Wouldn't you love to get your hands on an original Bug?  I guess they're
still being made in Brazil, but because the engine is air-cooled it can't
meet U.S. emission standards.  Too bad--I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

The Beetle engines are prized by ultralight aircraft builders who can't
afford the usual "Rotax" engines.  Those motors just go forever and they're
so easy to fix.

When I was in high school I lived on the southeastern corner of Lake Erie
(in Michigan).  One April there was a severe nor'easter that flooded the
little town of Luna Pier.  I went with a friend in his Bug down to the
waterfront to help fill sandbags, but we never made it.  We tried to cross a
flooded road and the darn car floated downstream!  I think we floated about
400 yards before we got shoved up against a bulldozer they were using to
build a seawall.  Scared the sh*t out of me, but it was so watertight I
don't even remember the floorboards getting wet.

Sad footnote to this story was that my friend was later killed in that same
car about a year later.  It was a really old car that his dad had purchased
after the Korean War and had kept in mint shape.  He gave it to my friend,
Kevin, when K. got his license.  Kevin hit a patch of ice then slammed into
a guardrail on a curve.  His dad said that if the car had been newer, he
probably would have survived, but it had the old tempered (not safety)
glass.  Kevin got cut up so bad that he bled to death before anybody found
him.  He must have been in pretty bad shape, because they had to keep the
casket closed.  Rough stuff.

-Kyle

-----Original Message-----
From: Kathy Salkin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 10:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Question

<snip>
I once owned a used Beetle; loved that car!

Kat