Beetle Mania

I was going through a friend's blog and suddenly I saw this photo that made me grin

It brought back a childhood memory. Dad used to be an ardent fan of the beetle car.

He changed his car 3 times when I was little and each time he still chose a Volswagen! Only the color changed. Others may love to change curtains in their house or change the sofa when the Raya festival arrived. Dad didn't care much about 'trivial' things.


Raya festival would meant that the VW gets a new coat of paint. From white to red and to orange. Don't play play :). A speck of dirt means washing the car again from top to bottom. I remember one thing especially about the car : all VW has the engine at the back instead of in front.

The VW beetle was first introduced in 1938 and the last of this model was fabricated in 2003. After 2003, there's no more 'beetles' mostly because there were so much competition from Japanese car manufactures which came out with cheaper types equipped with the latest technology in the automobile market. The VW were hit rather hard as next came the Americans into the car business in the 1970s. In an effort to attract a high-tech and more demanding clientele, VW next came out with the "Rabbit". So cute but also so expensive:

Now, it's hard to see the older 'beetle' except when there's a VW road tour/competition or the VW Malaysian Club decided to do a fan's club gathering. Sure miss the old days :) and..sure miss Dad a lot.