My first car - a Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen with Chair at the back


I saw this Volkswagen Beetle the other day, and I liked the "Chair at the Back". I don't know how many of you know this car from the inside, but it can be pretty tight, when there are the allowed 5 passengers - two in front and three at the back. Well, this car had a spareseat for those feeling uncomfortable.

I liked the car and it reminded me of my first car, back in Germany, which also was a green Volkswagen Beetle - and which I really loved. It was my first car - I paid 1,100 Deutschmark for it - which might be around RM 2,300 or so. It was 12 years old, when I got it.

Normally, and older cars in Europe don't have an aircondition - if anything, we have a heat regulator, so that one can the inside of a car warm in Winter time - in Summertime, you drive with the windows open.

Well, the heater didn't work in my car, and there was some water leakage at the back of the car. One year, when it was really cold in Germany, I had ice on the floor of my car. Anyone entering the backseat had to take care not to slip and make a heavy landing on the chair.

In summertime, the floor at the passenger seat in front would get hot, when the car drove over a longer distance. So when I drove to France in holiday with a good friend of mine, he opened the window from time to time to stick his feet out and let them cool down.

There are more "funny" stories related to this car - and I am swamped with memories. During one winter, I visited a friend at his place - the road was pretty slippery, and I had problems parking the car on the pavement. It would slip and slip and slip and the tires would refuse to get hold over a longer time. Well, it worked, and I walked up to my friend's place (there are not that many elevators in German buildings). He lived in the 4th floor, and we just started talking, when I heard a lot of honking. Checking it out from the window, I realised that I forgot to put in the first gear (you don't apply the handbrake in winter since it might freeze and the car might not move) and that the car had rolled back onto the road. Several cars were making their way around it.

Well I had the car (I called it Speedy) for two years. In the end, one door wasn't green anymore - I bought another door from the junkyard after the window was broken following a break-in (someone stole my tapes) and tried to fit it in. That's how naive I was - I didn't change the window only. It also was two rusty in the end, and when the bi-annual obligatory inspection came (Cars registered in Germany must undergo a road safety test every two years), well, it didn't make it. I got a slip of paper that allowed me to drive home - if police would have checked me, I would have to show that slip. I wasn't allowed to go faster than 60 km/h - I speeded a last time, driving the highway at 120 km/h. And than I call the junkyards and all I got was 50 Deutschmarks. The day I left my first car there, and had to take the street-train back, I was really, really sad.

Still remember this car, everytime I see the same model. There are not that many around anymore and I don't know if I like the new type.