This Bugs Me

      More Letters From Paradise
            This Bugs Me
I have read somewhere that a writer should write about things he knows. I know about a lot of things. I know a lot about tomatoes. I used to grow and market baskets of them. I also know a lot about Volkswagens. I think I will write about the latter.

The first VW I ever saw was in 1946, a G.I. had managed (God only knows how) to bring it back from Europe. I first thought that it was ugly as hell. Squat, with a divided rear window, and a sound that was like a chainsaw. So this was Hitler's idea of a "People's Car."  Little did I ever think in  my wildest dreams, that I would one day own three of them. And I grew to love my Bugs.

My first Bug was 1961, black, and had a sliding rubber roof, sort of an almost convertible.  No bells or whistles. Just a radio, and a speedometer (laugh). No gas gauge.  A lever stuck out from the firewall which you turned down when you were running out of gas.  This was to give you another gallon of gas.  Heater?  Ha Ha.  The heat from the engine was supposed to reach the front of the car by way of a channel under the doors.  In winter, by the time you reached your destination, the car was at last warm.  But, it was great in the winter for traction, as the engine was in the rear of the car. There was at that time an ad showing a man driving his Bug to get to his snowplow.

The engine was a four  cylinder air-cooled type, and is still used in small airplanes. You always carried a spare fan belt, as everything depended on it.

There was a book around then written by a guy who was, I think, named John Muir, called "How to Keep Your VW Alive," sub-titled, "The Manual for the Complete Idiot." And it was great. mHe told you to which wrench to use, and it made it  possible for you to to adjust the valves, and make a timing light. This was much better than having to pay a garage to do the same thing. This was very important as I was a poorly paid first year teacher. The year was 1964, and I was paid $4.500, and no benefits. Also required to chaperone dances, sell tickets to football games etc. Is it any wonder I did all the work on my car?

My high school students thought it was funny to pick up my car and place it front and rear, between two trees. This was also the time that phone booths were packed with students for a world record. They did this too with Bugs. I don't remember how many could fit, and if the windows were rolled down, or not.

Cheap to operate, and dependable, I owned two others, a red one and a yellow automatic shift.  Make it two bugs I loved, but not the yellow automatic shift. Maybe I missed rowing my way around town.

At the time I owned my 1961 Bug, a friend had bought a little Renault. There were vast differences between the two cars. Mine had an air-cooled engine, and his car had a radiator. Also, the doors of his car were not even lined or covered. It looked cheap, compared to the VW. He had to buy anti-freeze, and I didn't. I think his car was probably warmer in the winter, but I never did find out.

Old memories were brought back to me recently, when I discovered a small rally of VW's here in Ala Moana Beach Park, (which translates as "Ocean Drive," in Hawaiian). I had a grand old time with these local guys, and they said that the book I mentioned above, is still around and being used.

Bug owners are friendly people. In the old days, when two Bug owners met on the highway, they would sound a friendly "beep beep" in greeting.

These new VW's are fat, wide and nothing like their parent cars. And the worse thing of all is that their engines are not air-cooled, and are up in front!

       Aloha
       Grant