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Passing the Torch - Owner: Michael Simon

It was the summer of 1979 in Buffalo, New York. I was 8 years old. My older sisters, Debbie and Sheryl had just turned 12 and 11. My father Warren was a self-employed traveling salesman and my mother Glenda was a busy stay-at-home mom. Jimmy Carter was president. The Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Yankees, and Montreal Canadiens were Super Bowl, World Series and Stanley Cup Champions. McDonald's had just introduced the Happy Meal. My Sharona by The Knack was the #1 song on the Billboard 100. Disney's Herbie The Love Bug movies were very popular. And there was an oil and gas crisis in the United States. But life was simpler. We were still practically living in black and white, with rotary telephones, a TV antenna on the roof, no air conditioning and shag carpeting in the house. My parents were not big spenders and always saved for a rainy day. However, purchasing a convertible VW Bug somehow became a priority to my dad. It must have been an absolutely gorgeous sunny summer day, when my dad was driving home from a friend's place and spotted a white Volkswagen Beetle convertible for sale in the driveway of a home in their neighborhood.

Anyone who grew up in Western New York can jokingly attest that summer starts and ends on July 4th weekend, and that there are plenty of gray days there all year long. But on this particular sunny day, my dad stopped by to inquire about this cute VW Bug for sale. He found out that the seller was the original owner, who had purchased the car for his wife from the local VW dealership about a year and half earlier when it was released. Unfortunately, she never learned how to drive stick shift, and they had made the decision to sell the car. The odometer displayed 1,000 miles and the car was practically in showroom condition. So my dad negotiated with the seller, and purchased the new/used car for $5,500, the same original sticker tag price the seller had paid at the dealership. He really surprised us all by bringing the car home for our family to enjoy. This particular VW is a 1977 Triple White, gold pin striped, limited Champagne Edition Beetle convertible. In 1977, Volkswagen produced 1,000 of these Triple White, Champagne Edition convertible vehicles, and distributed one to each dealership around the country.

My dad purchased the car in August of 1979 from the original owners, with intentions to have a non gas-guzzling car that both he and my mom could drive around town. Well, my mom never learned how to drive stick shift, so it became my dad's other car. "The Bug", as we nicknamed her, would spend hours upon hours resting in the garage, as it slowly morphed into my dad's (and ONLY my dad's) fun car. As the years passed, the car would only be used in the summer months, on the sunniest of sunny days in snowy Buffalo. My sisters and I, and our friends, family and neighbors will gladly take lie detector tests to verify the fact that this car has never been driven in rain or snow. Ever! In the early years, my dad may have piled the family into the car to head to the local Forest Acres Pool and Tennis Club for an afternoon, or to Anderson's Frozen Custard for a soft serve ice cream. Perhaps he would run a few errands to the post office, dry cleaners, or grocery store, or just go for a Sunday drive, all weather permitting, of course.

The furthest away from home the car was ever driven, was to Niagara Falls, only 25 miles away. No matter where we went with The Bug though, we were guaranteed to be walking a few extra feet because it would be parked safely away from other cars in the lot. During the mid 80's, when we were all in high school, this trend continued. My dad had his usual routine. In the summer months, he would pull the car out in the driveway to wash and wax her about once a month, and then go for a quick spin around the block. I'm still not sure if this was purposeful, but he would always seem to have trouble getting the car into gear, causing the vehicle to buck as he drove away in 1st gear. He would drive around the neighborhood a few times, tooting the horn to make the signature VW "Beep Beep" sound getting us all to giggle, before pulling The Bug back into her usual spot in the garage, ready to collect a new layer of dust. In the winter months, my dad would start the car up regularly, just to warm the engine and let it run, but the car would hibernate during the winter months. Most importantly, taped to the garage wall, was a big reminder note on a colorful 8.5 x 11 piece of paper that read "BE SURE RADIO IS TURNED OFF".

In the early years of ownership, there were a handful of occasions that the original factory installed "AM only" radio was mistakenly left on, causing the car battery to completely drain. Make no mistake though, this was my dad's and ONLY my dad's car. He was the sole driver of this vehicle for years, never even letting his younger brother, my silly Uncle Paul, or any other admiring friend get behind the wheel. There were a few rules that were adopted along the way as well, which became very important to him. No wearing seat belts! …What? Despite having seat belts in the car, there was no seat belt wearing in the front seat until it became law in New York State, because it was never easy to grab the strap behind you, being so far over your shoulder And certainly NO eating or drinking anything inside the vehicle. Those delicious ice cream cones we were finishing weren't coming anywhere near the inside of this car. In fact, I was once injured in my backyard, where croquet was a contact sport in my neighborhood. I was about 14 years old at the time. After being hit in the head with a croquet mallet and splitting my forehead open, I required an emergency room visit to be stitched back together.

I still have the scar hidden in my eyebrow, as a friendly reminder of a war wound from my youthful days. For the record, my dad asked my neighbors if they would be so kind as to give us a ride to the hospital in their vehicle instead, so he could avoid driving me there in his soon to be bloodied white VW Bug convertible. My dad's daily driver car must have been in the shop that day. Ten stitches and two hours later, we returned home to see the absolutely pristine VW Bug parked in her usual spot in the garage. Obviously, my dad had his priorities straight despite my need for immediate medical attention. But wait, there were still more rules. No rolling the windows down either! So my dad wouldn't have to clean the smudge left behind by the rubber seal. It was 1988, and we can all still hear him yelling at us for piling into the car for a rare photo opportunity. In the late 90's, as my dad transitioned to retirement and started spending his winter months in Florida. He would prep the car for hibernation, purchase gas additive and disconnect the car battery only to keep the battery plugged into a charger while he was away. And in the summer months, he would continue the usual trend of driving it around the block…rinse, wash, wax, repeat. "Beep Beep". Fast forward another twenty years to June of 2020, when my dad decided to finally downsize, and sell my childhood home.

Plenty of people asked him what he had planned to do with the car. Well, he shipped the Bug out to me in sunny California. We hired a car transport company to safely move the car across the country in an enclosed flatbed truck. Four days later, it arrived at my home in Redondo Beach with 9,515 original miles on it. After owning the vehicle for 41 years, it is incredible that he only drove it 8,500 miles. That is just a little over 200 miles a year. The torch was finally passed. The Bug now resides in my garage. Despite knowing that Volkswagen manufactured another 999 of these Triple White, gold pinstriped, limited Champagne Edition convertibles, we had never spotted another one in the wild, until about 3 years ago. One evening, I took The Bug out for a local spin and randomly saw its twin driving in the opposite direction. I was able to pull a quick U-turn, chase down and meet the other owners, and then share our stories. Their twin VW Bug, which was a daily driver, had about 90,000 miles on her, along with a few dings and dents, and some rust.

Despite not being the original owner, she and her husband were very aware that only 1,000 of these Triple White convertibles were made in 1977. Like me, they had never seen another one in the wild, but they were lucky enough to have a VW sticker that came with their car, honoring its Champagne Edition authenticity, something neither my dad nor I had ever seen before. Apparently, their car originally came from the VW dealership in Santa Monica, CA. It was an interesting evening to say the least. I met one of my Bug's twins for the first time, made some new friends, and also acquired new patients for my dental practice. It is my turn to continue pampering, rinsing, washing, waxing, driving her around the block, and repeating the fun "Beep Beep" horn honking. In 2022, I finally flipped the odometer and hit the grand 10,000 mile mark. It was a momentous occasion, so I took a short video of the flip to show my dad, as I coincidentally made my way down to Huntington Beach, CA to enter The Bug in the "Rare Vintage Air VW Concours d'Elegance" car show for the first time.

Needless to say, it won the "Most Original" and "Best in Class" awards at this show. As of today, the odometer currently reads 10,154 miles. It was well worth it, as we now have this cherished family photo of myself and my sisters, along with my cousins Jennifer and Deidra, that we continue to adore to this day. In the early 90's, the same trend continued. The car was only driven on sunny days in the summer and simply started up in the garage in the winter. Now that I had been driving for a number of years, my friends would try to convince me to steal the keys and take it for a joyride with them some time. Of course I knew where my dad kept his spare set of keys. I can't imagine the severe punishment, but movies like Risky Business and Ferris Bueller's Day Off immediately come to mind. Anyway, due to my dad's continued pampering, along with The Bug's limited mileage and showroom like condition, he could bust me for simply looking at the car the wrong way. We all know how much he loved his VW Bug. In May of 1996, I graduated from University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine. Much to my surprise, I was gifted the keys to the car, and finally given permission to drive it for the very first time. I was 25 years old and moving to Los Angeles, CA a few weeks later. But remember, there were rules.

The Bug was to remain in Buffalo with him, parked in the garage. I would have access to drive it anytime I came home to visit, but it was all dependent on the weather and season. In all the years that this awesome car has been part of the family, it has been relatively easy to maintain. Besides routine maintenance, only minor repairs have been done. In the mid 90's, my dad had to replace the original gas gauge, as well as the original horsehair seat stuffing with fitted foam. The original Continental white wall tires were also replaced about 15 years ago, and the original "AM only" radio died and was replaced about 6 years ago. The only other repair made since I took possession of the vehicle was the replacement of the original fuel lines that started to leak. The Bug is now registered in California, and luckily, with a bit of fine tuning, passes her smog test every 2 years. Besides the repairs listed above, everything you see in these pictures is original from the day the car was driven off the showroom floor. She is pretty clean, well maintained and has never needed restoration.

I take her to the occasional car show these days, as she continues to turn heads and win a few awards. Unfortunately, my dad passed away last year, but here I am, 45 years later to tell this story. He truly loved owning this car. He never treated himself to anything nice, and was always looking out for everyone else instead. In hindsight, this car purchase was truly out of character for him. The childhood memories, driving around the neighborhood without seat belts on and the windows rolled up will forever hold a special place in my heart. Maybe I'll find another one of the other 998 triple white, gold pinstriped 1977 VW Beetle convertibles in the wild. Forever ingrained in our ears is the unique sound of that VW engine purring down the road, and maybe my dad just tooting his own horn… "Beep Beep!"

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