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‘Bug’ soon to be gone, but never forgotten

My older brother and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

The engine in that hump-shaped, tiny white car was not under the hood like any normal car. No, much to our glee, this noisy little creature that Dad surprised us with contained an engine in the trunk!

I recall for a very short span of my youth, our little family of four traveling far and wide around Windber, Pa., probably looking ridiculous in the crazy, cramped little Beetle that we all affectionately called — what else? — “Herbie.”

Dad and Mom would flip up the seats of our beloved two-door Volkswagen Beetle so my brother and I could crawl our way into the tiny back seat.

We didn’t mind the lack of air conditioning in the summer and, in fact, rather enjoyed the blast of wind blowing through the rolled-down car door windows. And as we puttered around in the winter, we could see our breath when we spoke because, of course, the heater never worked very well. That’s because that rear-mounted engine also was the only source of heat for the car’s passenger compartment — usually heating up about the time we got where we were going.

When we went out for our weekly trip to the grocery story, we would pile the packed brown bags in that odd compartment under the hood.

Certainly, we weren’t the only little family to own a Volkswagen Beetle. After the movie “The Love Bug” featuring the VW Beetle racing car named “Herbie” had hit the box office, sales of the Beetle peaked at 423,000 in 1968.

Now, I was only 1 year old in 1968, but I recall seeing the movie at some point later in my childhood, perhaps at the Richland Drive-In theatre that since has been razed and replaced by the Richland Mall that since has been razed and replaced by Walmart and an outdoor shopping plaza. (“Theatre Drive” still remains in the area, though.) But I digress.

I started reminiscing about those days growing up in southwestern Pennsylvania and buzzing around in that little bug when I read a news story recently noting what the writer described as “a terrible death in the family for baby boomers.”

He was speaking about the imminent end to the Volkswagen Beetle.

Volkswagen has announced it will quit making the Beetle next year, shutting down production of a car that debuted in 1930s Nazi Germany but became a counterculture icon for America’s hippie generation.

At one point, Beetles sold in the hundreds of thousands every year. That was back in the ’60s and ’70s, when VW “Bugs” putt-putted down streets everywhere in powder blue and vivid orange, candy-apple red and taxicab yellow — even a few (like ours) in white.

That story published in the Chicago Sun-Times said, “The rear-mounted engine gave you just a little more horsepower than a lawnmower, or so it seemed.”

I can personally attest to that.

Best of all, the 10.6 gallon tank could be filled up for less than $10, even during the energy crisis of the 1970s, the story said. While I can’t specifically remember, I suspect that was the motivation for the Beetle’s arrival at our house.

I also remember when our love affair with Herbie came to a sad and abrupt end.

Dad came home from work one day with the car’s back end dragging and puffing smoke as he pulled into our driveway. He had been rear-ended by another motorist who smashed into the engine compartment. I’m pretty sure we said goodbye to Herbie shortly after that.

I never forgot that little bug. Those memories especially flood back when I pass a similar little icon on the road — not the redesigned remake that came out in 1990s — but the REAL beetle from the 1970s.

The Beetle may soon be gone for good, but it won’t soon be forgotten.

blinert@tribtoday.com

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