Terry & Debra’s ’67 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

I have been married to my beautiful wife for 42 years. Over the years we have had 15 Volkswagen beetles. Two of them being 1957 ovals. We have always loved bugs.

The first bug we bought was when I was putting my car away for the winter and needed a winter beater. I asked the maintenance man at work if he knew anyone who might have a cheap car for sale. He said he had an old VW beetle he was thinking of selling. It was a car his son used to go back and forth to college. He said that he done a lot of body work on it and painted it in his garage. I asked him how much he would want for the bug he said $500. I asked If he would safety check it for the $500. I went to the bank got the $500 and gave it to him. He was stunned that I would pay for a car had not even seen or drove. I told him if it runs ok thats all I want. I just wanted it to get me through the winter.

So a couple of days later my wife and I drove up to his house to pick the car up. As we pulled up to his house there was a beautiful little red beetle sitting there. My wife said, “That can’t be the car” and I said, “He must have two of them”. I knocked on the door. When he came out I said, “So where is the bug”. He said, “Are you blind you just walked past it”. I was trying to keep a straight face even though I was so excited. The car was very nice and drove great. We loved it.

We would take our 2 year old daughter for a ride up town every night to put her to sleep in her car seat. In the winter we would drive the bug with the vent window open using an ice scraper to keep the windshield from frosting up. We had so much fun in that little car that over the years if we saw a bug for sale we always seem to end up buying it. I had four sisters so every time i would find a better bug I would teach them how to drive the old bug and sell them the car.

When I got tired of that bug i would do the same with one of my other sisters. They got great cars and were good customers. So 35 years and 14 bugs later we were at the June Jitter Bug VW show in Niagara falls Canada. It is a yearly VW show. We were walking through all of the nice VW’S and saw this 67 convertible. We both looked at each other and said wow at the same time. It was beautiful. We asked the gentleman if he was interested in selling it. He said no. He had just finished it for a retirement project. So after really looking it over we walked away to look at more cars but our eyes kept focusing back on the 67.

When we were leaving we walked back by the 67 and the guy was not there so i looked in my wallet found a business card and wrote on the back of the card, “When you are going to sell your bug – Five years or Ten years down the road, Would you please call me”. I left my number and threw it on the floor of the bug. About four years later he called and said he had decided to sell the bug. The very next day we bought it. So every day now I tinker with it – Changing parts, cleaning it, enjoying every minute of it, ordering parts. At birthdays and Christmas I always have a list of little pieces that I want. We have so much fun with this bug.

-Terry & Debra