When I drove my Superbeetle to Bonneville, it was a year when there were still creeks of brine to be forded to get to the tracks.
I drove into Wendover each night to use a car wash on the undercarriage, didn't see a fordable stream all the way home and then used a pressure washer for two or three days. It was never really the same, the steering gearbox turned out to be frozen up for instance. It had forded high Willamette River water before with no problems.
Look how different the color looks under PNW light. Bonneville is like another planet.