Parents owned a VW station wagon at one point. We rented a VW van to take a family trip out west to Yellowstone, Glacier, in 1965. Bug was theirs, too; they were also hippies...beatniks? Pacificists and antiwar protesters. Also volunteered with Fair Housing Council in the 60s - 70s. I come by my liberal values honestly!

I was a hippie. Spent the Summer of Love in San Francisco, looking for crash pads in the Haight. My first car was a black beetle. The summer I turned 18 I was a camp counselor (at a church camp). The week we had the High School kids they decided to paint my Bug like a hippie van. I have to admit I had some trouble explaining that to my parents.

Those were the days.

I'm Jewish. I don't want a vehicle with that history. I also won't buy a ford.

Yes, I do realize there are plenty of corporations that I buy products from that do very evil things now.

But, that's my thing.

And Israelis buy a lot of German products including military vehicles and submarines.

Some food for thought:

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/why-im-ending-my-boycott-of-german-cars/379310/

Two bugs and a 1963 van.

and now I want this.....

still have the 77 😎

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built by an engineer at Freightliner. It had a five-speed, an RPM gauge, three temperature sensors, extra oil coolers, and dual exhaust pipes in front of the back tires pointing outward. Wow, was it ever fun to blow past VW vans creeping up long grades at twice their speed in what sounded to them like a three cylinder.

Corvair engine in a bug. It was neat to see a bug pop a wheelie. That little bug would fly.

Was a pop top. Sister and I scared ourselves silly worrying about grizzlies on that trip!

When i was very little but i remember some awesome road trips with my cousins in the late 60s/ early 70s.


I'm all for bringing it back but I would prefer the classic design. I love the looks of those old things. I reckon aerodynamics has ruined that though. Stupid efficiency.

They owned a dry cleaning business and used it for deliveries.

Coming up 'old 99' from Washington State through the Border at Blaine, WA.
Had just finished a doobie, emptied the ashtray and tossed the empty baggie out the window. (A 'lid' was three fingers in a baggie, full of stems and seeds and cost around $10-15 bucks)

Get to the Canadian Border shack and Customs man asks: "And what is the purpose of your visit to Canada today?"
My friend Randy answers honestly: "We're going to a Joan Baez concert!"
Customs man says, "I see...pull over to the right and park" and he points to an additional building and parking spot.
"Everybody exit the vehicle please". We all bail out, Border people go through the bus with a fine-tooth comb but found nothing! The guys got patted down, the girls did not!
"How much money are you carrying on your person?" Showed them our cash. "Enjoy your visit to Canada."

Concert was GREAT, wish I owned that pea-soup green bus today!

They were living in Beirut, Lebanon, at the time and one of the Lebanese militia groups carjacked it when a family friend was driving it around during the civil war. It was later seen as a machine gun mount. The same friends also had one (which was up on blocks at the time which was why they had borrowed my parent's) which was also stolen by one of the militia groups after my parents had left.

Personally, I would prefer a hybrid.

Read the article before posting. It will save you typing time and being embarrassed.

Pretty much no emissions as it is electric.

Have a nice evening

And I don't mind to say it is a "fast" one. I built the Porsche style 1.7 L type 2 myself over a 3 month period. Hope it is going to last forever-because it was a expensive & difficult job. So far so good-fully loaded uphill grades on a camping trip last week no problem-except my nerves.

Anyhow-Love to afford a new one-but I wasn't pleased with the last VW I bought-brand new golf ate 3qts oil in 1500 miles & they told me it was normal-BUllpuppies. Had to lemon that one back.

Speaking of Lemoms-I got the buy a $500.00 deal & we'll show your photo notice from Photobucket-a true lemon as of now. So maybe a photo maybe not...Oh well.

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then I had 4 Beetles...Econoline Van in Berkeley...and gas was a quarter...

I owned a Bug and a Squareback.

An old GF had a Bus - AKA Rolling Terror - we were lucky to survive our camping trips.

Once, many years ago, had a rear crankshaft oil seal break, and I replaced it in the parking lot at work. Don't you miss cars you could fix yourself?

I remember putting a whole new motor in a friends car back in the day. Went to a junkyard bought a rebuilt motor, pulled out the old one with a chainfall hanging from a tree LOL...

Slapped in the new one, bam, its done!

Took a few hours lol

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A 70-year-old man, outdoors with a fan, R&R one in AZ on a 115° day. He started early to beat the heat.

A book of VW stories would sure be fun.

Put blocks under the engine, unbolt it, and jack the car body up, leaving the engine behind.

but only one engine. He'd just swap them back and forth as needed.

I just had to buy a small jack to put things right again. Too long a story for here.

Not all at once though. Each one had a story!

I bought a VW van in 1990 and drove it for a few years before selling it. I still saw it around town up until a few years ago. There is a VW bug in the drive right now. We bought that in 2013 and then the engine blew in 2015. If anyone needs parts near Tulsa OK send me a message and I will send details.

it's pretty easily done, there's a few running around here, silent and its funny when they go by when you are expecting the classic putt putt of the vw engine...

Dad's was a convertible.

After college, I got a 1959 Beetle that I drove for a decade. Later, my wife had a 1974 Super-Beetle.

Can we please move on from 50 yo designs? Baby boomer nostalgia for old shit is getting tiresome. VW is also an absolute crap company that cheats and has now been found to colluded to fix supplier prices.

but why don't you tell us how you really feel?

one I had...butt with flowers and a bit rattier than this one. : )0

Really regret getting rid of it.

Going the check this out and see what the bottom line price for family is.

I'm shocked.

It was orange with a white top. Lots of good road trips with friends.

Turns out if you put a queen size mattress on top and hit some ice on the road, it did not handle well.

We also briefly had a Thing...yellow, had a sketchy history, something about a mudslide. It was not fun enough or reliable enough to warrant keeping insurance on it. The floor bordered on Fred Flintstone quality.

I miss them both.

But I lived in a VW camper for several weeks one summer in college. Awesome experience, even though it didn't actually run!

Liked the bug a bit better. I could really feel a crosswind in the van.

I would kill to have a van.

Sitting in our backyard right now...can't tell you how many push starts we gave that thing back in the 80's due to an intermittent electric fault. Those were the days.

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But a Transporter is lighter than the VW ice cream truck.

VW ice cream truck, Made in Belgium

I think it was a '63. I used it for awhile in Denver. It had a little pot belly wood stove in it and a cute, little chimney stack coming out the top. It was a hoot.

but I've borrowed a few

This one has a Westfalia pop-top --- upper-story bedroom I guess.

Didnt make it this time, but i am simpatico with the scene. Last time we all went the kids were still pretty little, and while it is kid friendly enough that puts a crimp in the ability to cut loose.

Ill give you a heads up if i head down next year.

sometimes, when at speed! But despite its flaws, took my future wife on a first date in it...must have had something going for it.

with no seat belts and nothing but two layers of rolled steel between you and disaster if somebody made a sudden stop in front of you.

Other than that, I loved it.

Bahama Blue. My dad, who was 6'4", bought it for his commute to work because gas had sored to over $.30 a gallon. No air conditioning. As long as you were moving it wasn't bad, but waiting for a train in the middle of August was brutal. I even learned how to pop the clutch to start it if I had a dead battery.

I subsequently learned to drive a stick, which I still do.

That was before they came out with those fancy-ass red & white ones.

I remember when Dad brought it home. He had driven everything invented with wheels in WWII, but he had to check the manual to figure out how to back up. Got a good laugh out of THAT I remember. It was a matter of pressing DOWN on the gearshift as you jigged it to the right, and back towards you.

My brother had a bug. He souped it up and surprised people with it.

Every once in awhile, I'll see one on the road. It always makes me smile.

(just noticed.. my 52,000 th post.. .Glad it was this one.)

He was not a boomer. Born in the early 30s in the rural south. But bucked his fathers wishes and went to college for a degree in journalism with no parental support. Got there in a VW in the early 50's. All I remember him saying is how proud he was that he drove one that had a divider in the back window the 2nd year they were even sold in the US. God knows how he found one in rural Louisiana. Still do not know what the divided back window meant. He just always regretted he had not kept it. By the time I came along in the 60's he had a Carman Ghia. I guess some of my earliest memories are of the sounds of the engine when he was tearing it down and rebuilding it. He sold it around '70 because he was going to grad school for his PhD and thought he might need the money...always regretted it.

Ironically, one of my first cars was an 82 Sirocco. Rack and Pinion steering and it would go like a scalded cat. I will never own a car more fun to drive and I am eyeing a BMW now.

Yall have a nice evening.

grabs a sizable chunk of the SUV market and persuades more manufacturers to produce more EVs.

I learned to drive stick on one of them.

Baby blue and bright orange.

Black '59 - really bare bones. I had to stick the gas tank with the lug wrench since there was no gas gauge. The heater only worked when the car was moving. I loved that little car.

Sometimes it wouldn't start and we'd have to bang on the starter with a hammer. LOL. But otherwise, a fun vehicle.

But what I'd love to see is the revival of the VW Vanagon or the Westphalia. I could drive either as a camper.

No protection at all in a front end collision and quite prone to flipping over. They regularly got banned on the NJ Turnpike during windy conditions because of their instability.

On top of that they were so under powered that it was an adventure merging into freeway traffic with a load of passengers.