- - - I had the 1971 VW van, probably the worst vehicle ever made. Every 7K miles the engine would blow. Other than that a great car. - - .
When our four kids were in their teens I needed an economic hauler - closed my eyes, held my nose and bought a used 71 VW wagon. It turned out to be a good move - spacious, handy and 20 mpg uphill or down, slow or topped out. But it did have small quirks. The ONLY mech problem that ever cost anything - full load of 8 folks going to church - in a second it dropped to 1/2 power. By Sunday eve I had determined that one head had pulled loose from the block (aluminum). Removed rear bumper and center panel, four bolts out, put a rolling jack under the engine and OUT. Put case inserts in, remounted the head, installed engine and ran it another 40k miles - sold it for what we had paid 4 years earlier. Ugly, noisy, etc. - but good for ts purposes.
