Beetles and Bikes Part 2 - The Gray Bug
I had a rotational assignment in Massachusetts for the summer and we had to move up there into temporary quarters. Before we left, we took a trip home to Illinois to show off the baby. That's when the picture of the Gray Bug was taken. Then we rented a U-Haul trailer and pulled it up to Massachusetts with no problem. Our son, who was one year old at the time, was placed in a car seat that was hooked over the rear seat. This was before mandatory seat belts or child restraints had even been thought of. On the trip back, we rented a different U-Haul. This one was bigger and it was probably too much for the bug. You could hear the metal creaking as it pulled the trailer up hills. I was afraid the whole thing was coming apart. We also took it home to Illinois at Thanksgiving once with two kids. We just put a piece of paneling over the backseat, covered it with a blanket and stuffed a few pillows around the outside. We put our suitcases in the window well and under the front hood (the trunk area) and plopped the kids in the seat. After a 2000 mile round-trip that included a snowstorm, we arrived back safely in New Jersey but the car looked like a gray snowball. The VW's sunroof was great for carrying long objects. We used it to transport our Christmas tree home. We saw other VW owners doing the same thing. It just had great utility. When we began looking for our first house, we drove it all over Central Jersey with the two kids. Once, I decided to spend a Saturday going out on my own to look at houses and because it was raining, I left the family at home. As I approached a particularly busy intersection, I became aware that the traffic ahead of me was stopping rapidly and several collisions in front of me were occurring. I had almost stopped the Gray Bug when I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw the huge Buick bearing down on me. It hit the Bug at 45 m.p.h. and apparently never saw me. The Bug was dead, crushed from both ends as the Buick pushed it into the car in front of me. I remember the seat flying backwards pinning itself against the rear seat. If my kids had been in that seat, some serious leg damage might have occurred. I learned later that the root cause of the accidents had been a fatal motorcycle crash a quarter mile ahead of me. I went to the junkyard to see the Gray Bug one more time and wondered if I'd get another Bug someday. Now, Read Part 3 to see how a Blue Bug entered my life and taught me how to run out of gas and not need to go to a gas station. Later, read about my White Bug and how three teenage drivers are more than any Bug can handle.
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© 2016 Walter F. Kern. All rights reserved.
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The Gray Bug was our first new car. We liked the rollback sunroof. When it was hot, just roll it back and let the hot air out. I lived just eight miles from work and there was a hill I had to go up every morning. In the winter, this hill was often snowpacked. I would start the Gray Bug at the traffic light at the bottom of the hill and then slowly climb the hill all the way to the top without slipping the tires. Other drivers often couldn't make it or spun into the ditch.
