A Young Man's Volkswagen Beetle Story ... Or Never Ignore A Low Brake Pedal

I fell in love with VW Beetles at an early age. My Grandfather had a black 1962 Bug. He would drive me to Brooklyn to the old neighborhood and to baseball games at Shea Staduim. At the very young age I got my first whiff of oil fumes coming from the heater vents (like there was heat) From that point on I was hooked with the “Luft Cooler” VeeDubs. My first VW Beetle was a 1966 in Java Green. Well to be honest I did not even know it was Java Green till I scrubed the layer of brown mold off the paint and interior. Years of sitting under a pine tree had turned it green paint into strange shade of baby poop brown.

 My mixture of Mr Clean,bleach and dish soap worked wonders to de-slime the paint and interior. My own words “Holy crap it’s green!!!”... Getting it running was easier than the de-sliming but I learned a valued lesson my 17 year old mind would never forget. Never put a 12 volt battery in a 6 volt car. 1966 was the last year VW used 6 volt systems. Up and running and on the road I had plans of driving millions of miles in my VW.

About a week after my VW adventure began I noticed my brakes were getting low..”Hmm maybe needs brake fluid”  Ignoring important things like any other 19 year old I just kept driving. ”Hmm these brakes are getting real low.” As I approached a very busy stop sign I pushed on the brakes and the whole pedal box(including the clutch and gas pedal)went flying under the car causing a spark show the Gruccis would be proud of. I watched my young life flash before my eyes. I tried the emergency brake but the handle broke off in my hand. My only other thing to do was shut the engine down and come to a stall in the middle of the intersection. Rolling out of the car like Starsky and Hutch. I looked over at my broken Bug and all I could think was. “Oh man I missed a brown spot on the roof.“

This story brought to you by Port Jeff's own Carlisle Johnny aka Johnny B. For more fun auto stuff visit  http://carlislejohnny.com/