Replies

Beetle Slide Alert: My first car was also a VW Beetle. It was my dad's "airport car," a '68. He installed a stereo/cassette player in it (the most important part), and since the liner on the doors were cardboard, if I slammed the door too hard, the speaker would fly out of the door. I also had to hit the top of the left headlight with my fist (just a tap...not too hard...and talk to it nicely) to get it to come on, something that my high school friends found absolutely hysterical. The seatbelts were a useless tangle. And since I really wanted a moon roof, but my dad said no ("I'm not paying to cut a hole in a perfectly good roof!"), he bought a set of glow-in-the dark stars and moons and put those all over the ceiling, which was awesome. This is the same car we drove cross country in when we moved from California to North Carolina in the 70s. My brother and I mostly rode in the "well" in the back.

That car really challenged my reflexes. I had constant problems with the idle. When I pushed the clutch in as I rolled up to a stop sign, the engine would cut off. So I had to learn to operate clutch, gear stick, accelerator and hand brake just to keep the car running when coming up to stop signs or red lights. It sort of went like: gear down to second as approaching stop, roll slowly up to intersection with clutch in while gunning the accelerator, keep gunning it and use hand brake to stop, switch gear into first and sort of rock back and forth with slight release of clutch, then push it back in all while gunning accelerator, etc. I got really good at it, but man, it was a PITA. I was taking it to a mechanic once a month to try to reset the idle and it would work for a few weeks and then back to the same thing. So annoying, but I still loved that car.

The first time I rented a Hybrid and the engine shut off at an intersection, I swear I got a PTSD flashback!

Lucky. My clutch went out so had to drive around town timing red lights and stop signs. Although I can shift a manual without a clutch it does get iffy from a near-stop. If the battery was up, i could start it while in first to get going from a dead stop.

I loved your VW story.

Long ago 1970-71 my friend had an old Beetle. After a while he pulled out the rear seats, threw down an old oriental rug with 2 giant pillows. It was very cozy back there for Drive-In’s and parking.

He as well put up those glow in the dark fluorescent stars and other shapes. He drove that Bug for quite a while, and it had a lot of miles on it, but it was not mine so I cannot say how many.

My favorite personal story was when I was stationed in Germany I had a newer Bug, maybe 6 years old at the time. Once I needed a baby crib as my little one was growing up. Incredibly, I got one at the PX but then had to get it home which was something between 15-20 klicks away.

We got it inside that Beetle, and then the 3 of us drove home. To this day it seems still impossible, yet I lived it. We really did that. My German neighbors hated my VW. Somehow they got me a deal with another neighbor in that little village for an Audi 80L. (That was the Audi Fox in this country.) The exchange rate at the time was not favorable. I think that they charged me 1200 DM. I do know that the cost in Dollars for me was $648.00.

I loved that Audi. I sold the Bug for $200 and got myself a new Minolta SLR. This was all around a terrific deal for me. I was very pleased with. I would have brought that Audi home if I could but the conversion was prohibitive. It needed American safety glass, American headlights, and I think unleaded gas converter stuff. It was simply out of the question.

I ended up selling it to a friend and I got great new stereo components, a few other things, and a years supply of gummy bears.

Good Times.