Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois. Wednesday, July 18, 2012.
Today brings the fall equinox, the first official day of autumn in the northern hemisphere. I’m usually one of the very last hangers-on to summer, long proclaiming after Labor Day that oh no… it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. Well, she just sang. One would never know it from the robust chorus of locusts that continues to rise and swell throughout my cozy, forest-like neighborhood of Edgewater on Chicago’s north side. In fact, it is the reassuring buzz of these fascinating insects that serves (briefly) as one symbol of continuity as one season shifts to another.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. Tuesday, October 1, 2013.
I had seen the car in the first photo again just this past week during rush hour, which triggered my memory that I had seen and actually photographed it before – as it turns out, seven years ago. I believe it to be a 1971 or ’72 model. This got me thinking about all of the different Beetle convertibles I had been fortunate enough to spot in Chicago and snap over the years. The convertibles were never omnipresent as were the closed-roof variants, but I remember regularly still spotting many Beetles on the road into my 1980s childhood in mid-Michigan.
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois. Memorial Day Monday, May 26, 2014.
The sound of their rear-mounted, air-cooled engines has always seemed to have an insect-like buzz to me, especially under acceleration, not unlike the slightly alien-esque song that the locusts are still singing outside, accompanying my evening walks. This next part isn’t specific to just the convertibles, but the Volkswagen “Type 1” (as it was officially known) did descend upon the United States not unlike a Biblical “plague” of locusts, and it ate away at the potential success of many small-car competitors, both foreign and domestic, for decades after its introduction.
Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois. Tuesday, August 21, 2015.
To backtrack slightly, I wouldn’t necessarily call the Beetle a “plague”, as it seems to have been universally beloved as a small, affordable car for the masses. Even as I had grown up in the patriotic-leaning, car-building factory town of Flint, Michigan, the Beetle was one of few foreign cars that it seemed 100% okay to like. I mean, it wasn’t Volkswagen’s fault that General Motors didn’t adequately test, perfect and prep the early Chevy Vegas before unleashing those attractive-but-half-baked subcompacts onto the car-buying public. I’m guessing that by ’73, toward the beginning of the end of both the Beetle’s dominance among small cars and the Vega’s credibility, few who had been burned by a Vega purchase would have been laughing at the owner of a slow, archaically engineered and styled Beetle.
Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois. Tuesday, August 21, 2015.
Decidedly unmodern-looking for much of their lengthy production run, there’s also something timeless about the style of these little cars. I’m in no way criticizing any of Volkswagen’s subsequent convertible offerings, and they may all be safer, faster, and/or more accommodating – but as far as enduring aesthetics, none of them will ever hold a candle to the iconic, status-symbol-in-reverse panache of a Beetle convertible. At least, to me.
I wouldn’t want to take one on the Dan Ryan Expressway, where driving even a reasonably modern economy car like a Chevy Spark can sometimes give me the heebie-jeebies, with maniacs whizzing across lanes of moving traffic like the rest of us are standing still. Still, I can’t think of many other economy-minded, small convertibles that would be more fun to “wear” around town – much like I used to affix the dried, shed skins of locusts on my clothing when I was a kid.
Click here for a brief, related read from Paul N.
As a kid, my family lived across the lake from Chicago in Saint Joseph, Michigan. At the time, my father’s daily driver was a (white) ’67 Volkswagen convertible. From 1972 to 1975, we moved from St. Joe to Charlotte, North Carolina and then on to Denver, Colorado, where my father sold the Bug.
Later on, my father commented that out of all the places he lived, Michigan offered the best “convertible weather.” The humidity of the South and the laser like sunshine of the West both made top down driving unpleasant. In contrast, Michigan’s long summer days combined with relatively low ambient temperatures resulted in many more days of top down driving. I’d imagine the same is true for Chicago.
Nice pictures under the El. I didn’t realize it was still there. Lots of good TV car chase scenes happened inside those frames!
I see Central Camera. What a great storefront.
Dan, it’s one of my favorite storefronts in the entire city. That sign is incredible.
Boy, I don’t know about locusts, but I can hear crickets on CC this week. Maybe people are busy enjoying the last days of summer…
That second pic of this great pist is sublime, Joseph. Good thing you unearthed it for this piece! Not just the car itself, which has the proper wheels and all that, but you managed to make that Beetle look like it was at high speed in an urban environment. And it’s a great profile shot to boot.
Tatra87, thank you so much. I do certainly hope people are outside… I took another walk yesterday evening (instead of spending it in front of my computer or the TV), and it was the best thing – with lots of locusts!
Paul once gave me a valuable chestnut a few years back, when he advised me not to judge the quality / reception of one of my essays by the number of comments that follow. At the end of the day, I ask myself three things: Did I like the content? Did I “say” something? Was it grammatically correct?
Sometimes I’ll read a piece here, love it, and not necessarily comment because I just learned something and have nothing to contribute simply by commenting. Sometimes, I comment, anyway. 🙂
Woody Allen to Diane Keaton, after she parks the Beetle convert, in Annie Hall:
“That’s ok, we can walk to the curb from here”
LOL I thought the same thing when I saw the opening pic of the post.
It IS an immortal line, is forever attached to late-VW convertibles because of it, and occurs to me at least once a week, either observing someone else’s effort, or sometimes my own.
You see, streets with an exaggerated crown are hard to judge between just-so and hubcap scrunch. I don’t know the reason – perhaps to do with the sideways tilt of the car and the uprightness of the guttering – but I live on such a street, and distant parking is a constant, and occasionally mine.
When I do, I just pretend I enjoy the walk.
Beetle Cabrios seem like great city cars. Easy to see out of, lightweight, decent fuel economy etc. And timeless style. Nice selection, I’m actually surprised there are so many around there, albeit over several years.
Count me as another fan – of the Beetle, of convertibles, of your great photography, the whole package.
For some reason a picture comes into my mind whenever I see a convertible bug. Some time in the 70s I was watching something on television – I don’t even remember what it was. One character was a college professor type, bald on top but with long flowing hair down the sides and a bushy beard. He was driving a VW bug convertible. Now, for some reason, every time I see such a car I expect to see a guy who looks like him driving it. But it’s always someone else. 🙂
Thanks, JP. Like you, I have often formed an association with a make/model I had first seen with the driver (or family) I had spotted inside.
Not really a fan of Beetles, but they have wheels and an IC engine so I naturally have an interest. I had a brief drive of one once, and I never wanted to repeat the experience.
I saw a 2-seat convertible once in Hertfordshire (UK) but I’m pretty sure it was built from a kit. Looked cool though.
Thanks, everyone. It was fun to cull pictures of VW cabrios for this post-summer coda. 🙂