Who influenced your VW/car love?

[Ms. Priss]

Was it a teacher, sibling, neighbor, the car itself?

For me, my influence was my dad and my first love of a car was our early 60s Bug. My dad was a private pilot, so we were taught early to pay attention to engine noises and behavior. To this day, whether it's an airplane, car, or motorcycle, the sound of a great engine brings a smile to my face and makes my heart beat a little faster. :)

Currently, I am inspired by my mechanic who understands my desire to learn and is generous enough to share his time and knowledge, and is patient enough to tolerate my naive questions. (Thanks, H)

[Tram]

When I was a kid growing up in the '60's, I was living with my German grandparents in Ohio. My grandmother was a relative by marriage to Heinz von Nordhoff, who was the chief of VW in the '50s and '60s. Before Type 3s were being imported into the US, every other year the grosseltern would go to Germany, pick up a car at cost, visit relatives, and ship the car back. The local dealer in Ohio would buy the car at a ridiculous profit from them when they were done with it. That would finance their next trip and car! I went over with them in the Summer of 1964 when they picked up a red 1500S Squareback (Variant) with off- white interior and factory wooden steering wheel and have been a confirmed Type 3 man ever since. The smell, sight and sound of an old VW always brings back fond and vivid memories of a carefree and really cool time.

[BUCIOBATISTI]

Well, I've said it before and my Mom still insists that I was conceived in my Dad's Black 1960 Beetle. I guess that was the first "spark" of interest. I loved watching Bugs and Buses drive by when we went on road trips when I was very young. I always noticed them and would keep count of how many I'd see on any trip. When I was about 15 I had a friend who had a 1966 Chevy Nova Super Sport that was somewhere between a street and drag car. It had a 12.5/1 compression 327 with a huge cam, ported and polished heads, a highrise manifold with a Holley double pumper, headers, 2 chamber Flowmasters, a 4.11 rear end, 4 speed Muncie, Centerlines (back in the day!), aluminum door panels, floor sections, and highback racing seats with 5 point harnesses. The car honestly sounded like gunfire when it would fire up and would set off every car alarm within a portion of a city block. Riding in that car was what made me want to learn about cars. I guess it's what made me want to learn about VWs somehow... It took a radical Chevy to get me going!

[carey blanco]

I have no idea. My cars where all TOYOTA and in my need for a wagon/bus to carry on my work ,i got accross a 1979 vw bus with sunroof. it was fine for my work and the engine was in great conditions. it was on the NORTH of PR where the owner left it for a year or so before selling it.I saw the add ,went there and $1,200 later i was driving it from there top my house ,105 miles away to the southwest coast of PR. there i got it clen and tuned up. It made a lot of trips full of merchandise before selling it for $2,300 and bought the one i currently own, a 1978 Bus KOMBI. From there it was all love for this Bus. At the time you realize it, is to late to get rid of. You spend, fix and take care of it so much that you actually fall in love for it. I think is one of the small amopunt of cars,buses you actually feel like if they were alive.It sounds crazy but i love my bus more than my wife.

[blackchop65]

i have ridden motorcycles most my life. have owned a ton of dif cars. the classic vws are the closest vehicle to an aircooled cycle i can come ....
got my 1st vw beetle back in 1980's and have been hooked ever since!
(my dad hates vws-i rebelled! lol)

[Ms. Priss]

Ah yes, the air cooled life! Stuck in traffic in the summer on a cycle or in a VW sweating your A$$ off and then trying to explain to your parents why it's so wonderful. Thankfully both of my parents loved VWs and bikes, so I never had to explain. They just shot me that knowing smile and laughed as I raced for the shower and a big glass of water. They knew...

[jfpvw]

herbie

[blackchop65]

ms priss...lol...i have been there many times...on a bike and in a v-dub and will conitnue to do so just because.
my parents hate bikes more than vdubs.
so in my rebellious years i had both. now just simply have both just because. no explanation required lol

[kombiman]

My father had a series of vws starting in the early 1960's. I remember going to the dealer in the late 1960's and early 1970's looking at all the new beetles and busses. My mother said I would not fall asleep until they would take me for a ride in his 1960 beetle. It was that distinct engine hum. Its been with me since. Those long trips with my sister, both riding in the luggage well behind the back seat!!! I have alot of friends now who just can't understand. Even my wife doesn't understand.

To this day when I smell the interior of an original vw it seems to have an effect on me. Its hard to explain, but to those of us who grew up with VWs, it never seems to die.

[blackchop65]

kombiman...that 'engine hum' is the the sound of life! and that certain vw smell is better than homemade bread being baked.
some people will just never understand though and really way of completely explaing it. it just IS.

[[email protected]]

i had a friend with a 66 who got us started i have a 72 super baja sadly we lost hm 3 years ago and just drove it this week still see the 66 athis mom and dads i will always own one from here out thanks to gary . my wife and child lives for our vw

[lotsavws]

my husband! it started that i had to learn to love them, or be put in a mental house for going crazy! well, i learned to love them, and now i come home with as many (or more) vw's than he does.

[vwaddiction]

I think it was the fact my neighbor was selling one cheap.that was 15 years ago its been all downhill from there.

[Ms. Priss]

My bro and I used to ride in the luggage well in our Bug as kids, too. Well, one of us slept there enjoying the warmth, hum, and tweeter, while the other sat and pouted in the back seat. Thankfully he was older and outgrew it long before me. Funny that he's just now getting an interest in VWs thanks to thesamba, and that was the first car I loved at the mature age of 4 or so. My dad rolled it and I was NOT amused that he killed my favorite car. I don't think he ever got over it either. When I moved near him as an adult I told him I wanted to restore a Vert with him and he quite excited about the idea.

[Ad]

My old friend Kyle Mabes, he and I use to sit in he's roach of a 55 or was it a 57 bug and smoke out. He's brother was in club and I remember sitting around in aw of the rides, so I only ride vw's and keepin it roots
Ad

[[email protected]]

My boyfriend Cass Owings influenced my love for the VW bus. We met 10 years ago at a boatyard where he worked, and I was fixing my old wooden rowboat. Inside of his bus there was Walt Whitman's book checked out from the library "Leaves of Grass", so I thought he was pretending to be a pseudo-intellectual, but it was no pretense. I had mentioned the name of an author, A.E. Housman, of a poem that I had memorized, and then he starts to recite it.
"When I was one and twenty, I heard a wiseman say: "Give crowns and pounds and guineas, but not your heart away. Give pearls away and rubies, but keep your fancy free. But I was one and twenty, no use to talk to me. When I was one and twenty, I heard him say again: "The heart given from the bosom was never given in vain. Tis paid with sighs a plenty and sold for unless rue. And now I am two and twenty, and oh tis true, tis true."
He would sleep nights in his van, so the 1st and last time we made love was in his bus.

[[email protected]]

Cass drowned 10 years come June 12th near Albion. He was diving for abalone.
Four years after, I had bought my first bus, a 77. I drove it all the way from Stockton to Abbotsford,BC and back. What a beautiful trip that was going up the coast of California, Oregon, through Washington. I carried a small sailboat inside of my bus, resting on the engine compartment and on a 2X4 lashed to the back of the front seats. There were times going up and down the hills along Hwy 1 in California, that made me worry. You see, if I were to come to a sudden stop, the headlines would read "Girl ran over inside of bus"
With a futon mattress inside, my dog Coco and I would camp along the beautiful beaches. One time, we stopped at a stranger's house in Washington at Samish Island. Their sign said "Visitors Welcome" Of course they made El Toro and Pelican sailboats known worldwide. They invited me in for dinner of freshly harvested oysters BBQ'd and the next day their daughter took me crabbing near Anacortes. The magical wanderings of the VW bus opened many doors.
At the time, my daughter hated the bus, because other parents were driving newer cars at her private school. To make things worse, I would honk the horn, because I knew how embarrassed she was of it. But the funny thing is now my daughter will be 17 and do you know what she wanted her 1st car to be? Go figure! So now I am trying to fix up her 1970 Westy, and teach her about the art of fahrfernuken. I went to my first Bugorama, and now we will be at the Classic, flying though, because the Pink thing is not mechanically ready for a long trip, yes she wants it painted pink - and she works at a auto body shop. Enough of my ramblings, On to the road! To Oz!

[VWAdam]

My aunt had a Super Beetle as her first car. My grandfather bought it for her. I was about 2 years old at the time. I became attached to the car and would point out other Beetles on the road. My aunt's name is Stacy and I pronounced it "Tacey" and my mom and my grandparents say that I would yell "Taceycar, taceycar" everytime I saw a VW. When I was 3 the VW was totaled when a speeding Trans Am flew around a blind curve and collided with the right front of her Super. It then sat in our yard. A short time later it snowed(a rarity in my part of the country) and my grandfather took me outside to see the snow and I squirmed until he put me down and when he did I made a beeline to the VW. Until he sold it for parts I would play like I was driving in it. When he sold it he bought me a non-running 1959 European(we didn't know that then!) Beetle to play in. I still have that '59 and am planning to restore it soon. That was 15 years ago and my life is still taken over by air-cooled Volkswagens. I have loved Volkswagens as long as I can remember.
As for who influenced my love for VWs, I don't think it was anyone really. My grandmother thinks I was born with it. She says that if you looked at my blood cells under a very powerful microscope that they are probably shaped like little VWs. I don't know about that. It would be cool though.

[SonicVW]

My dads family owned an Alfa Romeo and High End Import dealership during the 60's and 70's. I use to go there on the weekends when I was a kid and help around the service dept. One of the mechanics had an Agave Green oval and my dad and crew use to ride the poor guy to death. I always got along with him because he use to buy me pop (Jolly Time) and I remember needing a screw driver to make holes in the can to drink it. He had a Hot VW's mag there and I seen a Baja Bug and I was like COOL. From that day forward I didn't care if my grandpap's 289 Cobra was there or my dads Mini Cooper S I just wanted a Bug. I was patient and waited another 6 years to get my license however by that time I no longer wanted a Baja Bug, no sir Cal Look was for me and a $200.00 64 was my new baby. I remember my dad just shaking his head and saying lets go back to the shop and put a Corvair engine in it. I was happy with what I had, My dad removed some leafs from the front (boing,boing) and Empi 5 spokes were mounted and I couldn't have been happier. My dad always helped me with my car even if it was not his thing. Due to his knowledge I soon became the local VW kid that could fix your car and that is how it happened.

A year ago for the first time ever my dad went to a VW Show with me. He was helping me scrounge through the swap area and blew me away with all the stuff he actually knew about VW's and never shared.

[hrbe53]

Simply put...HERBIE!!!!