Eleven years ago or so I decided I needed an upgrade from my first car (a 1984 VW Quantum GL5 Sedan). After giving it some thought I decided it had to be a 1973 VW Super Beetle because I wanted the curved windshield and the thinner, non-energy absorbing bumpers. Eventually I spotted a 1974 model in a Vegas news paper while visiting my grandparents in southern Nevada. For reasons I can't remember we didn't go look at it. It wasn't until the following weekend that I had convinced my Dad to drive back down to Vegas so I could look at the car (he was really only game because he wanted to look at a dirt bike that he wanted to buy). We arrived in Vegas and picked up the dirt bike. We finally got over to the guy's house that was selling the 1974 super beetle. It was dark by the time we got there, but I could tell that the car was blue, very blue. Being the novice car collector that I was I overlooked its obvious faults and after a quick test drive around the cul de sac I made him an offer (as I recall I had my dad make him an offer as I was too awkward and shy). Never mind the fact that this car was a 1974 and not a 1973 so it had the large EPA mandated bumpers, or that the whole car inside and out was 100 shades of light blue or that the paint was a rattle can job at best or that the brakes were somewhat iffy; it was a VW Bug and it was now mine. Dad and I put the front plate of his truck on the bug and leaving Vegas at around 10pm at night we started the 4 hour drive back to Ely. I remember being ecstatic. Finally! I had a proper air-cooled VW. The drive home was uneventful. I quickly sold my other car and got the bug registered. On the very day I registered the bug it promptly decided to quick working for about 3 weeks. As suddenly as it quit working it suddenly started working. I never did figure out what was wrong. I drove it through the rest of high school.
This is the bug in it's assigned spot in the high school parking lot.
The summer after high school I went about getting the engine rebuilt and eventually took the bug to college.
I had always planned to repaint the car, but i never did. The best I did was paint the wheels myself. During my first year at college the school required that your car pass the state smog test to get a parking permit so I spent a good portion of my freshman year dodging parking enforcement. When April came I moved home in the bug. That thing was packed! When I left for my mission to Brazil I carefully packed the bug into long term storage where it waited for two years and when I got home it was back to college; once again I moved everything in the bug. One year during college I bought another car and drove it until it ruined my life and broke down and I had to sell it.
Some of you may remember the martini cooler.
I eventually sold the bimmer and the trusty bug and I went to California for the summer for an internship.
We had a good time sightseeing.
After college the bug bummed around Ely in the summer, but spent most of its time resting in the garage or down at the warehouse with the rest of the collection. This past year I decided that the bug just wasn't getting used enough and it was time for it to find a new owner and move on down the road. I nice family from Ogden came out this weekend and drove the bug home. It was harder to give them keys then I thought it was going to be. For not being exactly what I as looking for when I bought it the bug sure was a good car and traveling companion. It always started (well usually) even on the coldest mornings. It never left me stranded on a trip. What I'll remember enjoying most is just tooling down a lonely Nevada highway in the summer with the window down and radio off listening to the sound of the motor; just me, my car, and the open road.
