| As a member of a car club I often wonder what | | | | When I was in elementary school in the mid and late |
| inspires others like myself to join such an organization. | | | | 1960's, the Muscle-Car Era, the boys in my classes |
| Certainly the cameraderie, the sense of being part of | | | | would argue which cars were better, depending, of |
| a big family, is an important factor. The club I belong to | | | | course, on what their fathers drove. Most of the time it |
| is devoted to all Volkswagens, old and new. The | | | | was Mustang vs. Corvette vs. Charger vs. GTO. I got |
| question for others fascinated with these cars is, What | | | | many laughs when I contributed Volkswagens to the |
| got us interested in Volkswagens in the first place? | | | | debates, but I didn't care. I thought the "bug" was |
| There are probably as many stories of inspiration as | | | | better-looking than any of those cars, and I still do. I |
| there are dandelions in my front yard every Spring. | | | | didn't and still don't care about 0-60 times. It has been |
| With that said, here is mine. | | | | said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and VW |
| I was born in 1959, and my memory goes as far back | | | | owners can all concur. |
| as 1962, when I was about two and a half years old. In | | | | Sadly, in 1970, after 13 years of dependable service |
| those days generally only one parent was the | | | | and about 257,000 kilometers (160,000 miles,)my father |
| breadwinner, as was the case with my father. We | | | | had decided that it was no longer cost-effective to |
| only had one car, and besides, my mother didn't know | | | | keep the car. Many trips to Oklahoma and the |
| how to drive. The car we had was a 1957 Oval | | | | perpetual road salt that covered highways during |
| Window Beetle that was purchased "new" in Kansas | | | | Midwest winters had taken their toll, and when the |
| City, Missouri. I say "new" because at that time there | | | | amateur patching of bodywork no longer helped it was |
| were waiting lists much like there would be forty-one | | | | time to say good-bye to our Beetle. A salvage yard |
| years later when the New Beetle first hit showrooms. | | | | offered a mere $25 for the VW, so my father gave it |
| Back in 1957, my father's 1946 Chevy was worn out | | | | to a friend to use as a parts car. I vividly remember |
| and he started his search for a new car. He became | | | | fighting back tears as the friend gave us a ride back |
| interested in Volkswagens after reading about them in | | | | to our home. It was as if we had lost a member of the |
| the popular publications of the day. | | | | family, and as far as I was concerned we had. |
| A good ten years before hippies would exersise the | | | | I got my Drivers' License in 1976, but I was in a |
| concept of nonconformity, my father decided that he | | | | hand-me-down Ford Maverick. Considering the manner |
| wanted a car that would stand out from the usual | | | | in which I drove at 16, it's nothing short of a miracle that |
| gigantic, tail-finned, gas-guzzling dinosaurs that roamed | | | | I am alive to tell this tale nearly thirty years later. |
| the streets during that period. It cost less,too. For a tad | | | | Moving on to 1978, I at last had my own Volkswagen, |
| over $1700 he acquired a salesman's demonstrator | | | | a 1971 Super Beetle. In the early 1980's I had two more |
| with just a few kilometers showing on the odometer. | | | | Beetles. In 2000, after trying various other makes I |
| Yes, kilometers (for those of you US readers). This | | | | longed for a VW again and bought a 1996 Golf, |
| was a European-spec model, complete with | | | | followed by a 1969 Beetle three years later. Up to that |
| semaphore turn-signals (literally, for those not familiar | | | | time I was the only member of our VW club who did |
| with Volkswagens, an arm that flapped out of the side | | | | not own a classic air-cooled model from the early |
| of both doors that flashed, indicating which direction the | | | | years. In nearly 46 years of life in this world, I have |
| driver intended to turn)as well as one-piece bumpers. | | | | calculated that 22 of those have been with a |
| (US-spec models had overriders.) Thanks to my | | | | Volkswagen. |
| father, I knew the difference between miles and | | | | I have reached the point of no return now. I will always |
| kilometers by the time I was just five years old. It was | | | | own a VW of some sort. My 8-year-old daughter has |
| amusing to watch my friends gasp as we would | | | | already picked her first car; a New Beetle. Kids have a |
| cruise down the highway at 62 miles an hour while | | | | tendency to change their minds quite often as new |
| they thought we were going 100. | | | | interests are acquired, but in this case, I don't think she |
| It would be many years before I would start driving, but | | | | will. It runs in the family. |
| I knew that I would be driving a Volkswagen someday. | | | | |