In July 2007, I received an email from Lew Wood, the actor who appears in this commercial. He tells:

I am the guy tha D-D-B chose to be the spokesman for that famous "Floating VW" TV commercial in June , 1972.
My name is Lew Wood, and I was doing commercials and V/O's in NYC when I was booked for the job. We shot it at a launching ramp in Stamford, CT on LI Sound. The production crew was Horn-Greiner. Director Norm Greiner. D-D-B's creative director was Tom Yobaggy. And even Mr. Bernbach was on the location!
They hired a stuntman to drive the VW into the water. However, Norm Greiner suddenly woke up to the fact that I had to deliver that last line "Now, what other car gives you this kind of quality at this kind of price?" from the car! I said, "Norm, I'm a sailor, I'm at home on the water. I'll drive it in!"
I splashed it three times. (We used three identical Beetles, all burnt orange in color. Splashed two of them alternately, the third never got wet and was used for "beauty shots." Swimmers went in to tow them back to shore after each take.
We all thought our commercial would win the "Clio" that year, but the "Snowplow" commercial took the prize.
However, the residuals were nice!
After many years of searching for a 1972 Super Beetle in burnt orange with NO RUST, I finally found one a few years ago in Vista, CA, and snapped it up. I now proudly drive around town frequently and get admiring looks.
Now, you know "the rest of the story!"

Lew Wood died in August 2013, at the age of 84 years.

This commercial has a surprise in it. At the and you can watch a beetle being driven into the water. Funny is the text in the commercial says: allthough the beetle does definately float, it will not float indefinately. Fun!

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