History
My first car originally belonged to the local petrol station manager’s son. He thought he would "fix" it and make some money...( turns out he didn’t inherit his dads mechanical ability)... it was 1979 and here was I, a 17 year old female cashed up with $900 ......but she was my dream car.
Betty was a 1966 VW beetle, supposedly a 1300, just freshly resprayed Ruby Red with bits of other VWs from the 60's added we think... still an original 6 volt though, and at night a torch would have been better value than the head lights.
She had rust issues so in my wisdom I painted her insides with a tar like substance that in summer you stuck to... I loved Betty Beetle regardless of the idiosyncrasies like not having the power to go up massive hills unless you really gathered some speed, heaven forbid there were traffic lights that got in your way- Hills at Newcastle were horrid...... and yet she went so well on petrol -the ultimate run on the smell of an oily rag ... After work each day we journeyed to the beaches of Port Stephens. no passengers allowed if I had my surfboard...well maybe. I was in my element. She even saved me one time while out driving I had a huntsman fly out when I put the visor down. She stalled and stopped me going off the side of the road.. The radio worked when it wanted.. took me awhile to find fuse had loose connection... My mum would always hang on like glue to the seatbelt don't think they would be legal now. I loved the sound she made and would always give her an extra rev mainly to announce to the neighbourhood "I'm home". Towards the end after over 2 years of bliss, Betty stopped going in reverse and dropped oil everywhere and random things started falling off like the mirror and bumper and bits of motor... she must have known I had my eye on an upgrade...An orange Type 3 station wagon with roof racks..... surfboards + passengers = awesome
Modifications
ah yeh well she was a bitsa Who knew what the modifications actually were or meant to be......