Spotted outside Schwen's auto parts shop on Monona Drive on Thursday afternoon, this old-school Volkswagen microbus.

It doesn't have the safari windows but it does have the split wind screen and sliding side windows. The cargo door's split, too, not sliding, and the air intakes are louvers in the lower half of the body instead of the big, open scoops VW would put in the upper rear wings later on.

The headlights are recessed and the big, silver VW on the front is smack dab in the middle of that iconic dart. I'd love to have one of these in my driveway, but I'm pretty sure I don't make enough money to buy one even in this condition ... which is pretty good, really. Patch up the rust and it'd be gorgeous.

Although some of the softer stuff has been lost, most of the really important things are there. It wouldn't take too much to make this over into a like-new Veedub that would turn heads, not that it doesn't already.

I was a little surprise to see the the bucket seats. I expected something this old-school to have a bench seat in the front.

See? Still in great condition! Well, except for that passenger seat, but the driver's seat looked fine. It was all I could do to keep from slipping into it, just to get the feel of the wheel again, for old time's sake.

I used to drive one of these. although I never had the artistic bent that would have let me decorate it as lavishly as this and didn't have any friends at the time who would have done it for me.

Mine was a few years older than this model, but had the pop-top.

This one's been very nicely cared for. Besides the paint job, the body's in good shape and the interior appeared to be very well-preserved; not a lot of wear & tear evident.

I'd love to have one of these again, if only I had a place to garage it in the winter.

“A Silly Bug For You”

Spotted on Owen Road, this matt-black Baja Bug.

Good Times

My first car was 1969 VW minivan. It cost me just $500 and was in a lot worse shape that this one, which looks remarkably well-preserved, but it was my first car and I still remember it with a lot of affection, even though I spent a lot more time fixing it than driving it.

While I was taking these photos, a fellah passing by stopped to get a good look, too.

"Brings back some memories, does it?" he asked, so I told him about my first car.

"I crossed the country in a van like this one," he said. The way he said it, he could remember it like it was the other day. "It wasn't mine. I borrowed it from a friend."

Sometimes it seems like everybody's got a Veedub story.

I had two other VW buses and a Beetle, and I miss them all.

Punch Buggy
Seen at the Monona farmer's market this weekend.

There's no finer summer convertible than a Veedub.

The interior's a bit rough ...

... but it's still a happy-looking Volks.

I've owned two old microbusses, the newer camper-van and one bug,
and they'll always have a soft spot in my heart.
I can't help stopping to take a close look at a Volkswagen
wherever I see one.

Punch Buggy

Spotted this one on East Wilson Street yesterday. A well-used bug; note the t-shirt seat covers and the shredded rear seat. The lenses on the rear lights were dated 1970, but even with all those years (and no doubt plenty of mileage), this bug's in pretty good condition. Wonder just how many winters it's tramped through the salt-soaked slush of Madison streets?

Veedub on Carroll Street

This '71 Beetle was in pretty darned good shape, as well as being illegally parked. I hadn't noticed before that they had a rounded windshield; I'm used to the flat-as-a-pan windshield of the older models.