My first car was a 10 year old 70 Beetle that my dad bought mostly for my use. Had it through high school and most of college. I wound up buying a used 2nd MINI for my daughter's 1st car..
First car ........ '65 VW bug(eat coast) Second car, '64 VW bug(west coast) Third car '72 Fiat 124 sedan(both coasts)
I love these threads. Mine was a '74 Alfa Romeo Berlina with about 180,000 miles on it. At the time (1986) it was sun-beaten dark blue, with a tattered interior and a unibody so worn out that I could jack up one corner of the car 18 inches without lifting another wheel off of the ground (no chance of opening a door with the car like that). That car went another 80,000 miles and was still running when I took off the carbs, starter, and alternator. I had a decibel meter, and once I took it with me on my monthly drive back to Dallas from College Station. In the car with the windows down (no A/C of course) the meter measured 102dB, A-weighted, at 70 mph. No wonder my ears rang after the drive. I always, always had junkyard take-offs for tires (they were free), and about once or twice a year I would have a blowout on the highway. I have LOTS of experience with blown tires. The car leaked exhaust and coolant in the car. Anything in the trunk had to be triple-bagged and sealed, or it would retain a permanent, foul odor. I had to take a shower after driving the car for more than a couple of hours due to my hair smelling like fuel-rich exhaust. So many stories! The most scary one involves the ignition lock engaging while I drove down the highway, locking the steering column. No steering at 70mph. Not cool.
Tons of beetle stories, but I didn't want to bore you. Second gear synchro's didn't work too well so it needed a well timed pause on the upshift and double clutch downshift. I needed to warn my drivers license tester that the crunch noise in second wasn't my fault.. There were some bad wires to the horn located in the front wheelwell, and it would beep intermittently when it rained, and finally went on solid at a left turn light during a downpour.. I needed to run out of the car and rip out the wires before the car ahead of me got pissed. There was also a water leak that would drip on the spot between my right shoe and pant leg around corners when it was wet out (not fun).