Love Affair With Beetle Lingers On And On Vw Fans Get Together To Share Memories

Don’t tell John Holdren the last Volkswagen Beetle was manufactured in 1979 - he was putting the finishing touches on one just last week.

Like other VW aficionados gathered Sunday at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds, Holdren has had a long-smoldering love affair with the Bug.

“There’s a passion about them, I can’t explain why,” said Holdren, one of about 50 people who displayed wares at the 14th annual Bug Faire, sponsored by the River City Volkswagen Club.

“Most of us have at least one,” said Troy Hobbs, the 30-year-old club president.

Dale Fiske of Bow-Wow Auto Parts, a VW specialist, said his business has doubled in the past two years as the cute economy car makes a comeback - as a collectible.

“They were the cars that turned Detroit on its head,” said Fiske. “Until then, everything was American-made.

“They’re fun, like a street-legal go-kart,” he added.

Twenty million Beetles rolled off the assembly line during 40 years of production. Manufacturing resumed three years ago in Mexico, but the cars aren’t imported because they can’t meet U.S. safety standards.

That doesn’t stop mechanics like Holdren, who was at the Fairgrounds on Sunday showing off a rebuilt white Beetle he sold for $3,200.

“When people ask me what year, I say, ‘Which piece?”’

Maynard Sharp, 65, has owned almost 50 VWs since 1959, when he became a mechanic at a dealership.

He was attracted by the back-engine simplicity of the VW, which for years used air-cooled engines that didn’t require coolant and were easy to repair.

“It’s an enduring piece of equipment,” he said. “You can fix it on the road if you need to.”

Wade Gough, 49, came from British Columbia to unveil a customized Beetle that consumed six years of leisure time. The teal car has a cushy fur interior, tinted windows, air shocks, classic chrome fenders and running boards, a tilt steering wheel, Corvette door locks, and a reworked dash, trunk and doors.

Interested? The bidding starts at $14,000.

VW headlights, hubs, tubes, cams, bearings, windows, stickers and decals were among the items sold or traded Sunday. There were kits to convert Bugs into minicampers - even a custom trailer for hauling gear.

Some items come with a story, no extra charge.

Ryan Hanson, a 20-year-old espresso clerk, discovered his old VW microbus behind a Hillyard auction house.

It was converted into a RV-like camper - with sleeping space for six, shower and toilet - by Jurgens, a company in Johannesburg.

After fixing up his VW, Hanson wrote to the company and discovered his Jurgens camper was only one of two exported to the United States. The other died in a wreck.

Hanson owns eight VWs now.

“This one is by far the most valuable,” he said of his microbus.

“There was a guy living in it when I bought it. That’s how we find most of the cars. We drive around town. My first one I found at a yard sale.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo