Originally posted by robtcorl My recollection of the first Beetle in our small town is that it was not well received by many of the town folks.
We're talking 1950's and to see The People's Car tooling around town was upsetting to veterans and their families.
Lots of jokes back then.
A gal is broke down in a VW, She is approached by another woman driving one.
The gal said her car just stopped running and upon opening the hood found out she has no engine.
The other gal said, that's ok, I have a spare one in my trunk.
Good joke. Hadn't heard that one and as you know, I will use and claim it as mine !
Same here. There was some resentment in my town too, about VW's , Mercedes, etc.
My older neighbour , a really great guy and a WW2 vet asked me about it and why did I choose the VW. It was 1967, my first car, I was 18. I said, I bought it as it was reasonable in price, I didn't have much money and the VW was supposed to be very reliable and had low running costs,,,great MPG, etc.
He pondered what I had said and then replied, ...." that makes sense and in his day, when he was my age young guys , him included bought used Model T Fords for the same reasons, and the VW Beetle sounds like it's the modern Model T Ford. "
He was a man who had known me since I was a kid, and we used to have conversations from the time I was a kid. I had a lot of respect for him. A good guy.