Bug Tales.

[dansam]

I LOVE VW STORIES.....

I buy lots of vw books and stuff and got this one called bug tales. I like it. Its fun. And it got me to thinking. We all have great vw stories and generally lots of time to b.s. with them why not put word to forum and make a nice collection of your stories?

Ill start... (I got a lot of em as Ive owned some fun hoopdie vw's )

[dansam]

My fave VW story

VW story that really happend to me (funny now) not then!!

I got at least 5 for every car Ive ever owned and well Ive had a lot of vw's!!!


I used to have a 64 sunroof from like 1987 to 1997 and it had this very uncool metal sunroof (not like say a 63 and older COOL sunroof)

Anyway the strange mechinism that made it open and close was a kinda cable with another smaller cable wrapped around and around and around the bigger "base" cable and that was used like a chain to open and close the thing with a nice cute plastic crank. Now needless to say this sucker (cable) broke and the sunroof was now a pull and push open type of deal and was only held open or closed by friction.

I being very proud of the car (no heap this car, it was sanyo man!) I wanted the thing to work as intended by the vw engineers.

So I went to Cherry Hill VW (New Jersey) and said how much for the cable thingie. It was like 200.00 bux!!!!! It would take FOREVER to get that kinda bread in high school what with pizza to buy and chicks to take out and action figures to buy, not to mention GAS!!! Heck gas was like 85 cents a gollon or sumthin!!! So needless to say new was out. Junk yards were out as well as I could not find one. I was defeated temporarily.

Well One day I was buggin home from school when I saw a very sad bug at the local fire house. Being Mr. Volksdude I needed to check out this new bug in my territory. It was very sad. It was like a 71 standard with no and I mean NO glass all busted into the interior floor, only the drivers seat and the ignition was like 3 wires hanging out of the column. No lights front or back and it had shotgun holes all over. It was an orange car. Two things that stood out to me. 1) it had a metal sunroof that worked!!! and 2) the engine looked like brand new!!!! Well I went into the firehouse and introduced myself to the chief (Im outgoing like that) asked him whats up with the squashed bug outside?? He told me it was originally going to be used for jaws of life training but it never happened and they were going to junk it!!!!!!!

Well I explained to the chief it was his lucky day. For no charge whatsoever Id be happy to remove the eysore from his presence. He agreed. !!!! So I now looked over the bug a little closer and decided to try to start it. I fiddled with the wires and DANG if it didnt start right up. It ran NICE, and I thought, Hmmmmmmmm This is gunna cost at least 20.00 to tow home. Wonder if it moves. Yup it did!!! Now an older wiser me woulda towed it (no windshield and shotgun holes and all, umm no tail lights ect ect ect. But in my Yute I had more of a sometimes you gotta say what the f---- (yes from risky bidness the movie). So I jumped in and made a dash for home leaving my 64 at the firehouse for me to pick up later. Gee 45 mph is something else without a windshield!!! Talk about bugs!! YUCK in my teeth!! Anyway it seemed to ride ok for a mile or so then it seemed to develop a tick every min or so like the car was in a dance line and kicking out a tire every 3rd beat or so. I figured no biggie cv going Ill just limp it home. and so it went for a while vroom vroom kick, vroom vroom kick.

Anyway soon the kick started getting a little more often like vroom kick, vroom kick. Soon it was a kick kick kick kick and got faster and faster (Im thinking worst case senerio Id abandon it on the side of the road) All of a suddon it went thump kick thump kick, thump thump thump then (((((((Silence)))))))) then the left rear of the veh tipped back as if the right front was being picked up into the air by some strange force, a tire started to shoot accross the road and into a ladies garden (oops) then lots of noise sparks other nasties Ill spare you. Needless to say I moseyed on over to the side of the road. Turns out the wheel was only held on by one lug not or so, and the hub cap (which was still on the wheel in the garden!!!) hid the fact.

Well in a perfect world I would have kicked my keds torward home and would have had mom take me to pick up my 64, BUT
one car back there was a ((((((((((((( COP))))))))))))) a N.J. state cop as a matter of fact (((OOOF))) Lotsa things went through my head (no insurance, registration, windows, lights, Uh Oh this is gunna SUCK). Cop gets out looks at the heap. Shakes his head and wips out the ticket book and makes two circles around the car to take it all in, ..........no "how are you today sir" or even "do you know why I stopped you?". He finally looks at me and in his best jowsey accent states
"You must be the biggest not a very nice person Ive ever met" As the accused I looked up at him and stated, YES SIR I can see why you may think that. I explained the situation and without another word he told me to get in the back of the car. Needless to say this was the first time in a cruiser (look no door handles!!!) and (sheesh what is that smell). Mr cop got into the car started her up and off we went without a single word as to our destination. I was VERY screwed, mom and dad were gunna KILL me or worse yet leave me in jail to teach me a lesson (they were like that). I saw all sorts of anal probing in my future when we ended up at the firehouse he got out, I could not !!! No HANDLES!! and mr cop talked to the chief to make sure I didnt steal the car. After theft was ruled out the cop let me out for a little one on one. It went like this...... You have 20 minutes to get that pile of sh-t off of my hyway. And If I ever catch you doing ANYTHING again you are soooo screwed. Now Get to the phone young man.

I got the car towed home. Stripped the car and sold the motor for 150.00. My 64 had a sunroof that worked for 5 years more (didnt fix it the next time) and alls well that ends well. Never met mr cop again. Well I may have met a friend of his when I tried to out run a cop car in my single port 64 but thats another story.

[Dustin]

Wow what a butt head cop. I mean I could see being a little upset but yeesh! That's how the cops around here would treat you.

[vw1302]

Here is a quickie...when I first got my 71 Super, (5 years ago)I found out about the MVVC show in Ypsi. So I packed the family up, and off we went.
My youngest son loves to take pics at the car show's, so him and I took off, leaving my wife and middle son to sit with the car.
When my son and I returned( ONLY 2 hours later..hehe)..my wife said, thanks alot, people have been asking my questions about the car, and I didnt know what to tell them Opps
Well, needless to say, she has never gone to another show with me (Untill this year, she came to the Holland show, and dispite the weather, she had a great time. And is very excited about going to Effingham next month ;D

[ghiastein]

Ok my turn. Its not a Bug story but it is a VW.

I am reluctant to tell everyone my story but this happened about 10 years ago so who cares.

During my college years I was the only one who drove a VW, and it was a perfect unrestored 1978 VW Rabbit. Everyone else drove invisible cars, but there was this group of about 5 hill-billies that drove mud trucks. They thought they were bad ass with their gas consuming V8's. They would sometimes park their truck in snow banks during the winter months. During the summer months they would park them with 1 tire on the curve so the suspension would flex. Wow I am impressed they have 6" of wheel travel.

Just to show them up one day I thought it would be cool to park the Rabbit on the curve. I did, and everyone thought it was so funny that my midget car could do the same as the big trucks. Wow I too have 6" of suspension travel.

After that they stopped parking on the curve.

Next year in the spring, I guess the truck guy's found a mud pit near the school. Every now and then they would come to school with their trucks covered in mud. Well let’s see if I can top them again……

After tinkering with my 1981 Rabbit (which never ran good) I got it nearly there. I was off on my usual jaunts to test drive the car. Across the road I see a small mud puddle in someone’s farm field. Now is my big chance to cover the car in mud and rub it in the big truck guy’s faces. So I proceed to drive the car into the field. I stop in the center of the 1” deep mud puddle. The idea was to reverse then go forward and repeat because the puddle was not that large and I just needed enough mud to prove my point.

Stopping in the mud puddle was a bad idea!!!! The front wheel just spun I was not hung up I just did not have enough traction to move my car. I learned at that moment why tractors and mud trucks have such knobby tires. So here I am sitting in a field with my midget car stuck in 1” of mud.

So what do I do? I know call my parents. Yea right and look like a complete dummy with them saying something like “What were you thinking!” or “I thought you were smarter than that!”
As I am thinking of a way to remove myself from the current situation I have found myself in. I get the brilliant idea that if I can somehow put the car in reverse I can push the car unstuck then quickly hop in and drive the car home. So I find my window scraper and jam it on the gas pedal. Shift the car in reverse and let out the clutch. Now my front wheels are just spinning so I hop out and push the car unstuck.

BAD IDEA!!!!
Yes I do get the Rabbit unstuck but I can’t catch it as it runs its self across the field. Luckily the front wheels manage to steer away from the bank of houses at the edge of the field but toward the road with ditches on both sides. As I am watching my car doing donuts in the field and head for the road I breathe a sigh of relief thinking that my car will just get stuck in the ditch. Then I will do the smart thing and call my parents.

Nope!!!
Yes the car goes right into the ditch, but at an incredible amount of speed, and actually jumps out of the ditch, and on to the road with a thud. Where it peels out and proceeds to the field on the other side of the road. Back in the ditch, back out of the ditch into the field. As I watch it doing more donuts there is nothing I can do except watch. Finally it heads back to the road and into the ditch, then out of the ditch. Back on the road with a thud and once again heading in the field where it all started. This time it finally gets stuck in the ditch. With the nose in the ditch and the ass in the air my stupidity is finally over. I walk over to the car remove the window scraper I jammed on the gas pedal and kill the engine.

Yep I called my parents and told them I spun off the road. That evening a tow-truck came and rescued my rabbit and pulled it home. I even washed the mud off the car because I never wanted to remember my failed attempt.

[dubfreak1]

Ok, here's my shot at storydom.

My Dad and my Grandpa had always driven Chrysler Corp cars. When my parents got a cottage, Dad would commute in the summer months to work. In 1960 gas went up to some astronomical price like $.26 9/10 or something like that, so Dad figured out that he could buy one of those little VW cars for going back and forth to work and it would pay for itself in 3 years or so. The cottage had a garage, so he would park it there for the 9 months or so that he didn't need it. He had a friend in the same commuting situation and talked him into buying one too. Well VW's were not easy to come by then, but Dad found two of them in a far away place called Holland, MI and bought them over the phone (we lived in Belding at the time). He called his friend and said "do you want the black one or the green one?" We ended up with the green one.

Dad took me along to pick the car up and it was a marvelous adventure for an 11 year old. I believe the dealership was located in the building where the Lakeshore Rescue Mission Auto Center is now. There was a really old couple there picking up their new Micro-Bus that had curtains on the windows. They were going to travel all over the USA in it. Oh, buy the way, they also had the dealership install a new Porsche engine in their brand new Bus! I thought it was cool, still do. Oh yea, those really old people were about as young as I am now. I also remember taking a 3 or 4 block ride in the backseat of the salesman's 356. Don't know if they also handled Porsche cars at the dealership or not.

The last mile of road going to the cottage was a remotely traveled gravel road. When we would turn off of the main road and on to the gravel, Dad would pull over to the side and I would sit on his lap and steer the rest of the way to the cottage. This probably started when I was about seven, as the first I remember doing it was in his 1955 Chrysler Windsor. My folks started driving the VW more and more. The first time we got to the gravel road in the Bug, Dad pulled over and I ran around to sit on his lap to steer. There was a PROBLEM. I didn't fit! My Dad had a solution. Mom must have gotten in the back with my brother and Dad got in the passenger seat. I remember being kinda scared, but Dad assured me he would be sitting along side me, could grab the wheel and it would not be a problem. He told me how to work the clutch and away we went. The first car I ever drove was a Volkswagen Beetle!

The Chrysler ended up spending the winter at the lake and within a couple of years Dad sold it and we went everywhere in the Bug. I grew up to be a died-in-the-wool Chevy man and didn't have any more VW interaction until 1971 when Beth and I were married. She had not driven in the winter much. I remembered the remarkable traction the Bug had and found a used 1968 for $800 and bought it. It took about 25 miles of driving it for my Bow-tie tendances to become secondary to VW's. Since it was the 70's, we named him "Virgil The Magic Volkswagen". I still don't know if it was "Virgil" that converted me to being a Bug freak, or if it was the early imprinting that did it. The result is the same............