So when I was 16 I got this 1967 light blue VW bug as my first car. I loved this car. I even took my drivers test in it to get my license. Through the years I have created so many memories with this little car. As I got older and moved to Arizona I brought it with me. I got married and still drove this car everyday to work. After about 20 years of driving it I had to get the engine rebuilt, but could not at the moment. It sat in my garage for about 8 years. I finally had got the engine rebuilt and it was great. Now my son was old enough to drive. I taught him how to drive it and he drove it to work and to school half the week. I always thought that would be cool to have my first car be my son’s first car. Well now my daughter is learning to drive and should be getting her license this week. I started teaching her how to drive the bug. She did very well for the little time she drove it. Well the way life works is when it rains it pours. We have our main car in for repair. My car needs repair so I had to drive the Bug to work this week. We’ll on my way I was just getting off the freeway and I was only about five minutes from work. On the off ramp I heard a loud POP sound. I looked back quickly and saw the deck lid bounce up and then a large amount of white smoke started to come out of the engine. I pulled over and the smoke turned black and then flames were overpowering the engine. The person behind me stopped and called the emergency for me. I am thankful for her because I was too sad to think of who to call. Not in the right state of mind. Another person pulled over and had a fire extinguisher. We tried to put it out and could not. The fire would keep going and restart. So we watched it burn. While we waited for the fire engine to arrive the fire moved to the inside of the car. So very sad to see so many memories fade away. It kinda also reminds me of Paradise and all the memories that I had growing up there. All just memories now. I’m safe and that is what matters most. I had the car for 33 years. It’s just sad to see it go. I think I will try and sell it all as is and if there are no takers I will just strip it for parts and sell them off. Not sure what else I could do. It would cost too much to rebuild. Maybe someone else can put their heart and soul into it. It was an awesome car. So sad to see it go.
10/28/22
After a lot of thought I feel like I just can’t let go after 33 years and it being my first car. I want to rebuild this. My envision is to keep some of the battle wounds and keep the bunt body if I can and seal it like that. I hope to find time over the years to buy parts to slowly rebuild it. I guess this is a good time to redo the pans that have holes in them. I have a lot to learn. I need to learn to weld and how to rebuild a car. If anyone would like to donate to the cause I’d sincerely appreciate it. Hopefully my kids and I will be able to drive it again someday.
