Status Wheel

The car game, Slug Bug (where kids punch each other in the arm whenever they see a VW Beetle) has changed over the past twenty years.  It’s almost a thing of sentimental longing, and definitely enters into that certain realm that can only be called nostalgia.  It’s not surprising, and it hasn’t come as any shock, because there has always been something about the Beetle in the North American consciousness that evokes a sense of instant vintage cool.  Now, what was once ubiquitous is becoming very rare.

Most people who have come of age in the 80s or 90s can remember having at least one friend who took their turn with an old VW.   This friend seemed to have an extra sense for adventure, and also always had a transmissions repair manual in the glove compartment.  Gas was cheaper, of course, and these things were always terribly efficient if they were working, and that meant that it was easy to get far away from here on just a few bucks.

It’s not that the fuel efficiency has changed, but that the visual landscape on the road is just not the same as it was when the old models were everywhere.  Or perhaps it’s just another way of making the old seem more valuable than the new, because the generation of the 60’s also thought that the kids of the 80’s just didn’t understand what it was to be free in spirit.

There definitely was something, however, to that kind of sensibility that loved the old bugs, passed around John Muir’s work, and traded secrets about  car brake repair as freely as they traded directions and contacts.  Friends of friends of friends were close enough to be trustworthy.  Global car culture also seemed to cross barriers and build bridges.  One could, at one time, drive a bug from one end of the continent across to the next one, and back, and find like-minded spirits, or at least owners of similar cars, to keep everything running in the moment.

It is still possible with an old bug, especially in places that seem far from the usual well-tread roads, to meet up with closet and public mechanics who know an awful lot about car care.  It’s more likely, with the new versions, to need to be a little closer to the dealers.  It may be a few more years before all the warrantees are expiring, and this generation of drivers learns about the mechanics through sheer necessity.  Perhaps that is exactly what happened with the last generation, and the one before that, and this is just another revolution in a story of a very enchanting car.

No related posts.