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  View original topic: How did everyone get into vw's ? Page: Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
deaaaanno.vw1966 Sun May 12, 2019 7:02 pm

my grandfather gave me his 1966 beetle when I was around 15-16 years old. had it ever since and have no plans of letting it go. currently at 20 years old, as far as i know i am the youngest official member of the Volkswagen Club of the Philippines (joined at aged 18)


Ceckert64 Thu Aug 15, 2019 10:46 am

I fell in love with beetles from the Herbie movies. Then I researched them and got one at 11 from saved up money and it was a 1964. My dad is a corvette guy but has support and helped me with the metal work and some of the mechanical stuff. I’ve ended up having to do a full resto on the car and it’s been a great learning experience, it’s still a work in progress. When I got it it was even painted like Herbie, so that’s his name. Then:
Now

usmc1345 Thu Nov 28, 2019 3:43 am

My friend in high school had this 61. He gave me a ride home one day, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face the whole ride. Then he made the mistake of letting me drive it. After a few minutes of trying to find reverse, I was off. Bought a 63 hardtop soon after.

67 Florida Deluxe Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:35 pm

Herbie movies. Or maybe it was the old turquoise '63 my parents had when I was a wee tot. Then in the late '70s my stepfather who was a shade tree mechanic/hobbyist had several; mid-60s square back with sunroof, mid-60s fasty, '68 bay bus with gigantic steel sunroof, and a few others, and my mother bought a brand new 1970 squareback that had a/c and a roof rack. I learned to drive in that car in the '80s. Even hit a pole with it when my step sister let me drive it when I was 11 and she was supposed to be babysitting. Good times!

nsracing Sun Feb 16, 2020 10:26 pm

My first exposure w/ the beetle was in Minot AFB Minot, ND in 1984. I did not start loving it until I got out of the military. Then I found the joys of VW buses - lots more room if you like extra-curricular activities w/ women. You have less back strain. :lol:

Big Bill Thu Oct 22, 2020 7:33 am

My parent's had a 64 Ruby Red VW they purchased in 66 when I was maybe 15 years old . Neat car but not my cup of tea at the time, fast forward to 1977 and one of my co-workers gives me a Bug Pack catalog at lunch one day and I had to have a VW..like right now. Since then I have had 7 different 60s bugs and 4 different split buses. Just bought a 67 about a month ago, it will be a fun project.

challomoner Mon Dec 07, 2020 11:09 am

Found an abandoned project 70s bug in a yard close to my childhood house. Started messing around with it bolting the wings and stuff back on to it and got hooked on the simplicity of them. Started buying volksworld magazine around the same time and been hooked ever since. Today I'm back living 50 yards from that old bug with a 70 bug of my own in same colour. One of these days I'm gonna investigate whether that old abandoned bug is still there behind the rear garden wall of the house I now live in.

Chickensoup Mon Dec 07, 2020 11:22 am

i got into vw's for no reason at all. dad showed me a baja. i said thats cool. i bought it. fell in love with the vw. destiny i guess.

WarPony83 Thu Dec 10, 2020 9:53 pm

grew up with VW's in the 60s. family of 2 parents and 8 kids, we always had a VW bus as the (only) family car. I came home from the hospital as a new born in a bus. We took road trips all over north america. My dad would trade in the old bus for a new one every few years until 1975 when he got a chevy van instead. The bus had gotten the type 4 fuel injected engine by then and my dad was frustrated that they had lost their simplicity, low cost and ease of maintenance. after high school i bought a 67 bus. moved to Cali from NY in 84 and stayed with aircooled VWs for years till I got a Rabbit in 90. dropped out of VWs for a couple decades then bought a Vanagon in 2007, a New Beetle in 2008 and a 59 single cab in 2018.

AutoMechanic Thu Dec 10, 2020 10:00 pm

I’ve just always been fascinated with the looks and design ever since I was a kid and wanted to own a beetle so today I am glad that I get to own a beetle. We tried to find one as my first car but my parents wouldn’t let me buy one that was going to be too big of a project so my automotive teacher from high school sold me his that he owned because he knew I really wanted one and he owns 5 of them so it was great getting it from him. :lol:

Blue Baron Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:53 pm

I became infatuated with them when I was 5 years old. VWs would give me a charge like nothing else. My family didn't own one, and I had no direct exposure, but I just fell in love with them.

I remember in kindergarten, one of my friends who lived across the street from our elementary school had a mint-condition black one in the garage. When I said I wished I could see the engine, he walked over and opened the lid. I was horrified and told him to close it, because two little kids should not be monkeying around near a car engine!

I soon started drawing pictures of VWs, collected the ads, and learned to spell Volkswagen when I could hardly spell anything else.

This was all before The Love Bug, and that just reinforced my obsession. It wasn't until years later that we bacame a VW family, partly due to me, and partly due to VWs being really good cars.

360gtracer Wed Aug 11, 2021 1:10 pm

Hi - brand new to the forum here.

When I was about 10 (not saying how many decades ago that was), my cousin had a baby blue bug. Not sure of the year, but mid-60's somewhere I'd guess (it had a hand-crank sunroof, which probably means much more to most of you than to me). He drove me all over in that car when we visited. So I've always had a soft spot for them.

In recent years, I've looked at online "for sale" ads, just curious as to what was out there. Once, I even saw one that looked a lot like his, but I was in no position to buy.

Recently, I got more serious and after a small amount of research and talking to an owner near me, I settled on looking for a '67 (for a whole bunch of reasons). I found one similar to my cousin's, but it was far away and I couldn't just go see and drive it. And while it looked to be in pretty good condition, with about 67K miles, it was also unrestored - so possibly a bit of a big question mark.

Coincidentally, I happened across one much closer to home which, in the online ad photos, looked really great. I went to see it and made a deal on the spot. I sacrificed color and the crank sunroof for a car which was just a couple of years, and only 5K or so miles, out of a full ground-up restoration. It runs great, looks great, and has already had a lot of comments and compliments (which I can't really take credit for...).

I'm not always a big believer in "it's meant to be", but in this case, it just might have been. It kind of popped up when I was hardly looking. And, buying the other car and then shipping it would have cost almost as much as buying the restored car close to home. Seemed like a no-brainer.


03fatboy Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:37 pm

My first car was a 68 beetle. Me and my buddies all had them and we had a blast swapping motors, parts wheels etc.

Scottswim Wed Sep 29, 2021 1:09 pm

Turned 16 back in 1970 and saved up $400 to buy a car. I really wanted a Willys Jeep and went to test drive a 1945 military Jeep. Half way through the test drive it rained and the Jeep had no top so I didn't buy it because we got soaked. Next day I test drove a 1959 VW Beetle and bought it. We lived in Hawaii I had to sell it when I went to college, but got a 1956 Oval Window Bug my second year of college, rebuilt the engine and drove it for 5 years. Wish I had it now.




madmike Mon Jan 31, 2022 6:18 am

When ya marries a German gal,,,,,,her dad had a 54 oval :wink:
I swap a Hodaka 125cc Wombat Dirt bike for my 1st dune buggy :wink:
40 hp ,cut up pan with some ugly ass pipe for a roll cage :lol:

Bonesberg55 Mon Jan 31, 2022 7:13 am

My first VW purchase was a 1963 23 window samba bus in 1974 for (get this) $125. It was well worn but I still wish I had it. After the engine seized, I bought a 1965 Beetle for $200 with an engine knock. I rebuilt the bus motor and put it in the Beetle. The bus sat on concrete blocks at my folks house for about 15 years before it was hauled away. A few years later I bought a 1971 bus with overhead AC for $900 and sold it a few months later for $1225. Then I got married. The bus sale just about paid for our honeymoon to Hawaii. Several years later we purchased a 1969 Beetle auto stick shift. About 10 years ago we bought a 1979 SB and had that until 2018. In 2014 we bought our current project which is a 1978 bay window bus which I have converted from manual to automatic thanks to having a 1977 parts bus. Our '78 is still a work-in-progress which I hope will be ready sometime next year. The end.

tcoop1100 Sun Nov 27, 2022 8:56 pm

When I was about 6 years old (this would be 1964) we went to a family wedding. My aunt (Dad's younger sister) had a white-over-red Kombi and took all us kids for a ride. There were probably 8 or 9 of us between 4 and 10 years old. I sat in the very back, over the engine. I have never forgotten that ride. That was when I knew I would own Volkswagens, preferably Busses. I got my first one (a '69 Bay) in 1983. My Dad hated VW's (he was a Chevy man) and when he saw it he was ready to disown me. I got distracted by Little British Cars for a few years but I'm back in the fold with a '57 Oval and am keeping a weather eye out for a Type 2.

bandi Mon Nov 28, 2022 5:37 pm

My dad had a pretty tired '73 Beetle from the time I was born until I was 4. I was obsessed with the thing, and would always choose Beetles at the toy store.

Started "really" collecting toy VWs at the age of 5, bought my first real one at the age of 7. 32 years later I've owned probably 50 real ones and have about 2500-3000 model and toy ones.

Oddly enough, my great grandfather on my mom's side (who passed away before I was born) was so obsessed with Volkswagens that he drove people nuts talking about them. He owned the first Volkswagen in Jamaica, a RHD '54 Cabriolet. My grandfather absolutely hated the things.

KTPhil Mon Dec 02, 2024 11:03 pm

Somewhere around '65 my dad bought a used '63-'64 Bug to make the 20 mile canyon drive to work more economical (and fun!). I think he liked that it was German like his ancestors, and also the air cooling, having flown Corsairs in WWII. Here is my older brother in his Jr-Hi-Y (YMCA sports) uniform next to a cut-off picture of our Bug.

Next was his (now my) Clementine in late 1970 (an early '71 Fastback), and from there we all drove Bugs, Buses, Ghias, Squareback... having all been hooked on the cars!

Shonandb Wed Dec 04, 2024 7:07 pm

My first exposure to VWs was back in the mid 70s as a friend of the family had a Fastback and a Tin Top Early Bay.

Then years later, I almost bought a Yellow 74 Thing in 87 when I was in Uni but ended up getting a 78 Civic instead.

After finishing Uni, I was looking for a Van to travel in and a friend I windsurfed with showed up to the beach one day in a 73 VW Panel Bus with a for sale sign on it and I made it mine and travelled all over NA in it for a few years.

Now I've had my 76 Westy since 2017.

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