We all know that life can throw you curve balls that you never see coming. Sometimes you're prepared, sometimes you're not, sometimes even when you know it's inevitable, you still hurt when it happens. Today, life threw me a curve ball that beaned me right in the heart.
Now I'm sure some of you are sitting there saying "he lost a loved one" or "he lost a pet". The truth is, all of that is true, but not in the way you think. This loved one and pet was not a human or an animal. It was the first car that I ever put my own money towards buying.
Now some of you may be laughing, and if you are, you will never understand how hard it is for a car guy to face that kind of a loss. It's like losing your best friend, a family member that you were very close to and saw on a daily basis, a dog that you spent a lot of time with and taught how to fetch, sit, roll over, and all that other stuff. The difference is that this is a machine, but to a car guy, it's more like a part of himself.
The car was a 1971 Super Beetle. His name (not a she) was Bass Bug (pronounced Base Bug), named after a little known bass music DJ called Bass Boy. My parents and I bought this car when I was 18, found a motor, and got it running. I drove it from 93 until about 97, when I bought my Caprice. Bass Bug brought me my first car show trophy, my first USAC division win, my first "real" girlfriend (and about 5 or 6 after that one), drove me to weddings, funerals, work, parties, college, you name it. Every memory I have from that time period involves that car, including the people that helped me with it.
All of the service that was performed on this car was done by only two people, myself, and Mr. Hershel Nix. Mr. Nix was "The Man" when it came to VW's here in Mobile, everybody and his brother, sister, uncle, and whoever else went to him to get work done. My dad had known him for years even though my dad never owned a VW. Mr. Nix was one of those "he either likes you or he don't" kinda people. The ones he liked, he took care of. If he didn't, he showed you the door. Fortunately, he liked us, and he loved my car. He said it was the only Super Beetle he had ever worked on that did NOT have the front end shudder that plagued Super Beetles in their earlier years, and he never could figure out why mine didn't shudder and everybody elses did. Mr. Nix died of a heart attack in his garage working on a customers car. We should all wish we could go doing what we loved.
My first motor didn't last too long, so we got an engine from my dad's best friend, Mr. Roger Nestor. Roger had been a VW fanatic in his younger years, and had built this motor probably 20 years previous to me getting it, and never even turned it over. We dusted it off, and it looked brand new. Everything had been sealed up, and because it had never been run, it still had the lube on all the cylinder walls, crank, etc. Mr. Nix put it in for us, and it cranked up on the first shot. He was amazed at how smooth that little engine ran after being sat up for so long, and how much power it made considering it was the older 1200cc motor and not the 1600cc that my car's previous engine was. It purred like a kitten, and ran great until just before I parked the car. It was in there probably 3 years or so, and only in the last couple of months did it start smoking. Not bad considering it had sat up so long and then was put in a car that weighed more than what it was designed to be pushing around. A real testament to Roger Nestor's expertise with building that engine. Roger Nestor died during the time period that I drove Bass Bug, succumbed to effects of chemical weapons used in Vietnam that caused his brain tumor and other tumors in his body.
Today, my car and the spirit of these two men left my yard for the final time.
You see, the car had been sitting outside for quite a while, one of those "I'm gonna rebuild it one day" things that we see sitting in people's yards all the time. The difference is, that "one day" was almost here, and I have quite a few parts in my garage to prove that fact. But "one day" didn't come soon enough for a certain homeowners insurance policy that had deemed the car "derelict" and was threatening to drop my parent's insurance if it was not removed before June 28th.
So, the thrashing began.
I cleaned out the garage to prepare Bass Bug to come inside. I aired up the tires and got the truck out to pull it in the garage. No dice. Brakes locked up. So I got my brothers K5 4X4 blazer. No dice, drug ruts in the yard. Sledgehammer time. Negative. Penetrating lube. Negative. Snatch on it to the point where I thought the front clip would rip off. No go. I got 3 of the 4 wheels unlocked, and I finally had to give in. Bass Bug was too far gone. It needed new floor pans, a new firewall, and new package tray panel, and who knows whatever other damage was hidden underneath it. The tranny was locked up, motor is blown, and needed front end repair.
So, today I called the salvage guy to come pick him up.
When Roger Nestor died, I broke down. When Mr. Nix died, I broke down. Today, I broke down.
Farewell Bass Bug. You will never be forgotten.
Now I'm sure some of you are sitting there saying "he lost a loved one" or "he lost a pet". The truth is, all of that is true, but not in the way you think. This loved one and pet was not a human or an animal. It was the first car that I ever put my own money towards buying.
Now some of you may be laughing, and if you are, you will never understand how hard it is for a car guy to face that kind of a loss. It's like losing your best friend, a family member that you were very close to and saw on a daily basis, a dog that you spent a lot of time with and taught how to fetch, sit, roll over, and all that other stuff. The difference is that this is a machine, but to a car guy, it's more like a part of himself.
The car was a 1971 Super Beetle. His name (not a she) was Bass Bug (pronounced Base Bug), named after a little known bass music DJ called Bass Boy. My parents and I bought this car when I was 18, found a motor, and got it running. I drove it from 93 until about 97, when I bought my Caprice. Bass Bug brought me my first car show trophy, my first USAC division win, my first "real" girlfriend (and about 5 or 6 after that one), drove me to weddings, funerals, work, parties, college, you name it. Every memory I have from that time period involves that car, including the people that helped me with it.
All of the service that was performed on this car was done by only two people, myself, and Mr. Hershel Nix. Mr. Nix was "The Man" when it came to VW's here in Mobile, everybody and his brother, sister, uncle, and whoever else went to him to get work done. My dad had known him for years even though my dad never owned a VW. Mr. Nix was one of those "he either likes you or he don't" kinda people. The ones he liked, he took care of. If he didn't, he showed you the door. Fortunately, he liked us, and he loved my car. He said it was the only Super Beetle he had ever worked on that did NOT have the front end shudder that plagued Super Beetles in their earlier years, and he never could figure out why mine didn't shudder and everybody elses did. Mr. Nix died of a heart attack in his garage working on a customers car. We should all wish we could go doing what we loved.
My first motor didn't last too long, so we got an engine from my dad's best friend, Mr. Roger Nestor. Roger had been a VW fanatic in his younger years, and had built this motor probably 20 years previous to me getting it, and never even turned it over. We dusted it off, and it looked brand new. Everything had been sealed up, and because it had never been run, it still had the lube on all the cylinder walls, crank, etc. Mr. Nix put it in for us, and it cranked up on the first shot. He was amazed at how smooth that little engine ran after being sat up for so long, and how much power it made considering it was the older 1200cc motor and not the 1600cc that my car's previous engine was. It purred like a kitten, and ran great until just before I parked the car. It was in there probably 3 years or so, and only in the last couple of months did it start smoking. Not bad considering it had sat up so long and then was put in a car that weighed more than what it was designed to be pushing around. A real testament to Roger Nestor's expertise with building that engine. Roger Nestor died during the time period that I drove Bass Bug, succumbed to effects of chemical weapons used in Vietnam that caused his brain tumor and other tumors in his body.
Today, my car and the spirit of these two men left my yard for the final time.
You see, the car had been sitting outside for quite a while, one of those "I'm gonna rebuild it one day" things that we see sitting in people's yards all the time. The difference is, that "one day" was almost here, and I have quite a few parts in my garage to prove that fact. But "one day" didn't come soon enough for a certain homeowners insurance policy that had deemed the car "derelict" and was threatening to drop my parent's insurance if it was not removed before June 28th.
So, the thrashing began.
I cleaned out the garage to prepare Bass Bug to come inside. I aired up the tires and got the truck out to pull it in the garage. No dice. Brakes locked up. So I got my brothers K5 4X4 blazer. No dice, drug ruts in the yard. Sledgehammer time. Negative. Penetrating lube. Negative. Snatch on it to the point where I thought the front clip would rip off. No go. I got 3 of the 4 wheels unlocked, and I finally had to give in. Bass Bug was too far gone. It needed new floor pans, a new firewall, and new package tray panel, and who knows whatever other damage was hidden underneath it. The tranny was locked up, motor is blown, and needed front end repair.
So, today I called the salvage guy to come pick him up.
When Roger Nestor died, I broke down. When Mr. Nix died, I broke down. Today, I broke down.
Farewell Bass Bug. You will never be forgotten.
) on the roof/windshield. What did I do? Took my shirt right off my back, used a lil bit of my bottled water, and got that bomb off as best as I could until I could wash that portion again when I got home....just bothered me too much. (And no, I didn't put my shirt on afterwards either 
) If I had T's, I would hope that a bird's bomb would land on my head before my interior. 
some suspension parts to beef up the front end.
,SLP~Shorty headers, LoudMouth, Air Foil, LineLocks. Catco Cat. Hypertech 160. TB Bypass. MSD~8.5mm. Walbro 255lph. FT MAF ends. LT4KM. BMR~Adj LCA's, Rear sway, Panhard rod. HAL QA1 rear shocks. Random Tech adj TQ arm. Nitto NT555R's. Covered in Zaino. 13.466@103.85 N/A.
13.410 @ 102.66 11/20/05]
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