You have only had three Beetles? I would have bet you had a large warehouse with all sorts of them in various states of repair.
When I was quite young my father was driving a 1950 split window in rural Ireland . A gigantic pig came out of the bushes and we hit it at maybe 25 mph. The whole front of the VW was crushed.
The pig had a few cuts, picked itself up and strolled away. There are indeed strange creatures out there .
I have an Australian market 1974 Super Beetle / 1303, which had mustard coloured vinyl highbacks in a style very much like the Porsche tombstone seats. I replaced and got rid of them over 15 years ago with a very nice set of Recaros whilst also doing a lot of other mods.
As much as I love the car and the mods are (in my opinion) good mods, older me wishes that I had left the car stock, as it almost entirely was, with only a few small items that I needed to acquire / repair.
It certainly would have been a lot cheaper and prevented chasing fixing a new problem caused by a mod.
Sigh.
I know they are healthier if you crash, but I changed my highbacks to lowbacks in my 1971 Super Convertible (1302LS) for the old school look.
Also had an old white steering wheel in the piles of stuff that went on.
Could we have an article on the wonderful three layer top also? Most people just think it looks stupid when it’s down, due to size.
I think its the most incredible thing ever with the wood, the thick insulation and all. Drove in freezing temperatures in mine and it was warmer than a regular steel roof Beetle.
The 68 seats remind me of those Sesame Street aliens with the big flappy mouths that just go “yup, yup, yup, uh huh, uh huh”
Thank you for your service kind sir
Is it just me, or does the ’73 look like the ghost of Strong Sad?
“I’m saaad that I’m in an Autopian article.”
Volkswagen. Seats by Rorschach.
Not enough mentions of golems or Lovecraftian horrors in most automotive journalism these days. That’s why I have an Autopian membership. 🙂
Lovecraftian horror is an accurate descriptor for much of modern car design.
And when he got inside…THERE WERE NO SWITCHES!
You could make a simple horror movie about a car with screens that people can’t operate, or were remotely hijacked. Easiest screenplay to write.
The creature had a huge gaping maw, filled with black ridges and wires that appeared to be there rasp and grate its prey to pulp. Surrounding the mouth, the cheeks with slashes and voids filled with black material of unknown purpose. The eyes multiple and in a permanent expression of hatred and dominance. And around and between it all, its shocking ugliness furthered by innumerable creases, furrows and ridges, multiplied upon each other. It knew no color, being a thing of the darkness.
Yes children, this was the monster rampant a hundred years ago, in the first quarter of the first century of the new millennium. And it was called: THE FAMILY CAR.
My Beetle was thankfully free of Non-Euclidian Geometry. Well, I assume so, because How to Keep Your VW Alive (A Repair Manual for the Complete Idiot) didn’t say anything.
The tattered copy of that book is what inspired me to buy the air-cooled VW Camper that took me and a pal all around North America back in the early 1990s. 🙂
Probably one of my favorite books. The illustrations alone are worth it.
TIL my 73 has an unique seat… very sticky during summer time, I wish it was cloth and not vinyl.
As a kid, our Fairmont had fabric seat inserts surrounded by vinyl. One learned quickly to never touch the vinyl in the summer.
Going forward this is the example we’ll use to describe a “Torch Article”.
This is far from peak Torch, just a teaser really.
I wouldn’t hit someone unfamiliar with Peak Torch right away, you gotta ease them into it.
We need a Mack Hardigraw tale soon I think.
“You can’t handle the Torch!” – Jack Nicholson
There’s no bodily expulsions or danger
Changli/chainsaw is my personal peak.
What science experiment gone wrong sent Torch’s pareidolia into overdrive?
Great timing, I was at a local show this weekend and guy was there with his ’68 convertible and I wasn’t sure about if he had the correct seats for that year, he didn’t know either, he just knew they been recovered. Now I know they are correct but now with no eyes. For that generation I’m going Big Daddy Ooze from “Sigmund and the Sea Monster”
Never change Torch, never change. This sort of thing is the life-blood of this site.
The bigger question is how the changes in the seats related to the changes in the tail-lights, and what was the monster association there.
Big Vinyl can’t keep a lid on this any longer.
Are you trying to tear apart the space-time continuum?!?