As you read this column, Bob Pease is off trekking in Nepal. But he figured you might like to read some old stories—with some new TWISTS added.—ED
When I was a kid, my first car was a black 1941 Chevy, and it was a piece of junk. I think I paid Johnny Vinscunas about $25 to take it out of his back yard, from the weed patch behind his chicken coop. That was in the summer of 1957, when I was 17 years old. I bought this old clunker just to drive it around on farm roads. It was NOT a good car. It was a piece of junk. I doubt that it ever went more than 35 mph. The brakes were kind of dubious and if I had tried to rebuild them, they could have easily gotten worse. So, I gave it away that fall when I went off to MIT.
Next I bought a Studebaker. In 1961, I purchased an aqua 1950 Studebaker. Although it was only 11 years old, it was tired. It would go 55 mph. But because it only had three gears and no overdrive, it wouldn't get out of its own way. One day when I was minding my own business, driving up Route 1 in Saugus, I heard a thump-thump-scrape. The right rear wheel had fallen off. It didn't go rolling past me, but was trapped in the wheel well. The rear axle nut had stripped its threads.
I jacked up the car, positioned the rear wheel on the axle, in about the right place, and thought about this problem. If the rear axle was that soft—would that help provide a solution to my problem? I went to a nearby junkyard and found an axle nut from another car. It was slightly smaller in diameter than the Studebaker's axle. I turned that nut on and off the rear axle of the Studebaker until it cut its own threads. Then, I torqued it on, good and tight, and wired it up tight, and I drove home VERY carefully, avoiding big bridges and high-speed roads.
The next day, I took it in for repairs. That was the day I placed the order for my first VW, a 1962 Beetle. A couple months later, my 1962 Gulf-Blue Beetle arrived. I left the Studebaker in the morning and took a trolley to work. That night I rode out on the trolley and picked up my $1680 beetle, and I never looked back. Ever since then, over 1,400,000 miles, I've been a VW man.
So what am I driving these days? A 1970 VW Beetle with about 157,000 miles on it. It runs very nicely at 69 mph. I get adequate gas mileage. It's very reliable. But it sure is amusing....
What's so funny? In 1957, I had a 16-year-old car—and it was a piece of junk. In 1961, I bought an 11-year-old car—and IT was a piece of junk. NOW I have a 30-year-old car that's NOT a piece of junk. It's a pretty good car! It's hardly rusty at all. It gets 27+ mpg at 69 mph. It goes, and it stops, and I can out-corner most of the cars on the road. That's because they don't care what they do, and I care.
Why do I like VWs? Well, I have gotten a lot of reliable miles, and a lot of enjoyable miles, in the last 40 years in VWs. I don't want to bore you, but I have some good feelings about them. They are fun and interesting and challenging to drive. I mean, if you like to just climb into a car, and step on the gas and go, well, that's a different car. I like to shift. I like to think. I like to feel the road under me. I like to feel the torque rise up. Even old VW Beetles had some of this "Fahrvergnugen." All that word means is, Enjoyment (vergnugen) of driving (fahren).
Not Boring? I have driven a bunch of cars recently, and when you step on the gas, they are BORING. (I have listed them in an Appendix on Rentals.) Yes, they will eventually go fast. But when you get in a VW Rabbit or Golf, or an interesting car, as you start out in first, and shift into second, and nail it—really floor it—in just a couple of seconds, the acceleration really turns on, and the torque is coming up, and you have to get ready to shift really soon. Then in third, you have to think and plan. Where is the first curve? When do I have to ease my foot off the gas? I really like that. Even a VW Beetle accelerates crisply enough to make you think.
The Shape of the Acceleration Curve: Ya know—I built myself an accelerometer. I set it up to take some data. I should take some curves on the acceleration of different cars. Yeah, I should have done that—but I didn't have time to do that right.
If you like to drive a big Chrysler or a Chevy Caprice or a Ford Taurus, they may have more acceleration. But if a VW Rabbit has a better torque curve, you may have more fun driving it. You may be more alert and interested in driving. I happen to think that's good. I think it's safer too. Whatever you prefer, well, you drive it.
Meanwhile, here is a list of the VWs I have owned (see the table). (Refer to RAP's BOOK, page 396—this is an UPDATED version.)
Reprints
