July 30, 2003
Bugs!
Who's got bug stories? The first one I ever drove was a 1962 convertible, with that wraparound rear view mirror at the top of the windshield. I was 18. It was my uncle's car, and it was the first stick shift car I'd ever driven. I thought it was great. Tooling around Phoenix in 100-degree heat with the top down and my hair in my eyes? Ah, youth.
A couple of years later my roommate bought a brand-new bright yellow 1969 bug; it had that semi-automatic transmission (bad) and an eight-track (good). That car led me to my first brush with the law: he inadvertently let the registration lapse and we got stopped while I was driving it. We ended up in court, and the judge gave us dumb college kids a "continuance," since it was late May or early June and we were each headed to our respective homes for the summer. Not knowing squat, we misinterpreted "continuance" as "inform us when you renew the registration." We didn't show up for the court date. About two months after that, a cop appeared at our door at a very early hour with a summons to appear before a judge. Still not knowing squat, we were terrified; fortunately, we got there and the judge asked him to show proof of registration (this was long before no-fault insurance was required, or I'm sure he'd have to have shown proof of that as well); once the judge was satisfied the car was duly registered, he told us to go and sin no more.
Your turn.
Posted by Linkmeister at July 30, 2003 01:01 PMI guess I should get pictures of my Bugs scanned some day!
My first VW Bug was a '63 -- yellow, hardtop. It was the first car I'd bought on my own, straight out of college. It was also my first stick-shift. I bought it from a 18 year old kid who'd rebuilt the engine with his dad (and had rebuilt it beautifully!) but who wanted something snazzier for himself.
That car took me, three times a week, from Riverside to Hollywood, where I worked as a script reader, and back again. And it never once broke down. Later, when I was living in Los Angeles, it was the perfect li'l California L.A. car.
One of the last times I drove it around Hollywood, before selling it and moving to Boston (the first time), I drove it past the Rodney King riots, not realizing what it was at the time, because I hadn't been listening to the news.
A year or so later, when I'd moved to Kaua'i for about 5 years, I bought myself a '73 VW Bug -- hard top with a purple, black, and green mural of the Na Pali coast painted on each side, a crescent moon and stars on the roof, and a howling wolf on the hood. It gave me a hippie reputation that I'd never had before, and Japanese tourists were forever converging on it and snapping a bazillion pictures. To this day, I'm convinced that car is famous in Japan. Heh.
I miss my Bugs. I'm just about ready for another one. Just a little cute Bug to tool around town in, and to take down to the Cape on occasion.
*sigh* Nostalgia.
Posted by: Jen at July 30, 2003 03:29 PMYou've talked about that Kaua'i bug before, and suggested you might scan it sometime. Now's the time!
Posted by: Linkmeister at July 30, 2003 03:34 PMMy first car was a 1968 beige Bug. I was newly out of school and living in my first apartment near the shore. I enjoyed listening to Judy Collins singing "Both Sides Now" in that little car. That song will never sound as good as it did in my Bug.
I once drove a car load of friends to Sandy Hook, a Federal Beach Park. We all got drunk and the car was stuck in sand. We just lifted the little bug out of the sand, and drove home. Things were so simple then, huh??
I drove my car up and down the NJ coast and onto Boston and Connecticut to go to college parties.
I was a wild and crazy kid--Now I'm a wild and crazy older kid.....
I still HAVE a bug! A '69 white beetle. It's not very good for hot, humid Oklahoma weather, but WONDERFUL to take out in the fall and spring. I plan on "pimping" it out. It has a brand-new engine in it, new transmission and runs like a CHAMP! It can sit in my garage for a YEAR and starts back up after 5 turns. I love it so much, I don't think I'll EVER get rid of it! Even if I stop driving it, I'll keep it.
I want to paint it red and put big black dots on it - like a ladybug. ;o)
Posted by: JeanNINE at July 31, 2003 07:02 AMI've got nothing. I always wanted one, and never had one. My dad, the car guy, would have killed me before allowing me to have one while I was living anywhere near him. He thought they were too dangerous.
The main reason not to get one, however, was the degree to which my toes have still not thawed out from a Boston winter's night drive in my friend's bug.
Posted by: jadedju at July 31, 2003 07:58 AMmy first car was a 1973 Superbeetle bought from Bro#2 (never, ever buy a car from my Bro). as it was bright green, it's name was the "Frog". it had brakes that worked when they wanted to work. scary, but fun. still miss the cursed thing.
Posted by: deborah at July 31, 2003 11:23 AMmy first car was a beetle. my girlfriend (later to become my wife) drove her little beetle down to los angeles to move in with me.
beetles were da bomb.
Posted by: skippy at August 5, 2003 06:25 PM