My parents said that my first word was 'wheels' and it was just the start to my life-long love of automobiles. My childhood was filled of fond memories around cars. We had economy cars, larger V8 powered cars, and trucks. I had fond memories of riding around in those cars, helping my father wash, and maintain those vehicles. 

In my family, those cars happened to include a lot of Volkswagens. My parents had two VWs: my '69 Bug and a '73 Bus. Other family members had VWs, including Bugs, Busses, Type 3s, a Type 4, and a few watercooled models. 

As I approached driving age and knowing that my parents' '69 Bug would be the car I would drive, I started learning all I could about cars and VWs specifically. I bought books and every month got the latest issues of HotVWs and VW Trends magazines. After high school, I ended up getting a job working at a nearby VW parts shop. It was there where I immersed myself in the community and was always willing to listen to customers and local mechanics. It made a lot of friends during those 5.5 years behind the parts counter. 

In the following years and the advent of the Internet, I expanded my knowledge through the World Wide Web (WWW) and email. I made friends across our country and even in Europe. It was in collaboration with a friend from Denmark that I took my knowledge and his knowledge about the VW Type 4 engine and I designed, wrote, and published a web site dedicated to the VW/Porsche Type 4 engine. This web site formed the basis for a subcommunity and it even landed up with a one page review in a British VW magazine (TotalVW). Once again I made a lot of friendships, people who I still talk to this day!

I took a sort of hiatus from the VW scene for a while, thanks to some personal issues that I had to deal with. I knew the absence was only temporary until I got things sorted out. I'm happy to be back in the VW community in a new area: Wyoming!

My Volkswagen

1969 Bug

This is the VW that started my passion for the marque. This was my first car, so it has a lot of sentimental value to me. This '69 Bug was purchased brand new by my parents in February 1969. You can say that I grew up in this car, as I born two years after my parents bought her. When I got to high school and turned 16 years old, this was the car I would drive to school and work. From there, this is the car I drove to college for a while, but it was apparent that even then that she was in need of some TLC.

I had to park her in about 2010, as I didn't have the resources (time or money) to give her what she needed to be drive-able. Ten years later, I'm working on her to get her running and street legal again. My ultimate goal is to restore/customize her to something that is inspire by the "Cal-Look VW" style, but done with a few subtle changes!