Cloudy Memories

The mists of time cloud our memories about romance, particularly in the arenas of "women who have dumped you" and "cars I loved."

The latter came back to mind this morning with a quick glance at Hemmings' daily email blast. What made this most powerful was the presence of a light blue 1973 VW Super Beetle convertible. You see, I had a '74 convertible in the same color and ah, yes, I remember it fondly....

 

Not well, or I'd have forgotten the time in rural New York that it completely burned out its clutch, or the ever-spreading rust on a 5 year old car [!], the soulless interior, the instrumentation [none past a speedometer and gas gauge], the gutless acceleration, the wandering spirit on the highway.

What I do remember is that after a drought in British sports cars, this convertible reclaimed the open air driving I adored and coupled it with some reliability, good gas mileage, seating for four and great traction in the snow [I did live in Vermont, after all].

I had the car for two years before selling it to move back into a '63 MGB. That brought me back to the days of removing spark plugs to heat them up in the stove, cans of starting ether, an even more dubious heating systems. 

If my memories of the VW were cloudy, seeing this photo brought them back with some clarity. This owner wants $8,900 for his car; all I can say is "Thanks for the Memories."