The Obligatory Bug Theory

The first vehicle that I could even partially claim as mine was a 1971 Volkswagen Super Beetle. My father bought it in the summer of 1983 so my sister and I would have more or less reliable transportation back and forth to college.

It had its quirks but it started my love affair with VWs. Ferdinand Porsche designed the car in 1933 to be simple and inexpensive. And little changed on the Bugs over the years. A simple four-cylinder engine that any shade tree mechanic could work on. No fancy schmancy electric windows or air conditioning to worry about breaking down. The heat for the passenger compartment came straight off the exhaust pipes. The defroster was pretty much nonexistent. If it started to rain and the windshield fogged, you better have some paper towels.

But if anything went wrong, the fix was usually easy. Voltage regulators would go out without notice, leaving you with a dead battery. The solenoid on the starter might die, leaving the car unable to turn over. Fortunately, the car was light enough that one person could push it off. And I did that many times. You just had to remember to duck your head before jumping back in to pop the clutch.

It was during that period that I began to notice Beetles. Volkswagen stopped the initial production in 1975, but the cars were still everywhere eight years later, both on the roads and on film. I remember watching the chase scene in “Bullitt” and seeing Steve McQueen pass the same VW three times. I joked that the little Beetle was even faster than the Mustang and the Charger.

This was about the same time that home movies began to take off. Not everyone had HBO but the video cassette recorders were flying off the shelves and there was a movie rental store on just about every corner. So I started seeing more movies than ever before, both older classics and newer movies that were in the theater just months before.

It was then that I developed my theory that in nearly every movie, there is a Volkswagen. Watch any movie from say 1963 or later. If there is more than 5 minutes of outside shots that include traffic, you will see a Volkswagen. For the most part, you will see Beetles, but sometimes it will be buses or even a Karman Ghia. Dune buggies counted only if I was hard up. I never counted Golfs (Rabbits), Vanagans or Passats.

By the early 1990s, it was getting harder and harder to spot VWs in films. After all, they were at least 20 years old, but the iconic shape made them easy to pick out of a crowd, even in the distance.

The theory got a major shot in the arm in 1997 when the fine folks in Wolfsburg, Germany decided to spring the new Beetle on the world. The renewed production gave new life to my light-hearted theory.

I still find myself scanning the background of movie scenes looking for the occasional Beetle. I have a feeling you might too from now on. Kathy even joined in the fun searching for a Beetle when we watched “Three Days of the Condor” the other night.