My Mom and Dad lived next door to each other growing up on the south side of Atlanta, Georgia; a friendship developed which, over the course of time, led to their marriage in August 1956. Dad had a steady job and they, following the practice of many other young families in the 1950s, bought their first new car: a 1958 Volkswagen Type I Deluxe “Beetle.”
These first three photos are labeled “Highlands, NC” on the back; as we have no family in that area, I presume they were taken during a vacation trip. Dad had been a garage mechanic before joining the Navy during the Korean War. There, he subsequently took charge of the two forward Fairbanks-Morse opposed-piston diesel engines on the SSR-312 Burrfish. Dad used to impress us kids by counting to ten in German (apparently he spent some time in a German port on one of the wartime cruises). I never heard him refer to a VW as “Käfer,” though.
We took numerous family vacation trips while I was growing up (the vast majority in our 1968 Ford Country Squire LTD station wagon, often pulling a camper trailer), many of which to or through the mountains in North Georgia among scenes similar to this one. With its four-barrel carb-equipped 320 hp engine (a 390 CID/ 6.4-liter V8) and an additional 4′-6″ of length, the Squire was much better suited to mountain trips than was the 40 hp, 1.2-liter-engined Beetle.
Here’s a photo labeled Mountain Gap on the back. from later in 1958. Since “mountain gap” describes a geological feature (a pass, or “notch” between two mountains), Google yielded insufficient data to pinpoint exactly where this might be. That’s Mom, posing by the Beetle. Dad had mentioned that he’d bought the car on the recommendation of a friend who pointed out that year’s new and “much larger” rear window. You’ll find a great (tongue-in-cheek, of course) VW ad explaining why the window was enlarged here.
These next two photos show Mom, Dad and the Beetle in what could easily be a Coca-Cola ad, but for the lack of color… They had been married two years at this point, and were by all indications enjoying a stereotypical late-50s carefree lifestyle.
Well, I said “a Coca-Cola ad” above, but sacre bleau! (or perhaps I should say Überraschung!) – that looks suspiciously like a Pepsi bottle! Atlanta, of course, is the home of Coca-Cola, and it used to be as hard to find a Pepsi there as it is to find a Coke here in the Middle West. Note the Delta bag – Mom worked for the airline as a secretary until yours truly came along. Oh, and anyone who’s done work in a darkroom with black & white film can confirm that the Beetle was Coral Red and the Delta bag was blue.
Well, the little Beetle had been on numerous excursions by late 1961. Given all the mountain and beach trips my parents took, I would guess the car had a good 40,000 miles on it at this point. In this photo, it’s parked in front of my parents’ first new house in Roswell, Georgia, while it was being built.
The story of the little Beetle comes to an end with this snowy photo from late 1962, shortly after I joined the family. While I’m not 100% sure that my ride home from the hospital was in the VW, I like to think it was. At any rate, the Beetle was having some transaxle problems, and with a growing family to consider, Dad elected to trade it on a slightly used 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne. Lest you think he went “domestic” because of a poor experience with an “import,” the car he chose for his daily driver after I was born (which meant Mom got the Chevy) was… a Hillman Husky.
Fast forward nearly five decades, when it was my pleasure to turn the tables and take Dad for a ride in my Beetle!
Great story Ed! Although my extended family was rife with Beetles my Dad never had one, I came home from the hospital in a 1960 Pontiac.
Love that Beetle + construction photo, it could have been taken in the subdivision I now live in. Both houses & cars, they don’t build em like they used to!
Fabulous piece and great photos. The whitewalls absolutely make that late 50s Beetle perfect. I love looking at old photos like these.
It is funny how two sets of parents in different parts of the country thought in similar ways. My own parents married in 1958 as well, and after a brief fling with a used 57 Buick (to go with Mom’s 53 Chevy), the fleet consisted of a red 59 Karmann Ghia for Mom and a 59 or 60 Ford Anglia for Dad. I am told that I logged many hours in a pumpkin seat in the back of the Ghia, and am quite sure that I rode home from the hospital in it. Likewise, a growing family in 1961 ditched both of the imports for a 61 F-85 station wagon. (Don’t little sisters just spoil everything? 🙂 ) That late 50s import boom was quite the phenomenon among young adults early in their car-buying years.
Great article! Ed,you and I are the same age and I also have 50s polaroids of family vacations….except I am from the Portland area.
Another great article, and as stated above, I love these old photos, so rife with history and how things were.
I never got to own any VW, but have always liked them, both the older air cooled units, and the later Rabbits/Golfs.
However, 2 of my siblings had them, not by themselves, but while married. My middle sister and her first husband had several, beginning with a ’62 Beetle Cabrio that he redid in black lacquer, with I think a red interior, maybe it was gray, I can’t recall now, and had the later 40 horse motor if I recall, and Porsche wheels instead of the stock VW ones. This was in the early 80’s if I recall. They married in ’78. They’ve also had 2 buses, and a totally stock ’67 beetle sedan with an AM/FM radio.
It was that ex BIL who piqued my interest in these things, and loaned me his early spiral bound copy of the Idiot book. How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, a Step by Step guide for the Complete Idiot. I believe I read it cover to cover that first time. 🙂 It gave me a whole new appreciation for these cars at the time, and had hoped to find a VW motor to learn how to rebuild, as once you learn how to rebuild a VW motor, you can do just about any motor after that.
My youngest sister and her husband ended up with 2 VW buses, both from the 70’s, I think one was orange, the other blue. Both bought used in the 1980’s.
My best friend had 2 VW’s. a bright yellow 77 Rabbit 3 door that he bought used in the late 80’s, and kept for about a year or so before problems arose, and sold that, only to hear the buyer (I think someone he knew) found himself in an accident in California and it was totaled. Later in the mid 90’s, but a 1985 Jetta GLI, with working AC to replace his old Chevy Luv truck while he, and his then GF, now his wife were living in Lenexa Kansas while he attended graduate school. The reason for that purchase was he got tired of peeling himself out of the poor truck on hot, muggy summer days, so got the Veedub to rectify that, and kept that car for a few years, selling it, in I think later in the decade for something with much less miles on it, as I think it had over 200K.
Anyway, a great article on a car that reshaped the world at the time, and how it fitted in with your family.
I am slightly younger than you by 3 years or so, however, I came home in a ’64 Dodge 330 station wagon with the 225 slant six and torqueflite tranny, with push buttons no less!
Coral Red, that was a great color! My parents had a new ’58 Beetle as well, but it was black without whitewalls or even a radio. Color would have to wait until I graduated from high school and was given a new ’71 Super Beetle in Clementine orange.
My first ride in a VW Bug was with my Dad in a convoy with a two-stroke SAAB and a Hillman Minx. All had been damaged in-transit By Kenosha Auto Transport, and sold as-is to my Father. The SAAB set a record for dollars to miles – $15 from Wisconsin to Coeur d’Alene. I’m guessing he didn’t count the cost of the oil in his calculation. My Mother drove the Hillman for several months and loved the red leather and small size. The Bug sold before the bodywork was finished. The Hillman went to one of my Mom’s friends as soon as she was willing to part with it. The SAAB, however, had a birthday in our stock, and if memory serves, one of the Qvale’s ended up with it – on his terms. My first experience with front drive.
My ride home from the hospital was in a Beetle, as Dad was stationed overseas and they had a recent vintage Type 1 which shows up from time to time in vacation photos of France and Spain. Apparently they had to buy/lease the car from the Spanish govt and then sell it back when his tour of duty at Torrejón Air Base was over and we went back to the States after the phaseout of the B-47. I remember remarks that it was a pretty good deal compared to how things normally happened here in the USA’s stealerships.
I’m going to have to buy a Beetle and restore it someday before I get too old to work on cars.
Better hurry, I’m noticing a big difference at 46. Can’t stand on my head, snake my arm into distant crevices or breathe fumes like I could 20 years ago.
On the other hand my ability to cut cheques for things like sandblasting and carpet kits has actually improved so maybe it’s a wash?
+1 !
You Dad bucked the trend Hillman was the biggest selling import until the Beetle took over
Those black and white photos are telling a great story.
Your article brings back happy memories! I learned German at the Atlanta Division of UGA where i took 3 quarters of German. I still remember my instructor Dr. Hulsey who was of German descent. My major was Mathmatics and a minor in Physics.
I learned basic Arabic while spending 4 years in Tiaf, Saudia Arabia spending a lot of time with Colonel Howishil and Captain Majid Al Majid. I correspond with now Retired General Howishil ocassionally. I was there with E-Systems (now Raytheon) and draw my retirement from them. Both Arabic and German languages have mostly slipped away.
I still see 60 VW models running around Milledgeville, mostly in need of TLC.
Love,
Dad
My parents had two Bugs – first a ’58, and later a blue ’61. My sisters and I came home from the hospital in the ’61. We kept it until about 1969 or ’70, when it started rusting pretty badly. By then we had a ’67 Beaumont, and my dad sold the Bug to someone who owned a golf course. The engine still ran pretty well, and he wanted it to run a water pump. I’m sure he got good service out of it. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Bug, and I always enjoy seeing an old one in good shape – especially one from the Fifties or early Sixties. I’ll take a red one.
I came home from the hospital in 1975 in a 1969 Beetle that my mom bought new for $2200 or thereabouts. That was the family vehicle while my Dad kept his old Ford Galaxie, followed by a Mustang II (ugh) and a Ford F100 with no power steering but an automatic transmission. Mom sold the rusted out, non-running Bug in 1984 for $100 and replaced it with Grandma’s ’78 Mercury Cougar XR7 (which was promptly rear ended with a six-year-old me in the backseat by a Mack dump truck in a blizzard). Her next car was her second new car she ever bought: a 1989 Dodge Omni.
Great story Ed! I like the crispness of the first photo. So many photos I have from the 50s are out of focus. Nice that you got a chance to take your Dad for a ride in a new bug.
Great story here Ed ! .
@ MarcKyle64 here we are, did you ever get an old Beetle to play with ? .
-Nate