..Never thought I'd be writing this in a million years..
This was my sister's first car - a 1969, purchased new in late '68 at Autohaus in Pompano (now Vista VW, where I have purchased my last few cars..). I remember sitting in the back seat the day it came home, and not being able to figure out how to undo the seatbelt. I thought that I had somehow gotten the buckle stuck and had broken it. I wriggled out of the belt and left it, and felt really guilty until I told my sister who showed me how to push the button in and release the belt.
I learned how to drive stick on this blue Beetle, and my sister kept it as her daily driver for twenty years. When it came time for her to get her second car, she couldn't bear to part with it.
She took very good care of it, and, unfortunately, I was the one that killed it.
While my car was in the shop, I was driving the VW to work one day. As I was turning into the intersection of US1 and Sunrise Boulevard (you locals know that as the Peaches Corner), there was a snap in the steering column, and I could barely get the wheel to turn back to straighten out after the turn. I made it to my sister's house, into the carport, where it stayed for the next fifteen years or so. When she got a divorce and moved, the car came to it's present location in the garage of my parents' house, where bearbob1952 and I lived for the last three years. Bob and I thought a few times about trying to buy the VW and restore it, but we both realized that it was unlikely. Earlier this year, my siblings and I came to an agreement to sell the homestead, and we moved. Before the house could go on the market, though, a certain neglected vehicular tennant would have to be evicted..
Fortunately, this story has a cool ending..
As all of this was going on, a friend approached me, as he has several times, to ask if my sister would ever consider parting with her car. I knew she might be interested this time, and I knew he would be the right one, with an eye for detail, as his first comment when he saw it was "nice '69".
In the midwest, car enthusiasts come across hidden preserved restoration candidates that are referred to as barn finds. In Florida, we have carport finds.. A true find, indeed, for the persistent friend, as a deal was quickly made, and on Saturday, it's new owner will pick it up and begin a restoration. I'm convinced it's going to have a great second act..
BONUS QUESTION - What is the physical characteristic that visually identifies a Beetle as a 1969 model?
..and so, become yourself, because the past is just a goodbye..