From age 7 onwards, our daughter, Janeva Salser-Sulman, knew few cars other than Volkswagens. As time passed, she “graduated” from passenger status to assistant mechanic, helping with bleeding the brakes, fetching tools and many other tasks related to maintaining our fleet of Volkswagens. In high school, she learned to drive the stick-shift Beetles, got her license and completed her high school and college years all the while driving one of them. It wasn’t until she had to appear at work in full office attire that she quit the VWs in favor of an air conditioned “alternate vehicle” in order to combat the broiling Texas Summers. Here’s a memory which she wrote and posted to me late last year.

Spring 1987 – I was a senior in high school – Daddy was just finishing this car. He had bought it and restored it, painting engine parts, replacing the interior – it was restored inside and out – a SPARKLING RED beauty of a car, and we dubbed it “Cherry Cheeks”.

All of our cars had names that fit their character. We had the “Red Baron” who flew across the country on long trips, fighting heat and cold and faithfully carrying 4 passengers and a dog. We had “Friendly”, whose speedometer loved to make noise at about 40 miles an hour, until “he” became demented on a trip to Ft. Worth, screaming so wildly, that Momma pulled off the side of the road and detached the cable from the dial to mute the poor beast. Funny that we never named the Ghia that you see in the reflection – that car is another story.

Continue reading →

Don Carter appeared to be just an ordinary citizen in the Heart of Texas. But the acquisition of a single Volkswagen-based vehicle propelled him into the spotlight over the next 30 something years.

Upon purchasing that vehicle, Don found that he needed some parts. What better way to obtain the parts than to buy—yet another Volkswagen. And another. And, yet another.

The passion for Volkswagening grew. Don had a piece of land outside Athens, Texas, on Highway 175. Upon that land, he began to tinker with the cars—first gingerly, then more and more. Eventually he hired a succession of mechanics to run what would become Don’s Bug Barn.

Don even built two race cars—one a Karmann Ghia and the other, a Beetle. He raced at Ennis, Texas, where a quarter mile track drew enthusiasts from all over Texas and elsewhere. He raced the likes of THE Gene Berg and came in—second. Which was a thrill of its own—just to be able to say that he had raced one of the best and come out second.

Continue reading →