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I know this isn't directly type III related, but I think there's a good lesson here. I drove my super beetle (Barney) to work for the first time since I have owned it today. I have been tinkering since I bought it, fixing the fuel and electrical systems, adjusting the valves and clutch, etc... Over the last few months, I have taken the car on numerous 'spin around the block' testing runs to check the clutch, brakes, carb jetting, nothing over about 10 minutes total driving (even less when the alternator wasn't working properly, then it was about 10 minutes walking, 5 minutes driving). So, there's the background, I was finally comfortable that everything was working well enough to take the 20 minute drive to work. During all these testing runs, there were never any major oil leaks from the engine at all, just the occasional drop or two from the valve covers. Well, at some point during the drive to work, I noticed a slight trail of smoke in the rear-view mirror. Didn't seem major enough to panic over, and the fully functional oil light kept it's peace as well. When I arrived at the office, however, I went to take a glance to see where the smoke was coming from, and was halted in my tracks. The good news is, no weeds will grow in the parking lot at my office, and my exhaust will NEVER rust. The bad news is that oil was literally pouring out of both valve covers and had soaked the muffler of the single quiet pack exhaust, and the j-tubes, and the rear fenders, and probably 15 miles of the Florida Turnpike for that matter. There wasn't even enough oil left to cover the LOW mark on the dipstick, and the oil light stayed off until the last corner heading to the office. I bought three quarts of oil for the trip home, put 2.5 of them in the engine (figuring that it was just going to dump out anyway, and that maybe the left-over 1/2 quart might be good insurance) and started down the road towards home VERY cautiously, glaring at the oil light the whole way. I made it home alright, with the oil light just barely flickering at a stop sign about a block from the house, knowing exactly how Slim Whitman must have felt riding that bomb in 'Dr. Strangelove". I haven't taken a look at it yet, because it's pouring rain and the car is in a huge puddle in the garage (and the 5 pounds of cat litter I put down before pulling it in), but when I last had the valve covers off, there was no damage to the sealing surfaces of either head, both valve covers seemed to fit tightly, and I replaced both gaskets with new cork ones. Has anyone ever seen this happen, and why (or how?)? The valve covers are the stock-style 'made in taiwan' chrome ones, and didn't leak a drop when I first got the car (although judging by the poorly adjusted valves and cute 'made in taiwan' stickers STILL on the inside of the valve cover, I don't think they had ever been removed since the engine was built). I have seen this happen when the valve covers weren't properly positioned after installation, but then it happened immediately after startup, not 5 miles down the road (not to mention all the trips around the block). I don't get it. I didn't run at any higher engine speed than I had during testing, just for a longer duration. I can say one major lesson I have learned out of this is if you happen to get an unknown engine (one you didn't build yourself, or haven't worked on for a while), keep a close eye on it and by all means RUN THAT SUCKER FOR A WHILE! It would have been less of a problem if I had discovered this problem a mile or two from my house, rather than 20 miles away (with tools, but no gaskets. DOH!). I think the engine is okay, but it will probably have to wait until tomorrow when I get home to check it out thouroughly. Hey Toby, good thing I didn't get around to putting the high-dollar synthetic oil into it yet, huh? Jake Kooser '71 Squareback (the little girl, keeps her oil where it should be) '66 type 1 roadster (the lifters are in oil, but the rest of the engine's scattered all over the garage) '73 zooper beetle (there's one in every crowd)