I love the classic VW Beetle, the simple design, with an amazing amount of space inside, the mechanical simplicity. I came close to owning one once. It belonged to a neighbor, who was not using it. We agreed to a price - $1,000 as I recall. I went back on the agreed time, with cash in hand, only to find it in pieces in the carport. When her son heard she was going to sell it, he announced that he was going to make a dune buggy out of it, and spent the next day taking it apart getting it ready for the fiberglass body.
I long wanted a convertible, my ex never learned to drive a manual transmission, so a Beetle convertible was a challenge. I actually found one with an automatic stick shift - basically an electronically operated clutch, but she refused to even try that, and I let it slide. When she was in high school her father bought her an original Mini Cooper, a new one, she was of that age. She destroyed the transmission in it the first and only time she drove it to school. He replaced it with a Pinto, had the transmission replaced in the Mini and drove it himself. (waiting for A-Ms comment on the Pinto.)
I have owned two VWs. I had a Rabbit (Gulf) diesel back in the early 1980's. I drove the crap out of it for a couple of years, but had almost constant engine trouble with it from the night I drove it home. I currently have a VW Eos convertible. It has been a good little car, and I am finally enjoying the top down driving that I had long lusted over.
Ever driven a VW?
I never like the VW Beetle. Or the new ones either. But a good friend in high school had a convertible one, and her father had it sprayed lavender for her. The only VW's I had were my first two cars...both Jetta's.
ReplyDeleteA lavender car sounds like fun -
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We each had a Jetta, and K. had two Passats. When I was in upstate NY last February, I rented a Jetta. It was nothing like the one I had in 1992. I felt like I was trying to pilot the starship Enterprise! I had to ask the rental staff how to turn the lights on. They were automatic. How was I to know?
ReplyDeleteI rented a Ford Escort in Iceland with a manual transmission, I had to ask how to get it into reverse get it out of the parking space. (Lift up in the gear lever, then slide it.)
Deleteford pinto = death trap.
ReplyDeletemy old man had a VW beetle like the one in your pix above. we would go to the exton drive-in in that car; the old man would fold down the back seat, the old lady would spread out a blanket and my sister and I would watch the movie there, until we fell asleep. I can still hear the putt-putt of the engine as the old man drove home. he replaced the beetle with a 69 chevy camaro.
The bug might have had more back seat room. I once heard the back seat of a Camaro described as a birth control device.
DeleteMy partner had one similar to the one pictured but without those horribly large indicator lights on the front mudguards. It was an excellent car for its time and quite good fun to drive.
ReplyDeleteI bet it would feel very off my modern standards.
DeleteSG had a Rabbit when we met in Boston, which we replaced with a Jetta that same year. We then had a Rabbit in LA the next year. I love convertibles. SG is on the fence. We almost bought a Volvo convertible in 2000, but the GM at the dealership angered us and we walked away.
ReplyDeleteThere are two kinds of convertibles, those that leak, and those that will leak. It can be frustrating, but it is so much fun. Someday I will write about the Lincoln my father almost bought, would have if the dealer hadn't been rude.
DeleteFriend of mine in college had a big, with a semi-automatic. I borrowed it a couple of times; very much enjoyed it. It was orange.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that.
DeleteI had a Golf that I loved. Drove if for almost 10 years. I also had a Passat wagon. Both stick shifts. Two of my favorite cars I have ever had.
ReplyDeleteSome cars, you wish would last forever.
DeleteI've never driven one but I did ride in a "bug" from Phoenix to San Diego back in the late 70's during a fuel crisis. It was a friend's car and we decided to take it because it had better gas milage. I recall that it wasn't a very comfortable ride.
ReplyDeleteNot a good long distance ride.
DeleteMy first car was a 1971 light yellow VW bug with "an automatic stick shift - basically an electronically operated clutch" like you described. I paid $1900 for it (or my mother did, and I paid her $60 month until it was paid off). It was a great little car. I don't like the styling of the Bug that is available now--it looks like something from a cartoon.
ReplyDeleteOur second car now is a red 2006 Pontiac Solstice convertible. We hardly ever drive it, so the battery always needs to be charged before we head out.
The Solstice is a neat car, I thinking dropping it when GM closed out Pontiac and Saturn was a mistake.
DeleteHave I ever driven a VW? Yep, right into a fence and the shallow ditch on the other side. Balder Half bought a dark blue beetle when he was sixteen. He called it an automatic clutch. Tried to teach me to drive it, hence the ditch. It was a cute little car, and I was a cute little girl so I can vouch for the back seat room :)
ReplyDeleteI knew I was in good company with you Deedles, but we should never drive together. I once drove right through my mother back fence, took it out, half a garden, and crushed a trash barrel and sent to other two and the grill into the next yard.
DeleteDon't romanticize the VW 111. I drove one from 1972 -1982. Dependable for their day (discounting the porous Bosch distributor cap), but pokey and uncomfortable. Replaced it with a Subaru that I drove for the next 17 years, until I needed air conditioning.
ReplyDeleteVery much a car of the 1950's.
DeleteMy first car was a 1969 VW Bug that was old when I got it and ran like a top for several years until I sold for twice what I paid for it! Good little var.
ReplyDeleteA car that paid you to drive it.
DeleteIt is a well-known fact that Illuminati consist of Multi Millionaires,
ReplyDeleteBillionaires who have major influence regarding most global affairs,
including the planning of a New World Order. Many world leaders,
Presidents, Prime Ministers, royalty and senior executives of major Fortune
500 companies are members of Illuminati. join a secret cabal of mysterious
forces and become rich with boundless measures of wealth in your company or
any given business, the great Illuminati can make everything possible just
contact : brightiluminati666@gmail.com
.com or WhatsApp +593960127139.
Thaddeus I am Vice-President of Citizen Outreach THE ILLUMINATI
ORGANIZATIONDo not hesitate to contact us by WhatsApp.: +593960127139
Email : brightiluminati666@gmail.comBEWARE OF SCAMMERS, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS REGISTRATION FEE AND YOU MUST
BE ABOVE THE AGE OF 18YRS.
THANKS
A friend's Dad's Beetle took me and my brother to school most days of my life. The Dad was a Volkswagen salesman. I thought it was the weirdest car I had ever been in. Engine in the wrong place entirely and trying as hard as it could to look nothing like a car at all. I quite liked it though. My own father (a Normandy campaign veteran) did not like us travelling in a German car one little bit; but, being Scottish, he overcame that by counting all the bus fares he was saving. (And hello, by the way).
ReplyDelete