Beetle Mania

A year ago, my partner, Monty and I had not thought about Beetle ownership. We had a Nissan Prairie which Monty used as a minicab.

In April we decided to purchase a new car and went to the British Auctions to sell the Prairie.

I hadn't been to a car auction before so I was quite excited. The Prairie sold in the morning and we went to the coffee shop. We suddenly saw the red Beetle going into the salesroom (we had also seen it before the sales started). Monty went to find out how much it had sold for. He was gone for a long time (or it seemed a long time!) and when he came back he told me that the Beetle had sold for £225 and that he, in a moment of madness, had bought it.

Beetie

It was in good running order but had to be trailered home as it was not taxed or insured. That was the start of our love affair with Beetles.

A few weeks later, coming home from work early one morning, Monty saw another Beetle, older than Beetie, by the side of the road, which he thought may have been dumped. Completely hooked by now, Monty left a note on the car to say he was interested if it was for sale. When we hadn't heard after a week we presumed that it wasn't for sale.

Imagine our surprise and delight when we received a call a fortnight later. After going to see it in daylight we became the owners of Herbie (which is the same colour as Herbie, Disney's Love Bug.

During the year 2000 Monty lovingly lavished time and money on Beetie. We had her re-sprayed in its original red, put in new seats and had countless other jobs done as well.

In September we took Bertie to Euro 2000 in Holland, which was a good experience. We went for a week and meet some very nice people. The Dutch are very friendly, we also meet Beetle owners from St Albans, Poland , Germany as well as Holland.

We found spare parts were cheap and bough a bonnet for Herbie for 50 marks. We then managed to get a roof rack fitted to Beetie to bring the bonnet home. Can you imagine a yellow bonnet on a red car.

When we came home we started on the repairs to Herbie. We have a great deal to do, but we hope to get it finished by Euro 2001. When Herbie is finished we will start on the third, Alfie. We acquired Alfie this week after Monty saw him with a "for sale" notice one night.

Can I make a plea to all Beetle owners who want to sell their Beetle. Please do not leave your cars with a "for sale" notice on the road, as Monty cannot resist them.

Mrs Julia Long