How did everyone get into vw's ?

[[email protected]]

a class mate of mine had a dropped primered oval bug sittin on chrommies, i was so sprung on that ride i just had to have one, 10 years later i'm still facinated with the dub scene

[[email protected]]

My name is Nathan and....and...I'm addicted to Volkswagens! There is just something about the feel and sound of my air cooled that is just hypnotic. I can't bring myself to by anything but VW. From the first ride (mine was in a '73 Sports Bug) you're either hooked or repulsed. I got hooked.

[toddgsanford]

in1986 when I was a freshman in high school I was walking home from my 3.35 an hour job sacking groceries when a guy from my metal shop class pat morita (not the guy from happy days) he was hispanic not chinese was parked on a side street that led to nowhere he rolled down his window and a cloud of smoke rolled out and he had his waterbong going full tilt being the good kid I was I inquired as to what was going on when I arrived home several hours later I just thought that was the coolest car in the world a few moinths later I bough my first a 72 it was red and had a dent in every single panel I painted it reef blue all the chrome was painted white I ut one of those shitty sunroofs from Auto shack now auto zone in it leaked like crazy the interior was original and since have had too any to count many of which have been harvested and put to death. I have almost always been involved in vws since than I did get out of it for a time when I had a truck and travelled too much to have a yard full of bugs and busses I currently have a 69 sunroof bus a 58 ragtop a 67 ghia I have also built a 63 ghia for my brother recently he shares the passion but is not as inclined to work on them .

[turbo_g]

I grew up in So Cal, San Diego mostly, and the VeeDub scene has been raging here my whole life. When I was in HS (back in the early 80's) we all had ACVWs to work on, I'm ashamed to say that I've been involved in the cutting up of more bugs and turning them into Baja bugs than I care to remember. I was never the best mechanic, but some of my friends really knew their stuff. There was one kid (best friend of my best friend's older brother) who had a split window bus, he surfed better than anyone I knew, had more chicks, got better grades and was the overall coolest "older kid" around. 6 of us took a trip to Mexico in that bus, stopping to surf along the way, my best friend's brother got messed up surfing and we had to high tail it back to San Diego. Ever since then I've been dreaming of owning a bus. I had some diversions in my life, the USAF, a four year stint at San Diego State University, marriage, two kids (I even owned one of those POS VW Fox while in the USAF) and FINALLY I have my bus, 66 Kombi, original Cal bus with period plates. My wife hates VWs (probably cause I made her drive that shiatty Fox while we were in college), I'll never get ACVWs out of my system.

Long live the Split Window Bus!

This site kicks ass!

Turbo_g
66 Kombi

[zackG]

ok, i will add my truly special moment which made me love VWs forever-
I was 17, i had 2 bays and a 73 bug, of course i thought they were the shit, but THIS sealed my fate...

I had to do a last minute brake job on my 73 bug (outside in the snow) one night, so i could drive to band practice (smokeout). So i do it up, and head out.. i was in Ohio, blizzard weather- only two thin tire lines on the highway to see... me and a buddy have the bug loaded with guitars, snowboards, etc... i was tooling along at about 55 (no wipers either!!) and then suddenly the back left half of the car drops 4 inches- i immediately realize i never put the cotter pin back in the axle nut!!! (17, half stoned, in the dark, snowy, brake job- it happens...) so we spin outta control in like slow motion, and then come skidding to a side ways stop and shoot backwards down a 30 foot ravine, engine in a 2 foot ice puddle...
so, here we were, in the middle of the night, middle of nowhere... stuck. BUT what's this i see at the top of the ravine? parked at the side of the road waiting for us? a volkswagen. a 70's bug that had seen us spinning, i didnt know them, but they took us home (and we smoked them down), then i was hooked... by the way i towed that bug out and slapped a new wheel on her and drove her away!!

that was over 10 years ago and many vws-
they are all i will drive and i never leave any stranded!!

peace
zackG

[mixedup59]

When I was about 14, my older brother got an all original 59' bug from a friend of the family that got it from a little old lady that only drove it to the grocery store (low low miles), down in Portland Oregon....I mean this thing was mint, the only thing ever changed was the oil and tuneup parts....beautiful car, og bias-plys and all. Anyway, he ended up going away to Alaska about a year and a half later on a shipping boat for a while and came back, only to switch his interest into Mopar crap...so he gave me the bug.... and hooked every since....now countless cars later. I restore them for a living, got our first car is Hot VW ( a little dream of mine) and finally (13 years later have two of the cars that i've always wanted from when I was a kid. I could never live without one......or two....or....

[gt1953]

When I met my wife she had a 67 beetle with check this only 30,000 miles on it at the time. Should have kept that car. We got married and then had a 69 beetle. I started tinkering with them. One day I rode my BMW R60/5 home from work and the noticed the front was caved in on the bug...it went the Baja rout. then a 69 buss came along for a few years...Air condition is a must in the desert so the VW's went by the way side. Did I mention the 62 bug I had then the engine took a dump and I found a 63 ran great but looked like the devil only gave a 125 bucks for it. Current VW inventory is a 73 standard and a 68 ghia. take a look at the 73.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/67058.jpg
Second year in a row in that class. And it does get driven not trailer...what fun would that be.

[TimGud]

16 years ago I met a nice young lady and married her,just so happens that her dad and family had driven VW's since the 50's. Now I drive, obsess about, and work on VW's.

[glandnut]

I've been around em my whole life. My first car was an oval my dad gave me when I was 14 and because I showed no initial interest, he sold it to put a new motor in the 67. I've been kicking myself ever since. He gave me my "real" first bug at 16, this time I wasn't so lucky. A 75 fuel infected, shock absorbing bumpered standard. I got so fed up paying for repairs I bought an idiot manual and a bag of uh, nevermind. I learned all I could, read all I could, picked everyone's brain that had a VW. After spending enough money on shite Taiwan crap aftermarket parts to buy Everett's barndoor, it finally dawned on me to stay as OG as possible (parts wise)and I've been so much less frustrated and completely addicted ever since. I've had 75,65, and 68 beetles; 66,71, and 68 buses over the last 14 years.

[[email protected]]

I bought on at an auction for 65 dollars and the decrepit POS RAN! so I immediately was hooked that a neglected vehicle could recieve a shot of go juice and run great. I am buying them now faster than I can drive and sell them, although, i have slowed down and settled on a ugly little 1970 hardtop which I am going to paint and restore in the coming months

[veedubsarebetter@sbcgloba]

I was 12 and my mom was working at atom yard and there was a bus that was parked in the yard and the first time i saw it i liked it so i asked about it and found out it waas the owners sons and he was building a oval in the shed in the back from there i started hangin wit him every day and ten bought a 67 kombi for 300 bucks sold it got a 61 ghia for free parted it out got a 63 singlecab and sold itfinally i got somethin i liked a 58 panel and amnow restoring it

[bc59bus]

Well this is the story back in 74 we were sitting around drink some Bud and playing cards, I was 18 and just out of high school. My friends dad walked in, (not good) he owed his dad 200 bucks in parts for the new motor in a 59 bus. He was rolling a mid 50's bug at the time and told his dad "I don't want that big ass thing any more". His dad asked if any one at the table would like to buy a bus for 200 bucks. I was haveing a good day and after some counting I yelled out SOLD. Hell I was driveing a 64 Goat at the time gas was almost 40 cents a gal, had to do something to off set the rise in fuel cost. I recall he said it on reserve and you better get some gas $3.60 later she was full and we were off to the beach. Next year will be 30 years with her, love that bus. One of my sons has a 60 bug, the other boy has a 52 rag, 56 rag, 57dd bus and does vw resto's for a living now, he has got countless friends into VW's. I don't know why when I meet these kids parents thay always say Oh your Eric's dad, what are we going to do with all these vw parts around here? I just LOL He can always just give them to me! Going to all the shows with the boy's and the other vw lovers we roll with has some of the best of fun

[Richard]

I bought a "Parts Hauler" 66 fastback to drive while I was restoring my dream car (57 chevy belair). I was so impressed with the VW that after completing the Chevy, I sold it and bought a beater 63 bug...That was 20 years and lots of VW's ago. Chevy's are cool but VW's rule !!!

[[email protected]]

In all honesty, I bought my 67 bus just out of high school because I thought I could get laid in it. Ironically enough, I got more action in the back of my 70 bug. The ladies didn't have much taste in cars, but...like I cared about their taste in cars...

[Slider]

My family bought a brand spanking new Bus in 68, we had a lot of fun. When I turned 16 and got my license I decided to buy a Beetle, all my friends had one (they were dirt cheap back then...used of course). But my father decided that they were unsafe and took my hard earned money and came home with a safe car...a Gremlin!!! This was back in the days when your parents were gods on earth and to argue was unthinkable. So here I am 48 years old and I finally made my dream a reality I have a 1970 Beetle and could not be happier...of course my dad's , who is still alive (thank God), first reaction was to tell me "I thought I told you I did not want you to get into one of those things". I retired from the US Army with combat experience, this was OK by him...go figure!!!!!

[Skim]

When I was in Jr High, This kid in my history class just moved to my town from Los Angeles and his older cousin moved there too with a 1958 european ragtop bug with polished alloys, 1835 definitely a sweet ass ride. Up until that point, I never even looked at bugs. This was in 1986. He showed me the semaphores and I was hooked. I couldnt believe that was a factory turnsignal. From that day on I always looked at them, checking the tailight sizes, looking for semaphores and reading all the VW mags. I would ride my bike to Circle K and read all the VW mags. I saw a splitwindow and said one day I would get one. From then on, I looked in every backyard, field, behind shops and found my first bug a 54 oval with semaphores for $350, That guy with the 58 didnt believe I had it till he came by then we hung out and he kinda mentored me in the building of it. Since then I've had 70 or 80, from 21 and 23 windows, notches, ovals, verts, my 52 split, dbl cabs you name it. I owe it all to that guy Russell DeCuir from L.A. Dont know where he is today but he started this VW madness.
Skim GFK

[chrome]

i got my sisters pinto to drive to high school with, well that didnt last long before i traded it for a 63 rag top baja, that was my first vw, by the time i got my hands on a 65 21 window a few years later, the T2 thing grew to new heights, my parents had vws all my life, and i now own the 68 double cab they bought off the showroom floor,hard to believe that after 28 years the same vw lives on once again talk about full circle!!

[gt1953]

My Girlfreind had one whom is now my wife after 25 years and we still have them (VW's) Not to mention a performance Firebird when we wanna go FAST!!

[jeremyrockjock]

When I was a kid, I used to mix up my Bs and Vs and I would call them bolkswagens. I always noticed them because they did stand out. I never thought about getting one though. It wasnÆt til I was in the Air Force in California in 1995 when I bought my first Vdub. I had a few friends that we would go Mt biking together and we wanted a car we could take on road trips and plaster with stickers. We found a guy selling a 76 bus for $1200 and told him we would buy it. While we were raising the cash to get the 76, another friend told us about a camper a guy had for $500. We ended up buying the camper instead. It was a 70 Sportmobile. We gave it a krylon paint job and stickered it all out. I built a huge bike rack for the front. My friends lost interest in it and it kind of fell on me since my name was on the title. The engine crapped out one day so it was either learn to fix it for pay a fortune to have someone else fix it. I figured since I was an aircraft mechanic I could figure this thing out so I tore the engine apart. I fixed the engine and kept driving and fixing it up. I bought and Hot VW Mag and realized there was a whole culture of Vdub Fanatics. I started going to the shows in Northern Ca and loved it. After I got out of the AF, I found a 56 beetle for $500. I got it running and drove it daily. I ended up moving to VA and Sold the 70 Camper. I kept the 56. I am currently restoring it. I have owned about 12 VWs, mostly parts cars. I currently have a 69 camper, a 58 15 window, a sandrail and the 56 beetle which is now a ragtop. Also a few parts buses. I canÆt get enough of them. You can see some of my cars in the gallery under Jeremy Hoggard. Later

[Bart]

Here's my Story

I guess I always liked them, but I grew up in rural Oklahoma and in highschool everyone was always into hotrods and pickups. We used to go to junkyards and look for parts for my friends Malibu and there was always this bay window westy I would check out. Well I never bought it and many years later after joining the Navy and moving to CA, I began to see more and more VW's. I always enjoyed looking at them, but was never really serious about buying one. I later got stationed in Lemoore, CA and one day my wife and I were on our way to Costco in Visalia. We decided to take the back roads and drive through the country. For some reason we got into a argument and south of Hanford I got out of the car and started walking to town. After walking about 3 miles I come across a split window bus sitting in this guys yard with a for sale sign in the window. I walk on into town and call my friend to give me a ride, but my wife finds me and I go home. Later that week I go out of my way to drive by the bus and check it out everyday. Finally I go bye and see the owner mowing his lawn, so I stop and ask about it. It was a 66 sundial and totally stock except for the motor. I bought it and that was it, it's been 3 years now and even got my wife into them. Too bad I don't live in CA anymore. Been in Indiana for a year now, it's growing on me, but I really miss the CA VW scene.