Rhino Revolution

Do you remember your first car?  I always had a VW bug while growing up.  Actually, I still have a VW.  Guess I am not finished growing up.  That’s the beauty and magic of a VDub.  You have to have a childlike innocence to ride around in what my son lovingly refers to as a “deathtrap”.

Old VW bugs are like street-legal go-karts.  They shimmy at high speed (50 mph), cough and sputter while getting up to shimmy speed, and will quit for any number of mysterious reasons.  Valves must be adjusted, points must be filed, prayers must be said.

In high school, I took the engine out of my expired bug and rebuilt it with the help of a book that every bug owner is familiar with…”How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive” by John Muir.  First published in 1969, this book holds as many memories as my wedding album(s).  We didn’t have the internet back in the mid 70’s to run to for instant answers.  We learned by doing and making some terrible mistakes.

Driving a VW took guts.  We didn’t have cell phones to call for help when we broke down.  We didn’t have water bottles to drink from while thumbing through the repair manual trying to replace a clutch cable.  If we were thirsty, we drank from people’s yard hoses.  Every bug owner learned how to brake with their toes on the pedal and their heel on the gas because a bug that idled was a curiosity.

Creativity ran rampant when you drove a bug.  If you wanted to arrive somewhere, you had to be prepared to open the back hood and try to fix whatever was destined to happen.   As a kid, did you ever run a string from your bed to the light switch?  I had to do a similar trick when my gas pedal cable broke.  I ran a string out the window, routed it along the side of the car into the engine compartment where I had rigged it to pull the gas valve on the carburetor.

Ah, memories.  Fires in the glove compartment, heaters that never worked, and getting really good at push starting.  I think that vintage bugs are so popular because people have the memories.  They have the stories of the situations that they found themselves in and managed to be victorious over.  In short, driving a bug was an adventure. Every bug owner has his or her stories.   Overcoming adversity is one of the great thrills of life.  Not when it is actually happening and you are on the side of the road out in the boonies at 1 a.m. with a bug that just quit, mind you, but later when you reflect on how you kept your cool and handled the dilemma.

If you don’t have a VW, don’t worry.  There are going to be plenty of opportunities for you to overcome adversity.  No matter how rich or poor you are, there are going to be things that don’t work out, things that go wrong, pistons that seize.  The trick is to have the right attitude that you are having a grand adventure.

When you find yourself in a fix, don’t panic.  Savor the experience.  You will overcome.  You might even write a book about it.  There will be someone in a similar situation in the future that you will be able to help.  Make life an adventure by understanding that it starts with the right thinking.  You don’t need to spend a lot of money on an ocean cruise or take up sky diving or go to another country.  What are you doing tomorrow?  Make it an adventure!       Scott Alexander

An adventure waiting to happen.

Copyright 2010 by Scott Alexander