When Carrie Johnson traded her 1963 Volkswagen in on a brand-new one in January 1966, she had no idea that 38 years later that Beetle would still be her daily driver.
“The main reason I got it is because it’s fun to drive,” she said.
It came equipped with a crank-open metal sunroof and an AM radio as well as pop-out rear quarter windows. According to Volkswagen criteria, the black exterior dictated that the upholstery be red, highlighted by a white headliner.
The durable Beetle took Ms. Johnson everywhere she wanted to go through hot and cold or wet and dry conditions. “It’s not a car to rush around it,” Ms. Johnson says. Slow and steady are the watchwords to successful motoring in the Beetle.
Stuffing fun-loving students into telephone booths or VW Beetles was a popular pastime four decades ago. Ms. Johnson never took part in such activities but she did coach a girls softball team and once had eight girls in her car.
The farthest she has traveled from her Arlington home in her Beetle is Montana, a trip she took in 1982. The original 1.3-liter air-cooled, four-cylinder engine in the rear of the car lasted almost 18 years. Ms. Johnson’s trusted mechanic, Willie Carter at Bug and Bunny in Arlington, convinced her that a rebuilt engine would be far less expensive than new car payments. He installed the car’s second engine while he searched for an “A No. 1” engine.
In 1986 he located a later-model 1.6-liter four-cylinder VW engine that he installed in the then-20-year-old car. That is the engine that propels the little car today. All three engines have breathed through the 48 vertical slots under the rear window. While the third engine was being installed, Mr. Carter upgraded the 6-volt electrical system to 12 volt.
With her newfound power, Ms. Johnson managed to receive an unwanted certificate of achievement from the speed police as she was coming down Sugarloaf Mountain with a tailwind. “It’ll motor along,” she says.
Her Volkswagen is a study in practicality with each wheel ventilated with 10 slots to cool the brakes. The flat VW hubcaps on her car replaced the bulbous ones on earlier models that were vulnerable to dents.
“I’ve had several floor pans,” Ms. Johnson says, “and these are my second running boards.”
In 1966, Volkswagen was still several years away from incorporating backup lights in the taillight assembly. Ms. Johnson’s VW does have emergency flashers as well as standard turn signals and a single outside mirror mounted on the top hinge of the left door.
Ms. Johnson, a free-lance independent historian, says she will quit driving her Beetle when it is no longer a pleasure. “It’s got to be fun,” she says.
Even now she reports fuel economy figures of 20 miles to the gallon city and 30 highway. The best feature on her car, she says, is the gasoline gauge on the dashboard that earlier Beetles lacked.
In 1996 Ms. Johnson had to make a decision: either get rid of the shabby 30-year-old car or put some money into it and keep it going. Once again she figured the cost of a new car would be outrageous.
She had the dings and dents ironed out and two fenders replaced. The exterior got a fresh coat of black paint while the red upholstery was replaced at the same time as the white headliner.
“The speedometer broke at about 150,000 miles,” Ms. Johnson says. She drove it “a while” without recording mileage. It has been repaired and shows almost 197,000 miles.
Ms. Johnson drives her VW almost daily but concedes she is reluctant now to attempt beltway or Interstate highway driving in it. The truck are too big and too fast, she observes.
As for her Beetle, she says, “It goes as fast as it needs to. It’s not a museum piece.”
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