Today I took my beloved 1973 Superbeetle in to the bug doctor for a heart transplant (otherwise known as an engine re-build). This has never happened before... I bought Barry for $650 cash on June 8, 1980. I have been driving him ever since, and have never owned another car.
Barry was still putting along on the original, factory-issue engine up until this morning. When I pulled into the mechanic's, I made a written note of the following:
Born (built) - March 13, 1973
Died (rebuilt) - March 30, 2005
Age - 32 years
Miles - 363,822.50
I asked that my mechanic save me a little piece if his original engine block. I feel like I've got a beloved pet at the animal hospital and it's serious... I mean, I got really ATTACHED to that car.
He made it through college with me, my first marriage (and the ensuing divorce), moved to LA with me in 1988... he took me to Alaska from Colorado and back -- twice. I've slept in him, escaped reality up the coast in him, driven to weddings and new jobs and funerals... cried in him and laughed in him, sat in 405 traffic for hours in him. He's been the one absolute constant in my life as long as I've had a driver's license and has been as much of a part of my family as my brothers and sister. Sometimes even more so... my siblings and I will lose touch for a couple of months at a time, but Barry the Bug has been with me every single day.
Is it crazy to mourn a car?
2 comments here:
thank you for the smile! Your story here made me "awww" and laugh and wish i had kept my little grey Mustang that only I could drive... going around corners (only to the right) i had to lift my foot off the gas juuuusst right or he would stall... no one else could do it... ahhhh the memories :)
anyway - thanks for the pick me up!
im on the BFLifer boards and found you that way... good luck this week! im restarting a new challenge next monday.
sam.
Update - got the Bug back and he's good as new. They managed to rebuild my same engine and put it back in, and I'm happy to say that he runs as good as he did when I first got him -- maybe even better! So he ended up getting a bypass rather than a transplant.
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