A13

Bill Sherk

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Heather Cardle reads my column in the Brantford Expositor. She has three good reasons for remembering her first car:

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Heather Cardle's 1969 VW Beetle with her brother, aunt and their two dogs.

"Long ago when I was young, my mom's best friend buzzed around in a beige 1969 Volkswagen Beetle.

"My mom never drove so her friend would come over and pick us all up.

"My mom would sit in the front passenger seat and my brother and her two kids would bicker about who would sit in the 'boot' (behind the rear seat).

"Us two girls being the eldest would usually get first crack at it and in we'd climb.

"Today I can't imagine being tiny enough to fit in such a tight spot, let alone two of us.

"We went all over Toronto in those days, and eventually Mom's friend sold that cute little Bug.

"A few years later, my uncle, aunt, and cousin visited and lo and behold, they drove up in the same Volkswagen!

"The very same Bug we'd been in when we were younger had been sold to my uncle.

"My brother and I would beg him to take us to their house for a sleepover with my cousin.

"He'd load us all in the car and 'round and 'round the block he'd drive us.

"Then he'd wheel the little thing up our driveway and drop us back at home with no sleepover.

"We were so disappointed that my cousin let the air out of the tires so they'd all have to stay over at our house! My cousin only got away with that once.

"I obtained my driver's license at age 16 and had some money saved up to buy my first set of wheels.

"My dad had a friend who had a Volkswagen for sale and he brought it home for me to look at.

"I waited in the driveway and down the street and up the driveway came a little beige Volkswagen - yep, it was the same car.

"It was still on the road! I think I paid $500 for it and had to replace all four fenders.

"I drove that little car everywhere. When I played hockey, I had myself, three team-mates, and all our hockey equipment jammed into that little car.

"In the winter, the gas heater blew and the shifter froze. We had to push start it many times that winter.

"Near the end of its life, I had to put my foot over the rust hole on the floor on the driver's side whenever I drove through a puddle so it wouldn't squirt water all over my face. And that's my story!"

* Bill Sherk is an automobile historian who has had a passion for the topic since his days pumping gas as a teenager. We want to say thank you to our readers who send in their stories. We are giving a copy of Bill Sherk's book, 60 Years Behind the Wheel: The Cars We Drove in Canada 1900-1960 to each reader whose story is published in this column. To share your stories or photos e-mail billtsherk@sympatico.ca or write Bill Sherk, 33 Oak St. E., P.O. Box 10012, Leamington, ON N8H 2C3.