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this is a guest post from coming from my younger sister.
The date was January 12, 1994. I had just bought a new pair of cheap shoes, and I was ready to spend more money. I had been eyeing a cute little red Volkswagen bug that sat at a used car dealership I passed on my way to work everyday. My car was paid off, and though it had been reliable, I couldn't resist the call of the love-bug. I knew I could use my Hyundai as a down payment, a stepping stone to a more enjoyable commute to work. So I loaded up my mother and we went to the dealership.
When we arrived at the dealer I made no bones about it, I wanted that bug. Mr. Cowboy Car Salesman started it up for a test drive, but had to hold it still for me to get in because the emergency brake didn't work. Not a problem since the real brakes worked just fine. The stereo was gone and I would eventually find the gearshift knob under the driver's seat. The horn didn't work, and someone had tried to soup the car up by putting a bad tint on the windows. It also had custom wheels and an alarm that didn't go off until the very loud engine was running. The only key didn't work on the driver's side door, so I'd have to either reach over and go around or leave it unlocked.(The key is a whole other story.) I could have it for the Hyundai and $600., payable over six months. I should have kept the Hyundai and bought the V.W. outright, but I was blinded by love.
I think the first sign of love gone awry came when the bug started stalling out on my drive home. The first time a few miles from home, then again a little closer to home. Then once on the interstate far from home. By the third time, I had learned that if I let it sit for a few minutes, it would choke and drive. So there I sat, on the median of I-35, loving my bug.
The auto mechanic said I needed to have the carburetor rebuilt. Do V.W. bugs have carburetors?
Or was it before the first set of stall outs that the real brakes started to grind. No squealing to warn me that they were wearing thin. Oh,no, they went straight to the grind. I tried to pretend that the car was only telling me that it loved me, too.
Do V.W. bugs have pads or shoes?
More stalling, but this time with a dying battery. So when it stalled, it wouldn't necessarily start again. I had to get it fixed eventually, but in the mean time, I parked going down hill, and I never took my foot off of the gas pedal. I developed a fine appreciation for the standard transmission, and an even finer appreciation for my bug.
And then there was also the gas. Yes, my car farted. Inside and out. The heater made the inside smell like a gas station, and the hole in the muffler made it shoot flames out of all four exhaust pipes. Oh, well, I've loved worse things with gas.
The auto mechanic said it would be cheaper to just patch the muffler. I didn't know V.W. bugs had mufflers.
Did you know that when a speedometer cable breaks at 70 miles an hour, the hand on the speedometer bounces around a bit before it says you're going an extremely fast 0? It's true, I've seen it happen. Love confounds all boundaries of time, space, and speed.
Having no speedometer, I had no idea how fast and then how slow I was suddenly going when the engine roared even louder than usual. Traffic flew by at lighting speed. The engine noise stopped. Completely. My only choice was to coast onto the median of I-35, waiting for me like an old friend, knowing I would be in need. And when I saw those little pieces of the engine strewn about, I knew that the bug needed more love.
Can you replace a 1974 V.W. bug engine with something that works? And how much would that cost? Okay. It's on the median of I-35, just south of the 240 junction. Yes, on the grass.
And all was fair in love and war...for about a month.
It was January,1995, I decided to leave for far off lands and since my V.W. bug wasn't going faster than 40mph, I opted not to take it with me. Instead, I took a lousy man who asked where the radiator was the first time he looked under the hood to see what was wrong. I should have left him and taken the car.
Where ever it is, I hope someone is loving it.
The date was January 12, 1994. I had just bought a new pair of cheap shoes, and I was ready to spend more money. I had been eyeing a cute little red Volkswagen bug that sat at a used car dealership I passed on my way to work everyday. My car was paid off, and though it had been reliable, I couldn't resist the call of the love-bug. I knew I could use my Hyundai as a down payment, a stepping stone to a more enjoyable commute to work. So I loaded up my mother and we went to the dealership.
When we arrived at the dealer I made no bones about it, I wanted that bug. Mr. Cowboy Car Salesman started it up for a test drive, but had to hold it still for me to get in because the emergency brake didn't work. Not a problem since the real brakes worked just fine. The stereo was gone and I would eventually find the gearshift knob under the driver's seat. The horn didn't work, and someone had tried to soup the car up by putting a bad tint on the windows. It also had custom wheels and an alarm that didn't go off until the very loud engine was running. The only key didn't work on the driver's side door, so I'd have to either reach over and go around or leave it unlocked.(The key is a whole other story.) I could have it for the Hyundai and $600., payable over six months. I should have kept the Hyundai and bought the V.W. outright, but I was blinded by love.
I think the first sign of love gone awry came when the bug started stalling out on my drive home. The first time a few miles from home, then again a little closer to home. Then once on the interstate far from home. By the third time, I had learned that if I let it sit for a few minutes, it would choke and drive. So there I sat, on the median of I-35, loving my bug.
The auto mechanic said I needed to have the carburetor rebuilt. Do V.W. bugs have carburetors?
Or was it before the first set of stall outs that the real brakes started to grind. No squealing to warn me that they were wearing thin. Oh,no, they went straight to the grind. I tried to pretend that the car was only telling me that it loved me, too.
Do V.W. bugs have pads or shoes?
More stalling, but this time with a dying battery. So when it stalled, it wouldn't necessarily start again. I had to get it fixed eventually, but in the mean time, I parked going down hill, and I never took my foot off of the gas pedal. I developed a fine appreciation for the standard transmission, and an even finer appreciation for my bug.
And then there was also the gas. Yes, my car farted. Inside and out. The heater made the inside smell like a gas station, and the hole in the muffler made it shoot flames out of all four exhaust pipes. Oh, well, I've loved worse things with gas.
The auto mechanic said it would be cheaper to just patch the muffler. I didn't know V.W. bugs had mufflers.
Did you know that when a speedometer cable breaks at 70 miles an hour, the hand on the speedometer bounces around a bit before it says you're going an extremely fast 0? It's true, I've seen it happen. Love confounds all boundaries of time, space, and speed.
Having no speedometer, I had no idea how fast and then how slow I was suddenly going when the engine roared even louder than usual. Traffic flew by at lighting speed. The engine noise stopped. Completely. My only choice was to coast onto the median of I-35, waiting for me like an old friend, knowing I would be in need. And when I saw those little pieces of the engine strewn about, I knew that the bug needed more love.
Can you replace a 1974 V.W. bug engine with something that works? And how much would that cost? Okay. It's on the median of I-35, just south of the 240 junction. Yes, on the grass.
And all was fair in love and war...for about a month.
It was January,1995, I decided to leave for far off lands and since my V.W. bug wasn't going faster than 40mph, I opted not to take it with me. Instead, I took a lousy man who asked where the radiator was the first time he looked under the hood to see what was wrong. I should have left him and taken the car.
Where ever it is, I hope someone is loving it.
