My old VW a great car I loved to drive 190708

      Prior to the VW bug I had bought a low mileage Plymouth Volarie in late 1978. It was a beautiful car, smooth riding and with all the bells and whistles available at that time. The problem with it was the car would stall half way through an intersection. It was a problem all of them had and I don't know how or if it was ever fixed.
      I had some payments to make on the car and in 1979 we wanted to buy a house and with those payments our ability to buy the house was below the minimum requirements for the loan, so I decided to trade it for an inexpensive car that I could buy outright and then be able to get the home loan.

      That's where the VW came into play.
      Joyce and I talk about the old VW bug frequently and like every old car I have had, this one has a story that goes with it. I was on the car lot checking out the VW and I thought it looked pretty good for a 1967 car. It had a sunroof that opened, the 4-speed gearbox was as smooth as any I ever drove and the odometer showed just 74,000 miles, great for a 12 year-old car and I could buy it outright and reduce the monthly debt so we could buy the home. Not long after buying the car I found an oil change sticker under the engine hood. The sticker showed the mileage as 145,000 miles on that particular oil change. The car ran beautifully and it was fun to drive. We went everywhere, even going to Las Vegas in the summer heat. The open moon roof with a wet towel hanging below cooled the desert heat as the wind blew past it. At that time in our lives, Annie was a young teenager and the VW worked as a limousine service for her and her friends. At times there would be six kids piled into the small back seat. We picked them up one by one delivered them to a skating rink or movie theater, or an arcade and later we picked them up and delivered them all back to their homes. Annie learned to drive on that car and the car was on the road day and night running all over southern California. I don't know how many miles the car had on it when we finally sold it, perhaps over 200,000 or more. One time we even hauled 8 foot 2x4 lumber with the lumber standing vertically through the open moon roof. I still miss the car today.

      I bought the VW bus below from a guy I worked with in Tennessee. We were into the camping thing back then. We normally had a tent and a full-sized trunk full of gear in our huge Dodge Monaco. When the opportunity came up to buy the custom made VW bus I jumped at it. That thing had been well designed and built by the man I bought it from. It would sleep 5 people, had an ice box, a hinged table that stored vertically when not in use. The hinged top opened and provided 2 cots for sleeping. There were holders attached to the two front doors that held another cot where Annie Slept. The bed in back was almost as big as a full-sized bed and the cushions made for a comfy night's sleep. We took that thing camping all over Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and even up to our old family clubhouse north of Saint Louis. We had a lot of fun with that bus. The first picture was at a campground in Mississippi. The last two were at the old family clubhouse off the Mississippi river.

Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.