VW and Thee

 Remember the VW of our salad days? Numerous friends drove the iconic, genuine, original four cylinder motor in the back VW. 

I recall a young wealthy friend was very despondent to learn, upon graduation, that she would not receive the Porsche she had so keenly desired but instead would receive the poor man’s version, the Karmann-Ghia, which we penury mortals considered the high end of the VW.

Another friend drove a bug that was missing a shotgun seat, so he replaced it with a a very efficient, and color coordinated, folding sand chair. The substitution worked fine until that last little moment when he hit the brakes; the beach chair would unceremoniously fold up with whoever was occupying it and, since there were no seat belts in those days, the occupant usually ended up kissing the dashboard. Those of us who were small enough to be accommodated in the back seat were generally intrigued by the fact that, since part of the floorboard also was missing, we could watch the main axle turning as we drove along to our destination; able to determine how close we were to our arrival by the makeup of the road below us. 

It was an economical car on various levels. Another friend was as financially strapped as the rest of us. Unfortunately, one day the rear gear shift decided to take a vacation, so she could only drive forward until she had saved enough money to visit the local mechanic. For two years she parked with enough space in front so that she did not have to reverse to get her car out of its space. On the rare occasion that she found herself in an awkward position, she would put the car in neutral and we would help by pushing the car until it was righted again. If she had the bad luck to not have a friend indeed she would leave her door open and push the car with one leg to the ground and the other on the gas. Finally having saved enough, she hoped, to visit the mechanic and not have to include herself as part of the down payment, the honest mechanic determined that the problem was caused by a two dollar piece of plastic in the gear shift mechanism. Her conflicting emotions knew no bounds. Her chagrin was short lived. She took the money that she had saved and invited her car pushing friends to her home for a very extravagant dinner that included wine with corks. 

The VWs were uniformly held together with duct tape and/or accessorized with clothes hanger wires. Those wires came in handy as radio antennae. The bug could be left anywhere since, really, no one was going to steal it. One friend remembered that if it ran out of gas, he could push it home. It was fun when we all were young and poor. Today we drive big and comfortable cars, but once in a while a VW drives by.  Those were the days, my friend. . . .