(Our Sunday COAL series has a temporary interruption, so here’s one of my favorites from the past) The saga of my 1959 Beetle and I is interwoven in the story of how Volkswagens became an integral part of me. I’ve owned this VW since I was three years old, and I’m still driving it today. Call me Volksman.
When I was still a toddler my grandfather bought my then sixteen year-old Aunt Stacy a mid 1970’s Beetle as her first car. That in itself was a bit unusual since he never bought a foreign car before. According to my mother, aunt and grandparents, the two year-old me immediately took to the VW, and would point out other Beetles on the road by exclaiming “Tacy Car!”
When I was two and a half or so, my aunt totaled the car as she was pulling into her high school parking lot, so I really have no memories of that Beetle. After that, the disabled Beetle sat beside our driveway awaiting its inevitable trip to a junkyard. However it had one more mission to accomplish, securing Volkswagen’s hold on my psyche. In early 1988, we had a bit of snowfall here in central Alabama and my mom and grandfather took me outside to see the snow. My grandfather said I started to squirm out of his arms so he put me down and I immediately ran straight to the battered Beetle. This picture is when I was on my way, turning only briefly when my mother called my name and snapped the photo.
After this, the Beetle became my playhouse. I would sit in it and pretend to drive. It was a skill that would serve me well in the years to come. A few months later, my grandfather sold the car to someone for parts and by all accounts I was not happy. It was decided that I would get a non-running Beetle for myself as a play car in the backyard. Being the eldest and at that time the sole grandchild has its perks.
I was three years old by the time my grandparents took me to a man’s house who had a few Volkswagens sitting around (funny,now that would be me) so that I could pick out the one I wanted. My vague memories of this day are in fact my earliest memories. I recall my grandmother trying to get me to look at another Beetle but I would have none of it, my eyes were set on the faded red one with mismatched white doors and no seats. I remember pointing at it and saying “That one”.
After my three year old self picked out my first car, my grandfather paid the man a whopping $60 and had it towed home. I also recall seeing the tow truck pull out onto the street with the car. Once home, my grandfather sourced me some two bucket seats of the five-gallon variety and I was set to go. On my bucket seat, battered steering wheel in hand I drove everywhere imaginable without ever leaving the backyard. I would lay in the backseat and play with my toy cars (usually Volkswagens, naturally) or look through the literature that helped me learn to read before I ever entered school, Auto Traders, Hot VWs and VW Trends magazines. When I entered school, I quickly became “the little boy who loves Volkswagens” My kindergarten teacher even asked me if Istill liked VWs when I saw her a few years ago.
The following years were rather uneventful as far as the Beetle was concerned. Life changed, I grew up, my mother married and we moved, my grandparents divorced, my grandmother remarried, I became the oldest of three brothers and that VW was there, always ready for an imaginary road trip. It and my infatuation for these cars never changed.
When I was around eight or nine or so, I read an article in Hot VWs magazine about the various turn signal son Beetles and it was then that I learned that the little light things on the B pillars were semaphores, meaning that my’59 was a European-spec car and thus more rare and valuable than the average 1959. I’d pretended that they were James Bondesque guns that poppped up from the sides of the car.
I got sidetracked from that car as a teenager and young adult with other VWs, a 1971 Beetle that I drove in high school, and a string of Buses after I became infatuated with them after I drove a friend’s ’67. It wasn’t until 2008, 20 years after I first got the car that I started working on it. With my limited funds, a full restoration was out of the question, but making it run and drive and look decent was not.
Out came the blown up 40 hp and in its place the correct 36hp; brakes were gone through, correct front seats (no more five gallon buckets!); the tired old 6 volt electrics nursed back to life, and a little ride height adjustment (here’s were I get flogged for “destroying” my car with bolt on lowering parts). In October 2009, 6 volts of electricity spun over a 36hp engine and a 1959 Beetle that had last moved under it’s own power in 1985 triumphantly roared to life again.
I pulled out of the driveway and took a quick (relatively speaking) spin around the block. It still needed tuning, aligning and various other things but it was moving. The speedometer needle was moving and the odometer ticked over a mile for the first time in my eyes. It was so surreal driving the car. I pulled back into the driveway, got out of the car and looked back when the significance of what I’d just done hit me. I will admit I got a little misty eyed. It’s not often that you truly make a childhood dream a reality.
I’d brought two Buses back to life that had both been sitting for over 20 years and as awesome as that felt, this was totally different. Another misty eyed moment was a little over a month later at Thanksgiving. My grandfather came over and asked “where’d that green Volkswagen come from?” I asked him “You don’t recognize that car? You bought it” “That’s the ’59!?!” he said.
The look on his face when I said “You want to go for a ride?” was something I’ll never forget. Going for a short drive with him was a moment I will always remember. As we were pulling back into the driveway, my grandmother had just pulled up and I opened the door and said “You’re next, c’mon!” She had a big grin on her face the whole time. I’d always told my grandmother that I was going to pick her up one day in that Beetle and drive her around and there it was actually happening.
Everything was just more special with this car. The first road trip I took it on, to a Volkswagen show in Chattanooga, when I crossed the state line I thought “I sat here when I was three years old and made engine noises, and here I am crossing the state line in it.
When I drove it on vacation to Panama City Beach, FL it was the same way, I remember being so small standing in the front floor that the top of the steering wheel was as tall as I was and here I am cruising up the beach in it. I’ve been through a couple of engines (one that ran with a crankshaft broken in two pieces!) I installed a factory sunroof clip (again, don’t flog me for that, I’m keeping the car so I made it what I want) and I’m slowly but steadily collecting parts and fixing the battered car as I drive and enjoy it.
I had to press it into daily service in late 2010 in one of the coldest, snowiest and most icy winter here I remember in a long time. I didn’t have much money and my e30 BMW was dead and needed too much $$$ to fix. My trusty ’59 pulled through for me. It only failed to start one time and it was due to my negligence in checking the water level in the battery. Aside from that, even with the car covered in a thick sheet of ice, a pull of the manual choke knob and a turn of the key and 6 volts brought 36 horses to life. Sure it was slow, drafty and I had to use an old rag as defrost but true to it’s original mission, it always got me where I needed to go. As always, when I needed that old Bug, it was there.
Just to recap on the car itself. I got the birth certificate from VW and it stated that the car’s original home was Freiburg, Germany, a city in the southwest corner of Germany near the Swiss and French borders. How it ended up in Alabama in the mid 1980s is unknown, however the Marines sticker on the front bumper is a clue since many Euro spec VWs were brought over by military.
I can’t even imagine my life without Volkswagens. They are interwoven with just about everything I do. I converted my V8-Ford man dad to Volkswagens (he owns three) and we go to VW events together. My youngest brother has a 1962 Bus, and the vast majority of my friends I’ve met because of these goofy little cars. So here’s to you aunt Stacy’s Beetle: Even though you didn’t make it, you started it all, and I can think of at least ten VWs that might have never seen the road again but did because of my direct or indirect doings.
Wow! Great story and memories.
The same car since you were three? People sure are keeping their cars longer these days, and you’re certainly an example of that!
I love how your car-nut radar guided to to what was probably the rarest car in the bunch. Not bad for three years old.
Not only is this a great story, but it also sounds like you’ve got a great family. They were very wise to indulge your obsession.
That’s the truth. My grandparents for buying the car and keeping it at their houses for all those years. Both them and my mom for indulging me in buying VW toys, magazines and books and my mom marrying a man who not only took me in as his own child but is a gearhead himself.
A wonderful story. Everyone who reads and comments here is secretly jealous of you – didn’t all of us want our own car to play in when we were kids? And then to resurrect it years later into a real, driving car – so cool.
I’m no fan of VWs – death traps to me, but I’d have it for the semaphores alone! Those are really cool!
Looks like the car is down on its knees – does it need a new suspension? Much too low to the ground!
Makes me whine about how I wish I could have hung on to my avatar, but I’m happy for you, Adam, that you were able to! Congrats!
I lowered it. It’s all bolt ons and it’s going to be raised back up soon. The novelty of it being super low has worn off.
Not my favorite look for a VW either, but the great part of that is all the parts are bolt on. Love those plaid interior fabrics!
Great story, you’re a lucky guy to have such a grandad.
Lowered Bugs are terrible to drive. I had a friend in high school who lowered his. He spent a lot of time and money fixing the things his lowered car hit.
My dad’s first VW Beetle was a navy ’59 convertible.
It was pristine and his work car. He had to sell it for money to pay our bills, and he vowed to get another.
He ended up with a ’64 with a sunroof. Not the same, but it was the one I played in and pretended to drive when it ended up sitting in our backyard awaiting repairs.
I had two college friends with old Beetles. I never realized what crude and fun little cars they were until then.
Very nice personal story!
What a great story,thank you.I never had a Beetle but have always wanted one.
What a fantastic story. I am seriously jealous that you got a play car as a child. I dearly wanted one but my parents wouldn’t go for it. Nice job on bringing it back to life!
Great story, but how did it get from faded red with white doors to the color it is now. Judging by the interior shots this is the original color.
I had to piece the car together, the doors were incorrect, the front fenders were full of filler, the hood and decklid were really tweaked and being on a budget, I rattlecanned it to make it one color. Otherwise it would have been faded red shell, one white door, one black door, maroon fenders, black decklid and metallic orange hood. I couldn’t stand to drive it like that.
When someone asks me “what year is it?” I say “Which part?” It’s like the Johnny Cash song, it’s a 56/57/58/59/60/61/62/63/64, haha
Or you were an early trendsetting, with a Harlequin model!
Truly from the heart! I really enjoyed it!
Anyone who thinks cars are merely a mode of transportation could really learn from this.
Wow, loved reading your unusual story. And I thought I was lucky because my mom didn’t throw out my mid-fifties car literature collection! My first new car was a 66 VW in royal blue with white interior. I loved that car even though in the summer of 67 and 35,000 miles it hydroplaned on a rainy highway and sent me over a bank , flipped over end over end and landed me in a small babbling creek! I was not wearing seat belt but crawled out with only a cut on my elbow. After it was fixed my dad bought it from me as I was going to Vietnam and he promptly totaled it backing out of his driveway. Later I had a 74 VW Dasher that got rear ended by a Ford F-150 going 35 mph when I was stopped in traffic. Again, wearing no seat belt but no injury. Next attempt was an 85 VW Gulf which I had 6 months when my 16 year old daughter, who had her driving license one day, made a left turn in front of a speeding Camaro. That Gulf was wiped out but she and her girl friend were not hurt. Giving up on VWs, I later had a 1990 Audi 80 that served for four years without a wreck!
Awesome. Love the stance. 5 inch narrowed beam?
Good eye, yes, 5 inch.
Heh it was an educated guess as mine is 4.5!
Now this was a heartwarming story! I’m so glad I decided to turn on the computer this morning and stop by for a visit.
Just yesterday I pulled up my first story here on CC about a car I owned that was in my family for many years (https://www.curbsideclassic.com/my-curbside-classic/my-curbside-classic-1995-mercury-mystique-the-old-family-heirloom/#more-9254), so this came at a good time.
I hope you get to enjoy many more years and miles with the little Bug!
Wow! I always dreamt of owning a car like yours as a kid, but I wasn’t that lucky. I could join you in my imagination along your story, one of the best I’ve read here at CC.
My mother had a ’67 VW from 1990 to 1996, where I learned to drive, do simple repairs and, most of all, became an old car enthisiast. I remember when the clutch failed one day: my mother was helpless, and I drove it to the garage in first gear, turning the engine off in every crossing. I was ten years old and drove in a 5 million city! (Santiago de Chile) I was quite proud of myself and my “escarabajo”. It was supposed to be my first car, but the engine needed a big fix she didn’t want to make. I sweared to buy it back if I find it one day…
That is a truly touching story. My grandfather built a playhouse in my parents’ backyard for me, but I’m sure I would have rather had my own car.
Someday, after I’m done restoring my 2-door hardtop, it will probably come down to me to restore my grandad’s ’66 Chrysler sedan. My dad acquired it from him in 1977, when I was 2 years old, and it was his daily driver for much of my childhood. My brother got it mobile again for one summer about 12 years ago. To ride in it briefly as an adult and even drive it once was a real rush, so I have some idea how you feel. Congrats!
I’ll join the chorus in saying what what a great and jealous-making story you have. I was infected with VW fever since being a toddler, and to have had my own as a kid in the yard would have been heaven on earth. I eventually had my VW era, and it’s left me wanting one ever since.
Thanks for writing up your story, one of my favorites ever here. I bet there are others out there that ought to be shared….
I’ve never embraced the VW lifestyle/experience, but fully understand those who do, at least the air-cooled types. They might be slow and dangerous, but those things are simple and easy enough to keep running, that there’s a definite method to the madness. They’re the original ‘hipster’ mobiles, before the term ever existed. If you want to be a ‘continental’, Euro-type, you got a Beetle. If not, you go with an old, sixties’ compact (most preferred being a pre-65 Falcon).
But why anyone would put up with trying to keep an old water-cooled VW running, I’ll never understand. Beetles have eccentricities, while the water-cooled cars are just POS.
Well it might interest you to know that I currently own my 5th watercooled Volkswagen. I like the waterpumpers. They may not have my soul like the aircoolers but I like them just the same. And for the record my 88 Jetta 8v 5speed had well over 300k and was ultra reliable. I drove that car everywhere.
Great story.
My obsession has been Tri-Fives since the age of 10 so I understand the emotional, lifelong aspect.
My parents owned a forest green (I don’t remember the official name) ’65 Beetle in 1966-67. I was 9…dad was driving 100 miles round trip to work and after a year the cost of repairs started to outweigh the fuel savings. IIRC the front suspension was going to need a total rebuild.
A ’65 Mercury Park Lane with the Breezeway rear window took the Bug’s place.
“… dad was driving 100 miles round trip to work…”
Boy, do I feel his pain! I do the same thing. Fortunately, my 2012 Impala LTZ lessens that a bit. I couldn’t see myself in anything else.
Great story I should have got the clue I restored a 59 Beetle for friend it was Dolphin blue and being Aussie had semafores
Great story Adam…thanks for sharing! Best of luck with the Beetle and may you have many happy years “on the road” with it.
Cool story, cool car. I think you just added one of these to my fantasy garage.
Great story and memories. Neat car, love the Semaphones!
Best $60 “toy” a grandfather ever spent money on.
I got to play in a car a couple of times as a child, and the fact that I still recall it vividly certainly indicates how much I enjoyed it. A friend’s parents inherited a ’63 or ’64 Sedan DeVille which had power vent windows, pwr windows, seats, locks, antenna, trunk opener. The door panel with six window buttons was pure delight! All novelties to my experience at the time, and no ignition interlock! Great fun!
A few years later another friend’s Dad brought home a rental from the city’s main Oldsmobile dealer after cracking up his ’70 Ninety-Eight. A 1st gen Civic! A true novelty on a suburban Midwestern street literally coated with full size Detroit iron. Amazing we didn’t kill the battery. The Olds dealer didn’t know how lucky that gamble on a Honda franchise was in 1975. The Honda dealership continues under the same family name to this day.
A beetle was my first new car in 1966. Have had two 61s and a 56 bus plus some that were later. Just gave away most of my air cooled parts to a friend. Hope he makes use of them.
Great story and I hope you keep it running virtually forever.
Adam, This is a great story! I know where you are coming from as you share these memories and experiences. I started later than you, at age 6 I got my first car learning to drive it on our farm, never on the highway. I experienced a 62 Chevrolet, 64 Ford Galaxie, 62 Rambler and 68 Cadillac Coupe Deville before turning 16 and getting my license. These cars were cheap and never license for highway use as I drove them into their graves. Although no specific brand loyalty came from my experience I know it made me a better driver when I reached 16 and gave me the wonderful memories that you describe. Thanks for sharing.
What a great story! I still have a Volkswagen Beetle I’ve owned since I was six, but it’s a bit smaller than yours (stay tuned!).
Great story; thanks for sharing!
I am so glad you shared this heartwarming story with all of “us”. What an amazing piece. I daydreamed about driving a car since I was three-ish. I’d hop on my metal spring-suspended rocking horse thing and pretend I was driving my dad’s white ’65 Impala 4-door hardtop. It was just a work car to him, but it was the Alpha & Omega to me.
Your attraction to a specific make and model so early on is beautiful in a way. I can see why the air-cooled VW is such a special vehicle to you. I on the other hand am a domestic old car-whore and sometimes can’t decide which one is my favorite.
VWs were interesting to me but I was already too hooked on my GM junque to pay any attention to them. This changed when I met my wife seven years ago or so. Her dream car was/is a VW beetle convertible. I never could understand this — I had a ’73 Olds convertible and some fast sporty cars and could not understand why she had to have a “Bug”.
A ’73 Beetle convertible popped up on Craigslist so I surprised her with it one day. Driving it home from the guy’s house was an interesting experience. It was..and still is the weirdest driving vehicle to me. Of course it needed a lot of “untweakage” and I dug into it. Scrapyard runs then included VWs & the more I took apart, the more interesting they became. An unexpected surprise came when some very good friends of ours gave us their ’79 VW convertible that had been sitting in their yard.
I have much respect for these cars now and would actually like to have an old Beetle hardtop myself. The convertibles seem flimsy and I think a nice standard Type 1 would be something I’d enjoy owning.
As an aside, when I was 18, I heard some guy had an old Buick with a Sport Steering wheel in it sitting behind his shop. When I went to investigate, I spotted my dream car in the weeds — a verdant green 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix. I didn’t know what year it was when I saw it, but I had never seen a vehicle so beautiful before and I ended up buying it for $125. The car was tired and I knew nothing about cars aside from identifying them, but I remember sitting in it, just sitting in it imagining it restored to its original beauty.
Five years later, I actually got the car to start and run on its own. I was alone at that moment and remember sitting behind the wheel crying after the engine came to life. It was the first and last time I heard it run as the transmission was bad. Wow, what a moment.
It’s been 24 years already, and there’s a still chance I can get it back, and believe me, I still think of it often!
Anyway, kudos for you because you actually quit dreaming and took action! I hope you decide to contribute more here.
This is my “special car”, still sitting here in a Nauvoo, AL field:
Stories like yours make me miss my ’75 Beetle more than ever.
Adam, this is a truly outstanding story and your family is truly amazing.
Getting a dormant dream car started and driving it for that first time is one of the monumental experiences in life. I’ve also had an affinity for VW’s since around age 3 due to a toy Bug (complete with hippie flowers on the doors) I was given subsequent to a surgery. You have me wondering where it’s at!
Great story!
Adam, great story and wonderful pictures! A very funny coincidence as I was actually born in Freiburg, Germany, however that event was ten years after your car was first registered there. A correct German license plate for your car would start with “FR” for Freiburg.
<3 <3 <3
What a great story Adam! Thank you for sharing.
My parents had Beetles when I was very young and I too loved to play in those cars. It wasn’t mine to play with though. We had a 68 blue Beetle, then a 76 fuel Injected Beetle in metallic green. I cried when my dad traded the green beetle in for the Subaru wagon that replaced it. I have a soft spot for the air-cooled beetle to this day.
My first car, my 82 Civic became mine when I was 15. I definitely related to the part about looking at the tachometer and gauges while I imagined driving it before I had my license, and the experience of getting to watch the spedo move the first time I took it out for a ride by myself. Great stuff…
thank you for sharing this, Adam! Your story is amazing and its good to see people still becoming gearheads for the right reasons. My story is nowhere near as cool yet my own fascination with Jeeps has similar roots. Basically, some of my earliest memories were of riding shotgun in my dad’s weathered ’69 CJ-5. He plowed snow with it in the NJ winters as a side gig, and I even remember the day he brought it home. Ive been a frothing at the mouth Jeep-O-phile ever since! I plan to elaborate in my own COAL series soon enough…
Thanx Adam ;
My love of Air Cooled VW’s began in the mid 1950’s and I wound up being an Indie VW Shop owner in the salad days of the 1970’s in a College Town no less .
I finally gave up because of the thieving kids in So. Cal. who have pretty much ruined the whole VW thing for older folks like me but my Son carries on with my old 1960 # 117 (DeLuxe Sun Roof) Beetle , it retains the correct 36hp engine and ‘A’ (non synchro first gear) tranny that I put into it because I didn’t like the 40hp and full synchro tranny .
He also still has my ’68 # 211 one ton VW Panel Truck and 1963 Porsche 356B Coupe .
Carry on , keeper of the faith ! .
-Nate
(who can’t spell well)
$60 for a non-runner with no seats?………I only paid $65 for my ’57 and it ran like a top 😉
” the car’s original home was Freiburg, Germany, a city in the southwest corner of Germany near the Swiss and French borders.”
Who knows, I may have seen this very beetle back then. It is not likely but possible.
Fantastic story of a VW that’s been with you since a far younger age than many could say they had their “own” car! I also admire your perseverance in finally getting it running and being able to take it back out on the road after all that time. Cheers to a long and happy relationship for many more miles!
Just re-read your first CC after reading your recent Mk2 writeup. What a VW great story. And an even greater family support story. Was worth a second read without a doubt. My VW addiction started around 1966, when Dad bought his new Beetle, which would become mine when I got my license in 1972, sadly I totaled it in less than a year. Almost 30 years working a dealerships parts departments starting in 1974 (majority VW) has left me with some interesting stories about working in them, to say the least.
For a short while my parents had a mid 60s Beetle in that exact green. I would have been about 3 or 4 and my one distinct memory is getting my finger caught when the door was slammed shut. Given how ‘airtight’ these cabins were, I’m surprised I still have that finger.
I’m not an aircooled head, but a few years ago I worked with a guy who spent ALL his work time on a VW forum (he’s a graphic designer so it was easy to pretend he was working). He had an early bug (he kept talking about the one-year-only heart lens on the rear lights) and he was going to put something turboed in the rear. His taste in platform mods appears similar to yours.
Great writeup – this pic has appeared on the side of CC since I’ve been here and now I know why.
I hope you have the updated type lowering kit that acts on both axle tubes, I recently gave a friend a hand to rebuild his split screen van front axle that failed around the single tube lowering device he has, the newer version is much stronger apparently, Mods for driveability are all good in my book my 59 car is bodily correct but mechanically has been upgraded everywhere only the steering box and tierods are from 1959 the rest ranges up to 1974 for the diffhead but its happy amongst modern traffic and keeps up with it easily.
Adam: grand job on your bug and its chronology. My 1st ride was a ’60 without an engine that I scored for $90. I got it back on the road with a rebuilt 40 hp mill which transited me through my college days until the rust weevils claimed the floorpan. Like your ’59, it had a offshore history. There was an embossed plaque on the glove box door, identifying that the car was sold by a Tokyo VW dealer. I figured it was purchased by a GI and brought back home after his tour of duty.
Read this story again for the 3rd time, and well worth reading again. I’ll be 60 next month, and have 3 (’86 ’87 and ’89 as a parts car) mk2 Jetta’s decorating the house today.
Owned (in order) ’62/’66/’63/’73/’59/’71 Beetles. ’65 Karmann Ghia. ’65/’66 Bus. Two ’66 Fastbacks, Two ’68 Fastbacks, ’64 Squareback. In ’82 changed over to water cooled. ’75/’77/’80 Rabbits. Then an ’80 Jetta. That brings things up to the current mk2 fleet.
My ’62 Backyard Beetle arrived when I was 14, it had a broken crankshaft and I replaced the crankshaft with a junkyard replacement, and installed a cool shag carpet headliner using carpet squares and 3M yellow glue. I sold it to a guy my Dad worked with, and the crankshaft broke again about 2 months after he bought it.
My car buying and selling obsession finally slowed after I got the ’86 Jetta. The ’89 parts Jetta arrived when my niece replaced it with a ’96 Toyota Tercel. The ’87 Jetta is a clone of my ’86, and for $700.00 I just couldn’t pass that one up. It will soon go to a family member, provided she is willing to learn to drive a manual transmission.
My brother owned a few old VW’s starting in 1968, and I was soon recruited to help pull engines in his old Buses. (which happened a lot, his $75.00 junkyard engines would never last very long).
In auto shop I rebuilt my ’65 Bus engine and replaced reduction gears. And listened to my Chevy obsessed shop teacher who convinced me those filler plugs on the boxes were to be ignored, the oil from the gearbox would flow from the axle tubes to them. After the rear wheels seized up at 2:00 AM way up Angeles Crest Highway in a snow storm, this proved he was mistaken!
Once you get VW fever, it will Bug you for life. Great story and you had great family support as well. Looking forward to your Jetta 16V story in the future.
Absolutely wonderful story, Adam, thank you for living & telling it!!
Interesting, more than one with a broken crank. I had friends with a bus that broke a crank, still ran, noisy, but all 4 cylinders. I had no idea what it might be, but I took it apart and noticed the end play was different at one end than the other. Put a new crank in it and they drove off. Man that must have been hard on the main bearings with the crank webbing going clank/clank every revolution.
I really enjoyed reading this story. It’s so cool that at 3 years old you picked a ’59 Bug out of a line up. I’d love an early bug!! The memories and knowledge gained by fixing it up is something that will stay with you for ever. I have a similar story only my car has only been with me for 15 years. I’ve been a car nut since before I could read as well. My grandpa paid for a subscription to hot rod magazine for me for years. I still have most of the issues! I collected Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and die cast models of varying scales too! (Still do) So naturally when I got a little older I figured I better start figuring out how they work. At the time I was looking for a project car for me and my dad to fix up, and also fortunately starting high school at a tech school in their Auto program. But I didn’t have any money, and decent muscle car SHELLS or rollers were still 8-10k. So long story short, I got a job at a local pit beef shack to earn some money and my dad stumbled upon a 1973 Datsun 240Z that was run down, rusty and abandoned at a Nissan performance/ drift shop. If you can believe it I eventually ended up getting the car, and title later, for free. I’ve been working on it on and off when time and money allow. Here are some before and after shots.
Here’s the after