Why we do this...because our cars make peope happy.
 

If you don't own a thirty year old plus automobile it's sort of hard
understanding how much a pain in the ass it is to keep it running,
especially if you're not a rich dude who can plunk down money to get an old
car restored like it ain't no thing. I bought my car ten years ago about and
put a new engine and transmission in it and thought that once I was a rich
and succesful professional I'd just finish it and be done with it and then
rub it lovingly with a soft cloth diaper. Well, my financial aspirations
haven't quite worked out as I hope, and that's partially a fault of the
cosmos and partially my own fault. Unfortunately it has an effect on my
vehicle restoration goals, which haven't worked out quite as I hoped. My
bug, while seemingly mechincally OK (I have to take it in soon to get it
looked at before the winter and change all my window seals and replace the
muffler), still looks like an old POS, which isn't fair to the car. I'm
sure, like any other lady in her thirties, she'd appreciate a little nip and
tuck where ever it's possible so I really have to get on the ball with that.
Basically, this all leads me to the point I was going to make about my car,
which is the pressure I get from lots of peope, most in my own family, to
just get rid of the car since it's a financial and emotional drain.

This brings me back to the main point I was going to make. I don't want to
get rid of my car because, a) it's a piece of history now. As you can
probably guess from the way I dress, talk, feel, and mostly live, I sort of
have a neo-hippy attitude at life (ok...not always and especially not lately
since my karmic energies have been on the seriously negative side) and this
car gives me a physical and emotional connection to the original hippsters
that populated our world many many moons ago. The baby-boomers that danced
naked in a mud-pit at woodstock, now currently voting republican because
their tax rates are low. I don't want to call them sell outs, since it's
easy to sell out when you have privat school they have to pay for their kids
and stuff like that. I can at least voice my disappointment however. Anywho,
it's sort of like, when I listen to the classic rock station and a
particular song comes on the radio, I can sort of feel like my car is
saying, "yeah..I remember when this song was first on the radio, and we were
driving to an anti-nuke rally with Moonbeam and Rainbow with some hash
hidden in an old guitar on the back seat...". I'm sort of an anachronistic
throw-back to that time and while clubs like the SCA like to re-create the
Renaissance, no one is out there recreating the late 60's and the 70's.
Well, maybe Ben and Jerry but that isn't enough.

The second reason, is because my car makes people happy. It just does. Last
night was another example. I was hanging with some friends and near totally
out of gas I stopped at a station to fill up (now costing me $15 to fill up
my 8 gallon tank...it never cost me $15 dollars) and this dude in front of
me just came up and told me I just totally made his day because when he was
younger he bought a car that looked just like mine as his first car, and we
got to talking and stuff like that. I get that a lot. I get all kinds of
stuff like that...people telling me about a beetle they owned or their
parents or their favorite aunty or something and how it ties into one of
their favorite memories. I totally dig how it brings people happy memories.
And no one ever plays Punch Buick...no one does...it's Punch Buggy...and
it's becoming hard since there aren't that many left around. Punch Buggy may
potentially die off as a cultural icon if I don't help to preserve it...how
much of a bummer would that be?

Anywho, I figured that since I was up so early on a Sunday morning and since
there wasn't much else to do I'd post this little story. Keep on truckin'
and have a good day. Peace

..............Another refugee from three decades ago who missed the train
while high on cocaine.

..........not a pretty sight, these ex-columnists from VWT.

:-)

Actually...the train pulled out of the station long before I ever had a
chance to buy a ticket. I'm only 4 years older than my 74 Superbeetle :)


"Tim Rogers" > wrote in message
...
> .............Another refugee from three decades ago who missed the train
> while high on cocaine.
>
> .........not a pretty sight, these ex-columnists from VWT.
>
> :-)
>
>

"Mike C." > wrote in message
.net...
>
> Actually...the train pulled out of the station long before I ever had a
> chance to buy a ticket. I'm only 4 years older than my 74 Superbeetle :)
>
>


.................. Oh......So your an old hippie wannabe. That's cool....I
guess.

"Mike C." > wrote in message
nk.net>...

> If you don't own a thirty year old plus automobile it's sort of hard

> understanding how much a pain in the ass it is to keep it running,

> especially if you're not a rich dude who can plunk down money to get an
old

> car restored like it ain't no thing.



Mike:

If that's how you feel man then bully for you. I don't particularly relate
to the neo hippy thing even though I am old enough to remember the late 60s.
My own views are probably fairly far to the right of yours. I just don't
think it really makes a difference. I am not into VWs as a political
statement. When I go to a VW show I want to talk to people about their VWs
not about what their political or lifestyle choices or whatever are.



I just find something very reassuring and satisfying about playing with and
driving them. I am tinkering with my 70 Fastback in the garage tonight. My
cat comes and checks out what I am doing while I am trying to get under the
dash. Yes, I could probably find something I could convince myself was more
important to do, but I find my VW hobby helps give me a little balance to my
life. (Is that hippy like? I don't know)



My dad got his first VW in the mid 60s when I was a little guy and their has
been one in our family ever since. I have strayed from time to time with
other cars but I always come back to AC VWs. I have a seriously rusted out
KG conv that in spite of protestations from family and friends, I refuse to
get rid of it. I will get it restored someday, to part with it now would be
like abandoning the dream.



Thanks for sharing your thoughts.



Doug

"Mike C." > wrote in message
k.net...

> [...] The baby-boomers that danced naked in a mud-pit at woodstock, now
> currently voting republican because their tax rates are low. I don't want
> to call them sell outs, since it's easy to sell out when you have privat
> school they have to pay for their kids and stuff like that. I can at least
> voice my disappointment however. [...]

WTF do you know, Junior. You have your opinions, and you have an asshole and
they are interchangable. KILLFILE.

"Tim Rogers" > wrote in message
...
> .............Another refugee from three decades ago who missed the train
> while high on cocaine.

Naw. He's a youngster for sure.

"Mike C." > wrote in message
.net...
> Actually...the train pulled out of the station long before I ever had a
> chance to buy a ticket. I'm only 4 years older than my 74 Superbeetle :)

Figures. May you rust in hell.

Well that's nice. What's you're F*ckin' problem?? I may have neo-hippie
traits but I'm still from NYC.

"jjs" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mike C." > wrote in message
> .net...
>> Actually...the train pulled out of the station long before I ever had a
>> chance to buy a ticket. I'm only 4 years older than my 74 Superbeetle
>> :)
>
> Figures. May you rust in hell.
>
>

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 18:32:17 -0600, "jjs" > wrote:

>"Mike C." > wrote in message
nk.net...
>
>> [...] The baby-boomers that danced naked in a mud-pit at woodstock, now
>> currently voting republican because their tax rates are low. I don't want
>> to call them sell outs, since it's easy to sell out when you have privat
>> school they have to pay for their kids and stuff like that. I can at least
>> voice my disappointment however. [...]
>
>WTF do you know, Junior. You have your opinions, and you have an asshole and
>they are interchangable. KILLFILE.
>

JJ is teh funny. DY-NO-MITE!!!

---

"Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness."
-James Thurber