I've owned my 1968 Beetle for 30 years till I sold it in 2008 (no more room in the garage after we'd bought the CRV). Like any old car, parts fail once in a while. I had John Muir's book as a guide to fix her up whenever I needed to. Early into ownership of that Beetle, I made a habit of carryng in the trunk tools and parts that could be easily changed out if they failed. l Here's a list of street mishaps I'd had over 30 years and the on the road fixes :
Ignition switch developed a short to ground, saw smoke, the big wire in the front trunk was glowing red and burned its insulation. Used a rag to protect my hand, yanked that wire free. Jury rigged a long spare wire I always carried in the car, direct from the battery, outside thru the window, and directly to the + ignition coil post. My brother and I push started the car and got her home. There, I replaced the ignition switch and the burned up wire, but included a big fuse for insurance.
Car died on the freeway. Opened the distributor cap, found the ignition points had zero gap. Beetles were designed to wear the ignition points at equal rate with the Bakelite post the distributor shaft corners actuated, thus keeping the points gap the same as the miles piled up. I had installed an electronic ignition a few years before, so the ignition points now did not wear down. The bakelite did wear down, hence the points gap slowly dwindled to zero. I took the screwdriver, loosened the points hold down screw, opened up the points gap, and tightened her down. This altered the spark timing, but no big deal. I loosened the distributor hold down bolt, turned the crankshaft till 5 degrees BTDC, rotated the distributor body till I got a spark from the high tension wire, tightened the distributor bolt, and got back on our way.
On the road, throttle cable snapped, I propped the carburettor throttle plate 1/2 open with a wire, got the car home this way, staying at first and second gear all the way home.
Clutch cable snapped. Parked the car on the side of the road, changed with replacement cable I always carried in the car, and made it to my meeting 20 minutes late with hands all dirty with grease marks the soap from the restroom wouldn't get off.
It was 6:30 PM, stopped at a traffic light, the light turned green, I pressed the cluch pedal and --CRRAAACK-- the pedal arm broke into 2 pieces. I pushed that car all by myself (I was 32 years old then) 5 blocks to my work's parking lot. No one stopped to help me. Left it there, went home by bus, went to the VW auto supply store next morning, bought new pedal cluster, changed the whole assembly in the parking lot. 40 minutes later, I was on my way home.
Went to pick up my daughter from school at 6PM, car wouldn't start. I had spark, so I suspected bad fuel pump. Changed that mechanical fuel pump with the new one I always carried in the trunk, and off we went.
Windshield wipers won't turn on one day. Had to pound on the dash next to the wiper switch to get it to start. I never got to fix it, but always had to pound on the dash since that day to get them to work.
Car developed a shaking once on the road. Stopped, found the left axle castle nut loose and was missing its cotter pin. Tightened it as best as I could, drove a nail into the axle shaft hole as a temporary cotter pin fix, and drove all the way home in second gear.
Changed a flat tire in my garage, later felt a strange vibration half a mile from the house. Inspected the tires, found the wheel was missing 3 wheel bolts. Obviously, I'd forgotten to tighten them. Borrowed a bolt each from the other 3 wheels to use temporarily. I swore that I would never forget to retighten wheel fasteners again. To this day, I kept that promise to myself. Always fully tightened all fasteners on a wheel before going to the next wheel. Always rechecked wheel fasteners twice whenever I'd removed any wheel for whatever reason. Recheck all wheel fasteners for tightness on all my cars every 3 months.
Gas tank leaked. Couldn't get a new one then yet so I drove it with the gas tank off. Propped a 2-gallon jar in front of the bulkhead, stuck the fuel hose into it, filled it with some gas every 7 miles from my jerry can. Drove it this way for 3 weeks!
Not this 1968 Beetle, but I also owned a 1970 Beetle once. Had a very heavy sack of fruit I put on the right side of the rear seat. After a few minutes, there was smoke from under the seat! I didn't know it yet at the time, but it was a known danger for Beetles. The battery was there, and heavy stuff/overweight people on the right side could rub the seat springs on the battery terminals and short them out and cause a fire! The solution was to pad a thick rubber sheet over the battery terminals.
I learned a lot from working on that Beetle. It taught me to be prepared for an eventuality! To this day, I always have in each of my cars a Halon fire extinguisher, tow strap, tools, scissors jack, jumper cables, 12 volt mini air compressor, spare bulbs, assorted wires, flashlight and cellphone 12 volt charger and cable.