Most likely, every beetle owner has seen the 1972 VW commercial where a beetle is driven into a lake and shown to be more like a boat than a car.

The sealed bottom, did make it “almost” watertight. Of course that would probably only apply to a beetle that didn’t have rotted out heater channels. Even if the beetle was new, I’m not sure how long it would take before the car would take on water. One advertisement said a little over 40 minutes.

This was really due to the unibody type construction and the tightly fit doors.

In 1973, Stanley Siegel, a TV journalist wanted to disprove the VW claim that the beetle could float. So he drove his beetle into a creek in Wisconsin. This was reflected in the following VW AD:

I have my own twisted floating VW story that took place in 1982. It was in my senior year at the UW Madison, and there had been very heavy rains that morning. I had left for a final exam in my 1972 Super Beetle during what could best be described as torrential rains.

At the bottom of the hill that leads to the capital square, I could see the entire intersection was flooded. On one corner was a semi idling, with water coming up about midway on his front tire. The width of the water, looked to be about three or four car lengths. One thing I knew for sure, I needed to make that exam.

I also knew that the beetle had a flat bottom and perhap, just perhaps, if I got enough of a run at it, I could get across the water. After all, four car lengths isn’t all that far.

I gunned my engine and headed into the water. Initially this seemed like a good idea, however, the impact with the water immediately slowed down my forward progress. The engine began to wail as the rear tires came off the pavement. I looked down at my feet and water was pouring into the car through the rotted out heater channels. This is when the reality hit me that I might have bigger problems on my hands than missing a final exam.

I kept my engine revving as I slowly floated forward. Then suddenly, I felt the rear tires impact the road. After a few violent bounces I rolled up out of the water and cruised up the capital hill. I made my final exam with time to spare.

The beetle on the other hand had about three inches of water in it that was slowly leaking back out the way it came in. When I got home I took towels out and soaked up what was left of the water. If you read my book, you’ll see that this was a premonition of things to come with that beetle.

So, yes they will float, but not for very long if you don’t have a solid beetle. Still it made a great memory.