My 1966 VW Beetle, Sophia
You know the sayings… “I leaped before looking.” “I got in over my head.” “Flying by the seat of my pants.”
Whatever the saying, I’ve been known to do it. This beetle was no exception. It didn’t take much prodding from a friend. “Dude” was about all he needed to say.
As a fourth-generation auctioneer, I come from a long line of buyers, sellers, traders… ”flippers,” as they have come to be called. Flipping has been a way to feed my hobbies without dipping into the family funds. As a kid, our family business often took us to the West Coast, where my love of the VW surf culture in California from the 70’s was born.
There have been many VWs in my life… the ‘69 beetle in need of a master cylinder that remained undriven in college… my girlfriend’s (now wife) ‘67 beetle that rolled down a hill and across traffic due to a failed emergency brake….Jettas, Passats, the Audi A6 that was the most comfortable car I’ve ever owned, but which kindly left me with an oil spot on the driveway every evening. And then, more recently, the ‘71 super beetle, affectionately known as Clementine after her original paint color. She was a fun ride but came with more rust than my knowledge, skills, or wallet could commit to long-term.
And then came Sophia...the sea sand ‘66 divinely dropped in my lap.
For two years, I had heard about her…the father of a good friend had purchased her in 1990, stripped her, and then pulled and rebuilt her engine in his basement. He repainted her the original sea sand from the pale blue choice of her previous owners. The motor had been reinstalled, and there she sat, naked in his garage for 29 years with a fresh coat of paint that had never seen a raindrop or the light of day and a rebuilt engine with zero miles on it.
My friend Adam and I pulled her from the garage on a cold January afternoon. What we thought would be an hour turned into several, racing against dusk because of rusted, locked brakes that had to be dismantled before we could get the wheels to turn to load it onto the truck. We took the beetle to Honeybrook for the winter, where my buddies Adam and Tyler, and a few other guys and I had rented a shop to work on the ranks of our collective ‘85 Westy, ‘66 SO 42, ‘64 beetle, ‘87 Vanagon, ‘66 single cab, ‘89 Westy and an ‘87 Westy.
Everything I learned that winter came from YouTube videos, the internet, working with the guys, and simple trial and error. As with every VW project, simple fixes turned into significant projects, which turned into thoughts of “Why did I think I could do this?” moments. Rebuilt brakes, headliners, carpeting, windows, door locks… 6 months of weekends at the shop until she finally came together one Friday night at the beginning of June.
To drive her is always an experience as it is with any old car. There is a slow, intentional mindfulness… a slowing down. It is deliberate, historical, and meaningful...a throwback to simpler times.
And to Rick… the previous caretaker of our Sophia.. he is a good man and a great father, and I hope I can do it justice being the caretaker of this car for the next 25 years….
