Beetles and Bikes Part 4 - The White Bug
The White Bug was a lot of fun but it didn't have a sunroof -- it was air-conditioned. A/C in a Beetle? Yes and it worked -- sometimes. The engine seemed to complain a lot when the A/C was on. It's like it was trying to ask me, "Why didn't you get another sunroof?" I used the White Bug for commuting for the first few years. Then my kids got older and started driving. Then one-by-one, each of my three kids learned how to drive a stick shift car by going out with me in the White Bug. We spent many hours stalling the car and jerking through the gears trying to learn proper clutch action. Oh, and there were those trying times at the stop sign that was on an incline and heavy cross-traffic was coming both ways. Each kid had to learn how to use the friction zone of the clutch to hold the car motionless and then dart forward quickly and smoothly when an opening occurred. I'm glad those days are over. Two of my kids used the White Bug at college. Each had one or two accidents that added battle scars. The bug was towed many times and spent a lot of time in the shop. I regularly took it to a mechanic who specialized in beetles. He would go over the car with a fine-tooth comb every time I took it in. If I wanted five things done to it, he would convince me that it needed 10 things to fix it properly. Once, my son ran over a curb as he rounded a left-hand turn. That hurt the front axle severely. The White Bug was never the same after that. I had to replace the axle with a reconditioned axle. Then after six months or so the White Bug started complaining again with low groans in the front end on turns and dips in the road. Finally, as I was driving home after work one day, the whole front end collapsed with a giant shudder and I limped home. The prospect of another front axle replacement was more than my budget could bear. So, even though the White Bug still looked great both inside and out, its internals had given up the fight. I sold the White Bug for junk. That was 1987. Just two years after that I began thinking about a Bug again. However this time it was the Motorcycle Bug. Since the VW Bug was gone from my life, I had replaced it with the Motorcycle Bug. I was hooked and would never be the same again. Now, Read Part 5 to find out how I recovered from the loss of three Beetles and went on to seek more adventures, this time on motorcycles.
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© 2016 Walter F. Kern. All rights reserved.
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When I sold the Dodge Dart, I bought a 1972 Fiat 128. It had a four-cylinder, water-cooled, front transverse-mounted engine with front-wheel drive. Unfortunately, people tried to warn me that Fiat technology was sometimes a game of chance. After two years of bad luck and numerous failures, I traded it in on a 1974 white VW bug. I had to go back to technology I trusted.
