Lou just bought a brand new
blue 2015 Mustang last week! It is a really cool car with all kinds of bells & whistles. It got us talking about all the cars we've owned in our lifetimes.
Hands down, my craziest car ever was a used 1961 Volkswagen bug. Back then no
one called them a beetle, they were VW bugs.
Since I didn't get my
driver's license until my 16th birthday in March of 1966, it was about 10
years old when my ex-husband & I purchased it for $400. To trick it out a little, I
bought one of those covers that laced around the steering wheel & spray
painted the wheels lime green to make the black car stand out. If any of you
ever owned an ancient VW, you know they were unique cars - & not
necessarily in a positive way. Yes, they got good gas mileage & were super
cheap but they also had numerous quirks & gimmicks that made driving a real
adventure.
My favorite idiosyncrasy by
far was the reserve gas tank. My little black bug didn't have a gas gauge. I
guess the Germans in their infinite wisdom didn't see the need for a gauge when
you had the reserve tank. This was a separate container next to the regular gas
tank attached by some sort of hose or something. When the gas tank ran dry
& the car began to sputter, you took your right foot & flipped a small
metal lever on the floor near the gas pedal. This allowed the half gallon of
gas in the reserve tank to flow into the main tank. You had to immediately
start pumping the gas like mad to get the engine fired up again. And you had
about 10 - 15 miles to find a gas station & fill up. A lovely invention!
Another feature that added
to my anxiety was that there weren't door locks on the inside. If you wanted to
lock the doors, it had to be done with your key from the outside. Wanting the
safety of locked doors, I developed the habit of unlocking the door with my key
then locking it again while it was open so when I was inside the door was
locked. The interior door handle would open the door but it remained locked
from the outside if closed again.
One morning on my way to
work I grabbed a bag of garbage to chuck in the dumpster at the end of the
parking lot. It was windy & raining as I jumped out to dump the garbage. In
that couple of seconds, the door blew shut. Damn it, damn it, damn it - the car
was running & I'm locked out getting drenched by the minute. My husband had
already left for work with the extra key. Double damn it! Fortunately I noticed
that the small triangle shaped wind wing (if you are too young to know what
that is, Google it) was not locked. I was able to push it open, then using some contortionist
skills managed to twist my arm far enough through the small window to grab the
door handle. That afternoon I purchased a magnetic key holder, had an extra key
made & hid it under the fender.
Speaking of driving that car
in the rain, the wipers had one speed - approximately once every 4 - 5 seconds
the tiny wipers would slowly swipe in front of my face. The windshield would
immediately fog up in the rain. If it had a defroster, which I doubt, it didn't
work. In the winter I kept a box of Kleenex in the front seat so I could grab
one & wipe the inside of the windshield in order to sort of see out. Plus
the heater was useless so I kept a small afghan in the car to cover up with in
the cold. It's a wonder I never got in a wreck with that car, but I didn't.
If you have ever driven an
old VW shifting it into reverse was a real art form. The small gear shift had
to be pushed straight down, then moved to the left & up. You needed a great
deal of strength to push that lever down. I developed a technique were I would
slam it down hard with all my weight which sometimes worked. I can't remember
how many times I looked behind me to back up only to have the car lurch forward
since I wasn't in reverse. Hmmm, maybe that's where my habit of swearing
profusely while driving started????
Years ago I recalled reading the
requirements on a "Learn to Juggle" book. It said if you can find
reverse in a Volkswagen you can learn to juggle. I decided right then & there I'd
never be a juggler.
On a perfectly flat road you
could eventually get the car up to 60 - 65 miles per hour but on a slight
incline, the top speed was about 50. Good luck attempting to drive up a steep hill - you'd be in 2nd gear chugging along at about 10 mph. I had heard that
people often put sand bags in the front trunk (engine was in the rear) to give
the car more traction & weight. I was a believer after driving across the San Mateo Bridge
