Top 5 Things I Love about Daily Driving an Old 1977 Bug.

A short while ago I wrote an article on things I did not like about driving a Volkswagen bug, Here is the other side.

The Sound

The Volkswagen has this distinctive beat associated with it, the beat is like a pulse of the engine. When gunning it through the hills it has this staccato “do do do” of a rapid firing machine gun and in traffic and slow drives the calmness of a resting heartbeat. But the rhythm never changes. Adding onto the sound , is the fact that you can shift the gears without looking at the speedometer because you can tell from the sound difference.

No assisted / power steering

I know I condemned this very feature in my last article but it is not always a curse. After driving my bug for a bit I can now say I prefer no assisted steering and here is why. Modern day cars are usually accused of giving their uses less driving experience. And since the only things the driver controls are the pedals and the steering wheel , the steering forms a major part of that driving experience. First off the beetle has this thin, large and quirky steering wheel that you grow to love over time, and it also lets you feel everything on the road through the vibrations on the wheel.

The community

In my country of Srilanka we have quite a large following of classic car lovers and so the beetle is owned by a significant amount of people. We know how many beetles are in a specific area and help out whenever. This sense of community is what I want to dwell deeper into. The car scene here is dominated by the Hondas , Subarus and the occasion Evo , and these cars are crazy expensive here due to taxes , so for a large amount of car guys my age , the only solution is to buy a cheaper domestic car. However there is another solution that not many people chose to take and that are classic cars. These are there for cheap and parts are freely available. The point I am trying to make is that even though we are much younger and inexperienced , the older “vets” never make us feel different.

The History

Following on from community , the Volkswagen beetle has been mass produced for more than 50 years and because of that many people have grown up around one , in one or looking at one. Whenever I park somewhere , someone will walk up to me and say “sir my father had the same car” or “that was my first car” or “my neighbor used to have that car” , and everyday the history of this car amazes me.

The Soul

As car guys we all know cars have souls (except hybrids and electric cars which I think are terminators) but older cars just show it a lot more. Herbie (that’s what I call her) seems to know exactly how to cheer me up on a bad day. Everytime I go on a drive I seem to have a stupid grin on my face and every time I go out I take the long way back so I can spend more time with her.