Don Hoopers’s vintage VW Uni-vents
From time to time, we’re lucky enough that our awesome readers randomly share gems such as these with 1967beetle.com. Very nice. I mean, NICER! Thanks to Don Hooper for sending this interesting piece of vintage VW history our way.
Now that I have spread the word amongst the 1967 Beetle community about my 40 year affair with my 67 Beetle Type 151 Cabriolet, I thought maybe some would enjoy looking at some parts I bought years ago. I wonder how many here were aware that an in-cabin fresh air ventilation system was available for their 1967 Beetle? Well, it was available as an aftermarket, owner or dealer installed accessory know as the Uni-Vent Air Ventilation System. Produced by Uni-Vent Co. Inc. of Jacksonville FL and sold by authorized VW dealers, the kit included a plastic tubular vent pipe system with scoops for each horn grill, that routed up inside the inner fenders to 2” holes punched into the kick panels on sedans and Karmann Ghias. Two round vents units with spring loaded rotating caps closed the system or allowed for air to be directed up, down or sideways in the foot wheels. The assembly was not made to fit the unique convertible kick panel shape.
I bought my NOS set from Bob Scott at Vintage Parts in Glendale, CA in January 1985 for $80 plus tax, intending to install it in my daily driver 1967 Lotus White sedan.
My plan was to make my daily 40 mile drive on Los Angeles Freeways through hot summer months more tolerable. I know from the literature included that the set was extremely effective and would have made a big difference in my drives, but I never got around to doing the installation before I sold the car. Hence the set has sat on a shelf in my garage for the last 32 years. I thought it might be enjoyable for others who actually drove their 1967 beetles daily to travel back in time through this story and these pictures and remember sweltering days puttering along in the slow lane in the San Fernando Valley or elsewhere in obsessive heat. What a joy those days were!