After years of school, four years in the Navy, and more years of school, I finally bought my first car new in 1974, a red VW bug with the larger taillights beginning (I think) that year, but not the enlarged version, just the classic. It improved my social life no end, and two years later I was married. It was not the best of the brand, had an accelerator cable that eventually took to dangerously slipping off the pedal, and late in my ownership had some gas tank fumes in the interior compartment. But it gave me a good ten years of use. When we'd go to the mountains to camp and hit the steep climbs after dark, I thought I'd blown the engine; no, I just needed to stay in second or third gear. Not much torque. As we've all heard, the bug is defunct for now. The later versions were not air-cooled nor easy to maintain by their owners, but they maintained the tradition. Those of us who were driving in the 1960's remember what a revolution the little bug was as a compact alternative to the big American land yachts that ruled the road. The VW ads were masterpieces of their kind. I've owned Japanese brands ever since, after trying and trying to get American brand car dealers to talk to me; there was some strange cultural divide; believe me I tried. Some actually told me, in the '80's the quality was poor. Others actually wouldn't stop to talk. Then I'd go down to Nissan, Subaru, or Mazda, and their attention was riveted. Shrug. I don't know what that was about. Anyway, that VW was a trooper, and I suspect the design will arrive again, re-envisioned to suit the times ... maybe self-driviing and solar powered ... or more likely, technically beyond my predictions.
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