I admit it. I have owned both Beetles and the rear engined Skodas too. What is more - - I loved them both. What is even more, I have owned not just one Beetle but two and two Skodas. Of course when I say Beetle I do mean the rear engined variety not the later front engined front wheel drive version.

The first Beetle I bought in the early seventies while I was at college. My dad took me to look over it (he was an ex army vehicle electrician and mechanic) and he vehemently urged me not to buy it.

So I bought the thing and after about a mile it was obvious there was only about five pounds of pressure in one of the front tyres and we had to stop and pump it up some. It was a white 1100cc 6volt-saloon model with no fuel gauge (you had to dipstick the tank to see how much was left) and a tendency for the lights to go dim if you turned the wipers on. The two hundred pounds that it cost was money never better spent and it never once failed to start. I sold it two years later only because as a newly wed I couldn't afford to run two cars and the wife's Triumph Vitesse was newer.

The second time it happened as I drove past the parking spot near the country park. I did this every day on the way to work and then on the way home again. I noticed this startling Porsche-Orange beetle parked with a for-sale sign in the window. Even as I drove up to the mini-roundabout I told myself that I didn't need another car, that I couldn't afford it, that it was nostalgic foolishness and that it was probably a tarted up wreck anyway. As I headed back to the parking spot and got out to look around the Beetle I already knew I was going to buy it.
And I did. It was a resprayed 1972 1100cc standard beetle and I had fallen in love with it. I subsequently discovered that I had been quite right in one of my initial assessments of the thing- - it was a tarted up wreck with a very questionable MOT as well judging by the flaky condition of the painted over crumbling sills. To cut an expensive story short-it needed extensive welding and a new engine and gearbox to make it roadworthy. I also fitted a bunch of new bits to it and ended up with a beautiful but costly little car. It came out of its carpeted garage only on sunny days and I absolutely loved driving the thing partly because of the reaction it got everywhere I drove it. The totally special sound of that Beetle engine chugging away in the back will stay with me forever. I only sold it when I desperately needed the money.

So, now that's its obvious that I am crazy about old Beetles why wouldn't I buy another one? The simple answer is because I just cannot afford it.

Learn more about this author, Cain Michaels.
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