My dad was a local barber here in Columbus, Mississippi. In 1965, a local sailor in the Navy was returning to the United States from Madrid, Spain. The local dealerships there were selling cars to the soldiers at a discount price at the docks. The young man said he did not really need a car, but he needed a ride from Norfolk, Virginia to Columbus, Mississippi so he purchased this car.

The story is that he papered up the windows and stuffed the car with duty-free whiskey, cigars and cigarettes, only saving a place in the passenger seat for his duffel bag. Upon his arrival in Norfolk, Virginia, he found the Bug loaded and squatted down with all the loot. He drove the car from Virginia to Columbus, Mississippi, and the following week came to my dad for a haircut. The sailor was telling my dad about the purchase of the car and how he needed to get rid of it and my dad offered to buy it so he purchased it in 1965 here in Columbus.

We have owned the car ever since I was 10 years old when my dad bought it and I ended up getting my drivers license in it when I was 16 years old. Later on in life, my daughter ended up getting her drivers license in it when she was 16 years old. It has been a good car and been in my family for so long that we just cannot get rid of it.

It has been restored one time about 25 years ago and is currently in its second restoration. We should have new paint on it in about a week and a half. It is kind of famous around here as the newspaper got wind of how long it had been in my family and it was on the front page of the local paper along with me and my daughter and my wife and also my mechanic that used to work on it at the Volkswagen dealership here in Columbus.

It has traveled many places, the furthest being Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and down to New Orleans many times and even over to Atlanta, Georgia and back. I used it to commute when I was a young student at Mississippi State University and put many mile on it. It is all stock. This is the second engine for the car that is in it now, but it still has the same sheet metal, fan housing, all that sort of stuff.