my VW Affair

It all started when I got a ride in the almost nonexistent back seat of a beautiful blue, 1967, Volkswagen Carmen Ghia. I didn’t know then I would later smash the headlight of this car or later still be sitting in it when it got rear ended. The insurance company wrote it off.

So, the now former owner of the Carmen Ghia and I decided to get married. We spent the insurance money on a white 1966 Volkswagen beetle.

In September we left the lower mainland for the unknown Peace River country. By November it had started to snow. The mercury dropped to twenty degrees below zero and stayed there. Every morning we dressed in our warmest clothes, using what ever tool came to hand, credit card, plastic ruler or kitchen knife we scraped the inch of ice off the windshield. The tires where frozen in parked mode, one side was flat, so the ride to work was noisy as well as freezing.

We needed to upgrade our transportation to something with a heater. Two vehicles presented themselves, a Dodge Dart of questionable vintage and an old tired Dodge pickup. By this time I was on maternity leave in our rented place out in the country. Taking a newborn baby out in an unheated vehicle seemed cruel so we bought them both.

The following summer My husband noticed a 1969 VW Vanagon sitting in the back of a parking lot. After a few inquires he was told it had no engine but it could be his for $300. Coincidently my husband remembered he had another beetle of the same year broken down and lying in a field on a friends farm north of Prince George. He made a quick call. The engine of that car arrived by Grey Hound bus. We sold the Dodge Dart and the Vanagon became ours.

Roadtrip was the word in our heads as we fixed up the van and made plans for a month long drive to Alaska and back. Eventually, a year later, the engine blew up on our way to a picnic. We should have left it where it died but nostalgia made us pay to have it towed home.

After the birth of a our second child we got serious and took out a loan to buy a brand new VW Fox. And, signed a mortgage on a house attached to a quarter section of land, miles from anywhere. The place was fantastic so was the car, completely reliable and nary a thing went wrong, we drove it for ten happy years.

Meanwhile we succumbed to the knowledge we didn’t have the money to renovate the Vanagon so we sold it to the son of the guy who owned the Volkswagen dealership in town.

Moving along, we traded the fox in for a second hand, one year old, 1986, black Golf TDI. It’s diesel engine would last forever and besides diesel was and still is cheaper than gas. The car was a lemon. We spend untold hundreds of dollars fixing and replacing nearly all it’s moving parts. Despite this we drove it for nearly nine years until an incident involving my daughter, her boyfriend and a jerry can full of gas decided for us that it was time to get rid of it.

I wanted a red car. So we spent a day test driving red Hondas red Toyotas and red Volkswagens. We ended up in a pub sure in the knowledge we still liked Volkswagens. Back at the Volkswagen dealership I was temporarily swayed by a second hand, silver Psatt station wagon with leather seats. Then for a fleeting five minutes I wanted a red convertible beetle with a polished wooden dashboard.

However, I soon came to my senses and since I couldn’t afford what I really want, a 1959 cream coloured Jaguar with standard transmission and leather interior, I better settle for something sensible like another black golf.

Volkswagen wasn’t making the Golf for 2007. There were very few 2006 Golf's left. They only had two on the lot, one in silver and one in black. After a computer search the guy told me I could get it in blue.

A year later I'm still happy with my new car but now I’ve got a hankering for another roadtrip and what better vehicle than a 1958 VW Panel Van to take me on it. Click on the photo below to see a video tour of this very cool retro van.

Thanks to Bumfuzzle for the great link.