My new friend

Carole bought me a new friend, so I’d have company when she goes to her hometown of London this summer to watch the Olympic Games!

And what’s more, it’s my elder . We need a name for this lovely 1956 oval window VW beetle. Send us your suggestion below!!

 

Likes and VW bugs

Our post two days ago brought several new people to view this blog, which was really great because I’ve been writing this for over two years now and wondering how to continue to interest readers.

One of our new likes was from Bandwagen, who share our love of photography and VWs.

Here’s a cracking photo from their site of a beautiful VW beetle that won a competition in the UK way back in 1986, the first year that the CAL look was a new category at VW Action, Europe’s biggest Volkswagen show.

Winning Pink VW Beetle! Photo courtesy of bandwagen.wordpress.com

P.S. I often notice how our interest in others’ articles or the reasons we write our own are because of connections. In this case I’m connected in three ways: I am a Brit, writing this from California and my interest in vintage VW beetles has been recently kindled!

Family values – VW style

My spirits were uplifted after I wrote the previous post ….. by two events relating to my VW van.

The first was when the van’s engine made a very nasty noise last Thursday and it threw out a spark plug. I never knew an engine could do that and I was thankful that I had met some other VW owners recently to turn to for help. The result was an outpouring of reassuring messages, and contact by one VW pal whose father came to find me the next morning with the right tools to put the spark plug back into position.

The second event was the Saturday night camp out and Sunday Spring Fling in Yorba Linda. Two hundred and seventy something VWs turned out for a day of fun and games on 1st/2nd May 2010.

With our Massachusetts registration plate we stood out in a crowd of California vintage bugs, buses and vans, yet were given a very warm welcome. In fact we received lots of cheers and shouts of encouragement when we got to the final of the Slow Drag Race.

Here’s a video of the race ….

Simple family fun was the order of the day and it was sooooo nice.

In case you have not experienced VW folk, they are rather special, just like their vintage vehicles. It’s as if the values of the 60′s and 70′s are rekindled when we get together with our VWs from that era. Beautiful designs and colors come back to life in the loving arms of their owners as VWs are restored to their former glory.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could take this example as a metaphor of what’s possible in the rekindling of the American spirit, especially here in southern California?

VW FAMILY VALUES

….. enjoy competition while having fun, being nice to each other and laughing at oneself!