The cycle is complete. My mother bought a brand new 1976 VW Beetle. Her only requirements were that it was green and had a radio.


My mom with her 6 month old Beetle.

After a good run, the car sat in our driveway, and sat, and sat, and sat. For eight years the car never moved, and was never driven. We had numerous offers to buy it. But my mom wouldn't sell. I finally came of age to drive. I hoped somehow the Beetle would be resurrected for me. It was. My father being from Germany, grew up working on Beetles. He worked his magic and I drove the car. I had never driven stick before. One week of my father yelling from the seat next two me "learned" me real fast :)


This is what the car looked like when I drove it. That is little Haleigh standing there.
She is going to be 8 yrs old now.

This particular Beetle was a "California Edition", made to meet new emissions laws in the 1970s. This Beetle was only in production 6 months, before it was scrapped. Finding parts for this car was a pain. No parts were available. They were so long discontinued that dealers had pictures of the parts only, but not even part numbers for them. Keeping this car running put me into debt really fast. $600 a month in repairs when I was only making $400 a month and the local McDonald's. I don't even know how this car stayed running. It was literally held together with tie wraps and duct tape. I remember an elbow was cracked and I had no replacement. On a weekly basis I had to remove it, clean all the oil that was spewed on it, re-super glue it, tape it up, and put it back in the car. Motor oil in my hair was a common thing. Oil spewed everywhere, and each time I would open the engine lid, it was covered and would drip everywhere.

The last repairs that were done to the car before we laid it down was replacing all the glass. Someone decided to break out all my windows. Every seal was gone and my breaks were metal on metal. I didn't want to let it go, but the era of this Beetle came to an end. I cried. This was my first car. Not only was it the first car I drove, it was also the first car I have any memory of. We went everywhere in that car, it truely was part of our family.

It sat for a few years again, and my mother finally sold it to a guy in the neighborhood. She too had a hard time letting it go, but at least someone was going to do something with it.


This is what it looked like when my mom sold it. Bad shape. The fender had been replaced from an accident I had in it, and the bra was added to hide the body work that didn't get done.


Here is the bug now. It's being fixed up and is being driven. Last time I visited, the seat were re-done.


Look familiar? Here is me with my 2001 New Beetle, and the cycle is complete.