| Author |
Message |
WD-40
Samba Member
Joined: May 31, 2006
Posts: 1183
Location: Iowa
|
 Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 1:51 pm Post subject: History of Eet-Cafe/Paddock Beetle Limo in Oranjestad,Aruba? |
 |
|
While on our honeymoon in Aruba, we came across this Beetle limousine on the roof of the Eet-Café at The Paddock in Oranjestad. 
It's a neat attraction for tourists, but a bit sad for air-cooled VW enthusiasts as its condition is noticeably deteriorating. The car shows evidence of at least one cosmetic patch-up while on the roof (filling in the door openings, sealing the hood shut, etc, etc...) but the pushing/pulling cracks in the middle, the fallen-off door handle, and the disintegrating running boards indicate that the overall structural condition is poor at best. 
Does anyone know any of the history of this car... particularly, how long it has been up there, and where it was originally from?
Member turkis-deluxe posted this photo in the gallery on Dec 10, 2005, so it has been up there at least nine years or so. But otherwise there hasn't been a discussion or any other photos here on TheSamba that I am aware of.
A few additional photos of its current condition (photos from 2014/06/11, 13, and 14, in a bit different lighting conditions):
_________________
"The new Volkswagen 1303. We've made so many improvements, they're beginning to show." |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
WD-40
Samba Member
Joined: May 31, 2006
Posts: 1183
Location: Iowa
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
WD-40
Samba Member
Joined: May 31, 2006
Posts: 1183
Location: Iowa
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 3:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
So exhausting all search results with "Limo", "Limousine", "Beetle" (and foreign equivalents), "Bug", "VW", "Volkswagen", "Volkswagon", etc, etc, etc, I did some more generic searches ("Aruba 2003", "Aruba 2002", etc)... and came across several sets of Aruba vacation galleries from years earlier. Two of them happened to contain these un-tagged photos:
04/20/2002:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgplewka/39919495/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgplewka/39919422/
2003:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikaheinzurlaub/3141639605/
That first pair, from 04/20/2002, pre-dates the other earliest dated pictures I could find by more than two years, and mean that the car has been on the roof for 12+ years total. The car also looks fantastic - and clearly in better condition than the picture of the car on the ground in front of the cruise ship. So it must have been in good shape when first put on the roof, and then taken back down at some point a few years later for some touching up.
I didn't find anything from before 2002. The number of Aruba pictures in general tapers off substantially. It's the early days of digital photography and the early days of Internet adoption... so that isn't surprising.
Compiling this was a personal curiosity more than anything. Hopefully someone, at some point, finds this information interesting. 
_________________
"The new Volkswagen 1303. We've made so many improvements, they're beginning to show." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
