In the spring of my Sophomore year of college my Mom came to visit me from Colorado. She picked me up from the airport on my return from a track meet. On the way out to the garage she handed me a card, which I thought was strange. What was the occasion? The front of the card said "There are many things I need to teach you." I opened the card and the inside said, "but first ... how do you like your new car!" And that was my introduction to The Golf. I was so surprised. Over the next few days my Mom taught me how to drive a car with manual transmission. Here I am with The Golf during those first few days.
It became clear pretty quickly that The Golf was a real treasure with a lot of guts and pep for such an old car. The Golf made countless trips from Provo to Colorado Springs without any problem. It also made a trek from Provo to Seattle. Nicole, Jill, Jessica, and Paige and Nate all took multiple road trips in The Golf. Here's a picture of The Golf in Colorado.
It also became clear pretty quickly that The Golf had a few quirks. The door handles were a disaster. I was always coaching people on how to open the car doors, and my friends who could open the doors themselves knew they were really good friends. All of the door handles have had to be replaced. Thanks to my Dad and Sam for going to the junkyard to find some old VW door handles. Also, after I had driven The Golf for a few years the car started honking every time that I turned left, which was pretty embarrassing. My Dad disconnected the horn. I never realized how often the horn would come in handy until after it was no longer available. The speakers broke and my brother attached a new one. It doesn't fit into the car, and you can see it below just sitting on top of the backseats. Speaking of the interior, one of my favorite compliments to my car came from my friend Heather who said that she thought it was the perfect college car. Just admire that tweed interior.
After I got the car, we realized that the odometer was broken. We have no idea how many miles that car has driven. This was always difficult to explain to mechanics who usually expected me to at least guess. The broken odometer is probably my favorite quirk of the car. I started telling people that I drove a 1986 Volkswagon Golf with unknown mileage.
In 2004 I loaded up The Golf with most of my possessions and drove it to Kansas. You'd be surprised how much stuff can be crammed into that car. Here it is fully loaded.
Nate and I have been driving The Golf for three years. Every time that the car broke down we would fear it was for the last time, but it usually wasn't a big fix. After a while we started to say that The Golf wanted to be immortal. Over the years the air conditioning broke, the windshield started leaking, and various other little things went wrong, but The Golf just kept trucking along.
Even this last breakdown is fixable. The car needs a new distributer. The problem is that the part is so expensive because the car is so old. We will miss our faithful Golf.
I know many of you also loved The Golf. We invite you to post your own tribute in our comments section.
10 comments:
I feel your pain. While my Camry didn't ever have the character of the Golf, parting with it caused a similar sense of loss. However, the fact that I don't have to fix it anymore helped quite a lot. I'm curious to hear how the Golf will ever be replaced. How can you find another car with that much character and stamina?
Not the Golf! Oh so sad!
Are you going to name your next cat Golf?
Oh, no! The Golf was such a great car. Sad. I remember those pesky door handles...
As a person who learned to open the doors of the Golf, and who even was priveleged enough to drive it, I must say the Golf will be missed. Here's to that faithful friend.
Goodbye dear Golf. I didn't know you, but after reading this blog I will miss you tremendously!!
Wow - the Golf sounds like a real special person (er, car). Too bad I never got to know him (er, it).
Oh, the dear old Golf. what a lovely car! I remember driving in it to the Enrichment night and how flippin' cold it was outside while we tried to get the doors open. BUT the heater was FANTASTIC! Oh, and the missing seatbelt was great too...it makes me miss my 1976 Volvo station wagon. Whatever happened to the good old days (or the good old cars?)
I am very sad. The Golf was awesome. The fact is I rode in that car LOTS my freshman year at BYU but I never could open the door. I think I might have been responsible for breaking two of them. Eventually, I stopped trying and JoLee just leaned across the seat to let me in. We also read some GREAT books in that car. Good times.
Well, to be fair to those you rode in the Golf in its later years, I have to say that as the car got older the door handles got progressively harder and harder to open. Paige, you have the honor of breaking the first door handle. Eve and I came to pick you up from running down at CC the summer after I got the car and you promptly broke the door handle trying to get in. I don't know if you broke any other handles, but I certainly remember that first break.
Post a Comment