The second year she was there, she wanted the car. I had a few issues of my own. So I bought a 65 VW, in what I was assured was good condition. It was still 6 volt, but other than that and the rust which was apparent was seemingly limited to areas of lesser importance. This car was just a stop gap anyway. And I had plans to spring the car on her as a surprise. So I spent two weeks, everyday, working on the car even took it to the firestation so I could keep working on it even on my workdays, to make it ready to be on its own in NewYork.
We made the preparations and borrowed my son’s Ford Ranger and got the family VW tow bar. Of course we would have one, after all those scrappers were being towed home in various states of disrepair.
The trip to New York was fun, we, my wife came with me, had an elaborate plan to surprise my daughter. It was a snowy week end and I hadn’t had time to get a new battery for the car so we were going to get a new battery at the local Walmart and let her go about getting new tires for it when she had time. Other than that it was pretty functional. I hadn’t had time to do much about getting the heating system working better in it, but we did get her a scraper for the inside of the windows built into a glove, special Volkswagen accessory. When we arrived, it was after 8pm, I had the car on the towbar and pulled it up the giant hill where her dorm was situated. We had a student in the lobby, call up to her room and deliver a package of auto accessories, obviously of no value to a person without a car. As she stood there looking at what was in the box My wife walked up and asked her what was in the box. After her initial shock, it all came together. And she came out of the dorm, jumping, and happy and surprised. It wasn’t the VW she wanted, but it was a VW, which got me off the hook for a short time.
We tried to get the new battery at the local Walmart, but who knew they aren’t open 24 hours nationwide. Well we found out. So change two, I spent ten minutes teaching her to bump start the little car, a good thing to know anyway. We took the car back toward her dorm and stopped to get a new set of wiper inserts at a local gas station. And my daughter insisted on driving back to the dorm.
After all, “you are leaving it with me tonight and I have to deal with it for the rest of the semester.” It made sense, so I let her drive it back to her dorm. It was starting to rain, I had been driving the bug and my wife was driving the truck which she is very competent at, actually in general she is the better ”more attentive, anyway” driver of the two of us.
The VW did have an old battery in it, so everything worked, but it was real weak and not up to keeping everything running wipers/radio, and shining, all the lights, for long. Everything was working as she drove back to the dorm. She hadn’t been off campus much, so she knew her way around town a little bit but she had to read the street signs to get back. It was raining and after dark as we approached the campus, I mentioned to my wife that the lights on the back of the VW were real dim, and I hoped the new battery would make a significant difference. She asked me what I had said, just as my daughter realized she was at the road she needed to take to get home, and she slammed on the brakes to make the turn. I raised my voice as I warned my wife she was closer than she thought, as she slammed on the trucks brakes to follow my daughter into the road she had nearly missed. The Ford Ranger had nice wide tires, and actually pretty good tread for belonging to my son. But the rain and proximity won, and we rear ended the VW. As we hit the car, I saw my daughter disappear, the drivers seat came off the tracks and dumped her in the back seat, parts were laying in the center of the deserted street. And both vehicles were stalled. Fortunately there was no one else even in the area, with the exception of the young fellow on his porch who offered to call the police for us. Obviously this wouldn’t be a good thing, as the level of complications just jumps exponentially when the law helps. After seeing the two women standing in the middle of the street hugging and crying he decided to ask before he called for help. That was a stroke of luck. I asked him to help me back the VW into his drive and backed the Ranger into place in front of it. I had a towbar from the delivery trip just three hours earlier. So I hooked the VW up, replaced the valve cover that blew off during the wreck and made sure everything else was secure. Of course the tailights were gone, and everything on top of the engine was broken off. I put a flashlight in the back window and delivered my daughter to her dorm. I really don’t remember the trip back home at all. But I know the car towed real nice for all 750 miles of those two days we test-towed it, to Syracuse University, and back.
Click here for the next installment of the 65 VW Saga. More to come, as always.
