Saying Goodbye to the Super Beetle

March of 1971 was replete with significant events.  According to archival newspapers, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment to lower the voting age to eighteen.  Starbucks, named after a character in Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, was founded in Seattle.  In boxing, Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in what was dubbed “the fight of the century.”

Tom’s close friends from high-school days, Diehl and Monica, were also married in March of 1971.  Tom was the best man in their wedding.

March of that year was significant in another way.  It was then that Tom purchased a brand-new VW Super Beetle from Parkinson Volkswagen in nearby Placentia for $2,200.  That car would serve him well (and me, too) for twenty-two years before it was parked on his dad’s back property.  There it sat until it was sold to Eddy Collins of Eddy and Dave’s Garage in Orange.  Eddy’s shop specializes in repairing and refurbishing Volkswagens.

Here’s the car a while back as it left Tom’s father’s property in Fullerton for the shop in Orange.

Since I know nothing about Volkswagens, I’ll explain what my research indicated and what Tom has told me.  Super Beetles had larger front ends than regular VW beetles.  The larger front end provided greater comfort for the driver and passenger.  While the Super Beetle was called such in the US, it was known everywhere else by the number 1302.  Its production ran from 1971 to 1975.

So last Friday, we heard through Tom’s brother Stan that Eddy had finished making improvements to the car and had sold it to someone else.  We immediately knew that we wanted to see the car before it was sent off to its new owner.

While Tom has his memories, I have my own.  We used to go on many ham radio, car rally-type events in the VW with a large antenna hanging out of my passenger window.  Since the Super Beetle was so narrow, Tom could reach across me on each hunt to tweak the antenna as we tried to figure out in which direction we should go to find the radio hidden somewhere in Orange County.  I would then try to figure out the shortest route, using an Auto Club map, a ruler, and a protractor on top of a map board, which balanced on my lap.  (This was way before GPS ever came into common, everyday usage.)

We had so much fun on those hunts despite the springs poking through the seats and the strong engine smell inside.  Sometimes we won the hunts and sometimes we didn’t.

When we arrived at Eddy’s shop last Friday, the Super Beetle stood out in all of its glory.  The outside looked about the same with some rust acquired over the years.  But at age fifty, it didn’t look bad.  Don’t we always say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder?

Tom noticed that the old tires had been replaced with new ones.  Inside, there were new seats.  Many mechanical things had either been fine-tuned or replaced.  In short, the Super Beetle was ready for its new owner.

We got a kick out of seeing the car for one last time and we posed in front of it.  Stan was also there and took this picture.

But the story doesn’t end there.  Who is the new owner?  Ironically, the new owner was also born in March of 1971.  He just celebrated his fiftieth birthday last month as Tom’s car did.  Much to our surprise, the Super Beetle was purchased by actor/VW enthusiast Ewan McGregor, most notably of Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kenobi fame.

We understand that he himself picked it up on Saturday from Eddy’s shop in Orange and drove it safely home.  We wish Mr. McGregor the best with his “new” Super Beetle!