by 
Decades of Beetle ownership coming to an end
By Mary Beth Leritz
I fell in love with the magic and lure of VW Beetles when I was 8 years old after my mom took me to see “Herbie the Love Bug” in 1969. That movie and its sequels made me determined to own a Beetle someday. They were just so dang cute in my eyes.
But as the second oldest of six children, I knew I would have to work and save to make my dream a reality. Little did I know that I would live the dream twice. But every life has turning points, and after 46 years of off-and-on ownership of two nearly identical 1979 Beetle convertibles, it’s time to move on.
I started saving when I was quite young. The older sister of my friend Vicki organized a summer play camp at her home, and Vicki and I eventually took it over when I was 10. Parents would pay us to entertain the kids with arts and crafts (I still love the smell of fingerpaint), story time and, of course, snacks, from 9 a.m. to noon. We would walk around our neighborhood and pick up drop off the kids.
I started baby-sitting when I was 12 and got paid 50 cents an hour. When I turned 16, I became a lifeguard at our neighborhood pool and worked 60 hours a week. Best job of my life. During the school year, I cleaned the local police department and worked in the bakery department at a local grocery. I was never one to just sit around. My parents instilled a good work ethic in me.
By 1980, my sophomore year of college at St. Louis University, I had finally saved almost enough. In a local newspaper ad, I found a 1979 convertible, River Blue Metallic with black interior and convertible top, a four-speed manual with no AC and hand-cranked windows. I believe I paid $6,000 for it and my dad lent me $1,000, which I paid back in full even though he said I didn’t have to.
My best friend Beth had an older red VW Bug with a sunroof, and she was the one who taught me how to drive a stick. But it was hysterical — much harder than it looked. I killed the engine more times than I can remember. The hills were the worst. We had the steepest hill in our neighborhood that I can’t tell you how many days it took to master, but I did it. I still get a little nervous at stop lights that are on an incline and cars pull up too close behind me.
Car owners fall into two camps: Those who name their cars and give them pronouns and those who don’t. My first drive, shared with my siblings, was the family’s early 1970s Chevrolet Caprice Classic, which had no name (it was an “it”.) Now had my own car. And she would be known as BettyLu.
My dad and I were very close, and we both exchanged a regular stream of sarcastic barbs, always joking and pushing each other’s buttons. An aunt of Dad’s was named Betty, whom he was very close to. He told me that I reminded him of her and thus mockingly called me Betty. To this day, my nieces and nephews on my side of the family call me Aunt Betty. The Lu comes from the fabric store I managed for years called LuLu Belles.
No longer tethered to the family Chevy, I loved the freedom of being able to come and go as I liked, but then the reality of owning my own car hit me hard. I was now financially responsible for insurance, maintenance and gas.
I drove the original BettyLu every day until I got married in 1985. My husband had a 1980 VW Scirocco, which I then started driving. I took very good care of the original BL and thankfully never had any accidents or fender benders. My brother John was the only sibling who could drive a stick, and he might have driven her around the block a few times. I was very protective.
When we had our first child in 1988, I reluctantly sold her, recognizing that a Beetle was not practical for a newborn while desperately needing furniture for our home. A new Jetta became the more kid-friendly car to replace BL.
But the yearning for a lost automotive love never drifted away. In 2015 I began scouring the internet for 1979 convertible Beetles. I saw a lot of them on the East and West coasts, too far for me to even consider.
I’m not quite sure how my second BettyLu popped up, but when I saw her and that she was just four hours away in Kansas City, Missouri, I was smitten » and couldn’t stop obsessing. It took some convincing of my husband, but he figured what did he have to lose? I think he was secretly hoping that when we saw her and test drove her that it would be a bust. Of course, that’s not what happened. Happy wife, happy life!
We had her shipped from Kansas City, and my first outing wasn’t the best. Her fuel line cracked as I was tooling down the road to the grocery store. We had her towed to the repair shop and got her fixed. The clutch was replaced a few years back, too.
But as I write this, she is for sale. It breaks my heart to sell her, but it’s the right thing to do. She gets driven only about 200 miles a year. I have two grandsons now, and although back in the day one could drive them around in it, not so much anymore. But I’m not the only one who will miss Betty Lu. My daughters each have mini Bernedoodle dogs, and they LOVE the rides they get.
My 34-year-old son Joe is the only other person besides me and my husband who can drive a stick. He and his fiancee, Sara Burran, had some of their engagement pictures taken with her. He wouldn’t mind buying the Beetle but has more important budget priorities.
The only non-manufacturer’s item is the Pioneer radio and Bose speakers that the second owner installed. They really make it fun to blast music with the wind blowing in your hair.
Every time I drive her, I am transported back to my college days and the years before having children. I love the sense of freedom she gives me, and the honks and smiles I receive along the way are a wonderful bonus.
BL is the only car I’ve ever named. Maybe because she has my heart. I will miss her dearly. 
Mary Beth Leritz | mbleritz@gmail.com
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- TEST DRIVE SUCCESS: 20 years after the fact, we learn how Craig Steffen found Beetle love.
- FARMSTEAD AUCTION: Discarding automotive artifacts dating to the 1920s becomes a major challenge.
- A BAD SHIFT: Manual transmissions are no longer a VW staple, symbolic of the gimmickry automakers now offer.
PLUS OUR REGULAR COLUMNS AND FEATURES:
- Small Talk – VW + Audi at a glance
- The Frontdriver – Richard Van Treuren
- Retro Autoist – From the VWCA archives
- ID Insight – Todd Allcock
- Beetle World – Steve Midlock
- Editor’s Turn – Fred Ortlip
- Local Volks – Activities of VWCA affiliates
- Classified – . . . Ads from members and others
- Parting Shot – Photo feature
- New Members – Welcome to the Club