How did you 1st get hooked on the vw? (YES YOU!)

Everyone has a different story, and a different life. Like all members here, we all have some form of passion for vee dubbs. But what i ask is this.

"How did U 1st get hocked on the vee dubb?"

Tell us your story, the 1st time u desired the wonderous car, or how your heart melted at 1st glance, or even your 1st craving or obsession for a VW.:thumb

[Edited on 30/4/2005 by mynameischris88]

never been hocked on vw's... always paid cash for all mine. 😉

but i was hooked by my little lady who has always liked beetles... but ive sinced converted her to splits wiht safari's!🙂

my wife too, she spotted this silly looking car called a vw notchback, well she bought it and i came to enjoy its company i suppose, i now have 14 + and have a business wrecking, selling parts/cars, mechanical work etc, all worked out for the better rearly

Andy

a friend gave me a kombi ,was too rusty so bought a beetle ,now have a caravelle as my daily all this started a year and a half ago :thumb
just follow the pics in my avatar it sort of tells the story 🙂

Nice. Its interesting how thats 2 in a row that got hooked due to the mrs. hmmm.

All these are pretty cool.

My auntie and uncle had a kombi when I was young, that was my first memory of the kombi.

How I came to love them - would probably stem from travelling alot when I was younger in my parents campervan. (not a kombi) I also hated my job and would often say to anyone who would listen that I was going to quit and take off around Australia in a kombi.

How I got my kombi - b/f and I just happened to be looking in the trading post one weekend, saw one for $900, came up with $900 between us, went and had a look and talked the owner down to $700. Unfortunately the engine was buggared so it sat in our backyard for 12 months until we could afford a new one.

Have travelled over 10,000km in it so far and have never looked back! I'd sell my soul before I'd sell my kombi! YAY KOMBI:thumb:thumb

All the way rice-girl

Another Girlfriend story.

My G/f always wanted an old beetle. I said no cause i didnt want her buying old cars from prevoius experience so she bought a new one. Then i figured i would buy and old one too do up.
And now she regrets liking them cause i make her sit out there and sand and paint strip with me. Hahaha!!

I liked bugs cause they were a little different and of course, who didn't fall in love with Herbie ???????

lol

Well, as u know, Herbie is the luv bug. Yeah, the girlfriend's tend to play a big part. But us guys too.

I got hooked in 1964 when I used to ride past the VW dealers in Bendigo (Vic) while on my Paper Round (delivering papers at 6.ooam), I bought my first Beetle in 1965 for $15 (no motor) when I was 15 and there hasn't been a time since that I haven't owned a heap of VWs.
My wife and I both had Beetles before we got married and 18 months ago all of our 5 kids were also driving aircooled VWs.
40 years on I'm still hooked!!! Currently drive the '65 Desert Splitty and the wife has a '70 Beetle in the shed down home (Bendigo).
Cheers, Ian.

Nice work Ian. Honestly, vw has made really great cars. I wish my parents would buy me one.

Spotted a baja and wanted one from then one that was back in 1987 on my paper round !! Didn't get a baja ! Instead restored a 69 first go !!! Kept it till 2003. Bought the 68 in 2002, The mrs fancied a kombi in 2003. Had never really had an intreset in them till we got one. They are great. It prolly gets used more than the bug now 🙂 The 56 picked up along the way. Needs total reno tho !! maybe one day i'll get started !!!

I got my first beetle cause its all I could afford and that when the affair started.

Yeah, beetles are great 1st cars.

My dad always had 'em and I hated them but after he practically forced me to have a 2 year old Marathon beetle I was hooked and have always had aircooled VWs since.

Think I've got oil in the blood 🙂 Granpa started it with his beetles (he now owns a '75) then my dad has always had a vw around (had a red passat then an 80s golf then a '96 passat) so they were always around me 🙂

I'd wanted a different looking car for my 1st car (was looking at beetles and minis) then I remember seeing Jays_1965 (my cousins) beautiful Wolf and I knew it had to be a vw and it had to be a beetle 😀 and so the obsession began..lol..

[Edited on 1-5-2005 by Jay_1965vw]

My Mum had a white beetle when I was little and all of us kids used to play in it when it was off the road and pretend it was herbie.

my grandpa had 3 beetles... my dad had a super...

i knew it was my turn when i was 14 and driving back from hervey bay, there was a sky blue cabrio bug, with 2 gorgeous hippies and one cute mini foxie, top down and crusin...

i had to have one!

Its interesting. The majority of diagnoses of "BUG ADDICTION" seem to have been caused or even 'passed down' from the reli's.

...hmmm, I'm another one who had the 'VW bug' passed down from my parents.

My parents owned a '65 Beetle (factory Black with red interior), a '68 411L 2-door, and what is now my brothers '65 Westfalia Camper Kombi. I learnt to drive in the 411 and there was no way I was ever going to own anything but a VW. Years later I have 5 and would have more if my wife would let me! 😀

R 🙂

My parents bought a brand new deep red VW in 1969 together and I hae always loved looking at pics going oooh and ahhh :P

Then when I got my license I begged my dad to buy me one! He said no and bought me one a few months later as a suprise! I owned that for a year, bought a brand new car with all the luxouries but missed my bug so much I had to sell it and by another one 🙂

i got my frist vw about 40 years ago it was a oval made a bush buggy out of it could not kill it sold the holden had vw every since

I was encoraged to buy a beetle by Rhett (phat_bug), who happens to be Dessert bugs son, and i thought no harm in lookin. so i ended up with one. A sweet 66. Its off the road at the minute as its getting rebuilt. I bought a 96' Statesman as a daily until its rebuilt and its caused me nothing but trouble....... AGHHHH!

Gimme my beetle back anyday.

mynameischris88 wrote:Nice. Its interesting how thats 2 in a row that got hooked due to the mrs. hmmm.

Well add another to the "Lady loved em and got me Hooked"
My Ex wanted a Manx for her first car and after a lot of looking she got quite a pretty one and then got me to Work/Show her how to work on it... Gearbox swap, bearings and a few other small repairs later with no previous VW experence I found it quite easy..

Well I found them so well engineered and easy to work on, not to mention fun to drive I decided to get my own as I had become bored of my Austin Healy Sprite that I had fixed up and wanted something to get out in the ruff with...

So now I have a Manx with a Subaru EA81 and she Rocks...

Well my girllfriend ( now wife) had one and her parents had one so it came from them.

Marc

i fell in love with the beetle as a teenager and vowed that no matter what i would have one as my first car. now i do and i love every minute i drive her. most awesome feeling ever and to have my dream car as my first car is fantastic. Beetles have always turned my head and still do, even though i have mine i can't help watching as others pass by my work or on the road.

my g/f at the time had a 67 beetle and a 60 beetle she was resto'ing..
i sorta got hooked big time when she started to teach me how to fix/tune them etc.. she was a mechanic see, a handy thing guys ( but as she taught me to fix em then it was my job to always fix em ) :duh
then we scored a 75 camper as a trade in where she worked, pretty cheap at that..
from a couple in their 70's sayin that there camping days were over.. so we nicked it from the dealership :thumb
and never looked back..
always good to hear a story where someone got it over a sales yard.. 😀

As Karly says - it's in the blood! I remember writing an essay in grade three saying I was going to get a vw because all my family had them. At the time, there were 7 in the family.

my mum and dad had a brand new beetle then a brand new campmobile 2 ltr when i was a baby so not hooked yet ,when i was about 16 my i used to go to my best mates on most of the school holidays which ended up being at max ralph automotives which we used to muck around in a parking lot full of country bugs ,ovals,icecream van splittys u name it and the guy who took over maxs was and is andrew dodd who would have one of the rarest collections of vws around , and i think this rubbed off .
since then my mate is a administrater on a holden site "yuk" to think he had a type3 63 german with push button heater then sold it dickhead

I learnt to drive in a VW Twin Cab Kombi owned by my uncle - got my driver's license (1970) and then bought my first car a '62 Beetle way back in 1971 - hell :jesus I mean to say got into the blood system and that was it. 😉

Yeah, once its in there, it aint gonna stop.

I was discouraged by almost everyone when i said i wanted a kombi.. but i couldnt not have one so i kept persisting and i finally got one!! My dad had one when he was younger and it gave him trouble thats why he didnt want me to have one... even will the troubles i have with mine all the fun adventures and trips ive had, have been all worth it!!!!!!!!!

I was thinking about selling her but i dont think i can!! its tooo hard

I was driving down the coast and saw this mad beach buggy for sale (look left), went home and the next weekend went back and bought it.......since then from having to nurture and love it, have found a new respect and passion for all things VW. Alas the garage is empty now..........(sniff...)

Thats a very nice buggy, and kombis, well u can't not luv em'.

Marineboy wrote:

mynameischris88 wrote:Nice. Its interesting how thats 2 in a row that got hooked due to the mrs. hmmm.

Well add another to the "Lady loved em and got me Hooked"
My Ex wanted a Manx for her first car and after a lot of looking she got quite a pretty one and then got me to Work/Show her how to work on it... Gearbox swap, bearings and a few other small repairs later with no previous VW experence I found it quite easy..

Well I found them so well engineered and easy to work on, not to mention fun to drive I decided to get my own as I had become bored of my Austin Healy Sprite that I had fixed up and wanted something to get out in the ruff with...

So now I have a Manx with a Subaru EA81 and she Rocks...

true that. eg. unhappy starter motor (yesterday) only worked 30% of the time. 1/2 hour later swapped it over for one that was growing in the backyard. Works too!:P Like on my sister's boyfriend's holden it's like, "where's the starter motor?" "How do I get to it?". But on my baja its jack up rear, pull off wheel, undo two nuts and wires and replace. With added swearing.

For me I blame Herbie first off. But it was also in the family. My Grandparents had a beetle but I never saw it. My uncle had a country buggy, three of my Dad's mates had baja's and the first time Gatton got a hotmix mainstreet they were doing in-line simultaneous 180 degree skids up and down the street! Awesome. I've always wanted a dub and Dad kept telling me to get a baja. Then Dad saw a guy with a baja in the tradingpost near Tenterfield for $1200. Dad went down and saw it (I was busy with something) and as it was on a farm (really nice in the early morning in winter and misty rain, but really really cold) with lots of sheds, and my Dad loves looking in peoples shed at old machinery (they had a massive old sawmill setup). Anyway he noticed the amount of VW's and parts lying around and after talking to the guy, who had to get money quick, Dad got the advertised baja, another non running baja, a unhappy superbug, and basically a shedload of parts for the original price of the baja! A few days later heading up to my farm in the ute , just gone dark, on the dirt road going round a long open corner and hammering past us in the opposite direction goes a baja flat out. A green and purple baja. Well we didn't get a very good look at it... So we turned around to where Dad had pulled over. So naturally me and my brother jumped in for a ride to the farm and I don't remember much only that Dad was going quite fast on baldish tyres and how quiet and smooth it was offroad. The next day we had a big truck and rocked up to the guy's place at about 5 in the morning to grab the rest of the stuff, lotsa fun. Now three years later my baja has had several gearbox changes, the engine we were told was a 1500 had a 1300 case and was actually a 1641 died-twice, is now powered by a low compression 1300, had more rust, a different paint job but same colours. I've now got my 2nd baja in the backyard in progress. My family now has five beetles and a country body and lots of parts. WhooHoo!

i had a 'family' member say ive got the perfect first car for ya and itl only cost ya $300!!

Shit - sounds good i thought -
...mmm a '67 notch - I could see the potential under the kilos and kilos of bog! And when he built the motor out of mixed parts from an assortment of boxes in his shed - WITHOUT ANY MACHINING REQUIRED!! - i thought he knew what he's doing - well i certainly didnt - someone had to!!!

It wasnt until the engine died after 2500kms that i thought F@#& what a piece of crap!! but it was too late - i was a sucker for punishment and i hadnt learnt my lesson yet!

Confucious says engine from many boxes has many lives and many deaths...

After progressing from the backyard build to the 'Holden mechanic' build (same she'll be right attitude), and having that motor die a sudden death (just 5km from where the first died, on the Bruce highway all those many months earlier- in the middle of absolutely nowhere mind you). then what seemed like an eminent 3rd death inspired me to progress to something i could pass out in - a bus, and to do the whole bloody lot myself
~my philosophy~ Why pay someone else to completely screw up a simple job - i could screw it up myself and save the money - so i did! Learnet to do the whole lot myself (with great advice including from Mathew from ye sadly departed Volksrestore)...

...It was my own stupidity that got me into VW's but it was the sheer driving pleasure and the people that drive them that got me hooked

[Edited on 5-5-2005 by VWENVY]

56ovaltine wrote:since then my mate is a administrater on a holden site "yuk" to think he had a type3 63 german with push button heater then sold it dickhead

He's much more polite when i'm working on one of his VW's
😉

I was really disappointed to miss the Eurpoean total eclipse in 1999, so when I heard that there was going to be a total eclipse in Australia in 2002 I decided I just had to see it, and what better way to travel to an eclipse than in a hippy-mobile kombi! So I bought a crappy camper for $500, then spent ten times that on the motor and other mechanicals. I drove it to Lyndhurst in the SA outback and joined 7000 other happy hippies for a four-day rave in the desert, the highlight of which was the totally awesome total eclipse! :thumb

I found my Baja advertised in the paper and I couldn't believe it was so cheap.

So I went and brought it.

When lookling around for my first car I knew I wanted a *real* car with character. Came very close to getting a beetle, but at the time decided against it cause I thought they were too noisy 😀

Always wanted to get a Kombi, but kinda strayed from that and got sucked into mod cons with newer cars 😉

Felt like getting back to somthing that was *me* had always eyed off yummy kombis on the road, needed a bigger car for the growing family, so talked my husband into selling up the ford and getting a Kombi. Was watching put for a ages, then one day spotted our Kombi and fell in love. So did my husband when he first saw her!

So finally she came home last night. Few teething problems, but Im sure they will be sorted soon 😀

[Edited on 18/6/2005 by Marrs_7]

I got into them when I began racing them some years ago.
L8tr
E

Sig says it all 🙂

My old boy had a beetle in the West Indies. He was born in Barbados, were he surfed and drove vw's. He moved here to Australia were he continued the same lifestyle. So you could say it is in the blood, as i love my surfing and love vee dubs. When the finace allows i'll be adding a fast back or baja bug to park next to the kombi 🙂

Liked beetles when i was in my late teens. The whole classic styling thingo. A mate lent me a kombi for week once and it was tops, a bomb, but tops all the same. We got it airborne. Then some years later I bought the bug that my buggy is based on planning to rebuilt it, then got another one cheap and regoed it. Loved driving it. It was purple and white but a bomb. Had to rebuilt half the mechanicals and it went through 2 engines in two weeks at one point. Then I built the buggy up. Don't really think I ever want to not own one. Would love a kombi ute, but my better half hates Kombis ever since my brother left a bay Single cab in our driveway for far too long. 🙁

I remember going up the beach in my parents type 3. The sound of the vw engine mixed with the sound of the surf and the smell of fish oil mixed with the smell of the salt air. Magic. I wanted an off road vw ever since.