Our Mantra
The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
PHOTO PROMPT © Kent Bonham
Please be considerate and try to keep your stories to 100 WORDS. Thank you.
Genre: Anecdote
Word Count: 100
INCARNATE
Most people I know have fond memories of their first automobile. Mine was a used 1971 royal blue Volkswagen Beetle. Fun size—like me.
My father hated it. “A Jew has no business driving a Nazi-mobile.”
The kids loved to sit in the ‘back-back,’ a mini cargo hold behind the rear seat and the bug was easy to maneuver. I enjoyed tootling around in it until the clutch went out. The heater worked great—all summer. Other quirks included slowing to a crawl at busy intersections while I floored the gas pedal and prayed.
Could Dad have been onto something?
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
Reblogged this on Flights of Fancy and commented:
Oh, great story, Rochelle. My grandpa had a VW like that, and I was in that back-back as a kid. Loved it. VW is still not the most ethical of companies, but that shouldn’t prevent us from loving the beetle.
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Uhm, I have no idea how or why I reblogged your post, but never mind, won’t hurt. Now what to write… 😀
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Dear Gabriele,
My guess is that you hit reblog instead of like. At any rate, thanks for the reblog. 😉
I felt comfortable in that car the minute I sat behind the wheel. Little did I know…Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Great story, Rochelle. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, I owned three different bugs, two red ones, and a yellow one. My dad said I didn’t know much about cars so should buy new ones. Every two years I’d saved enough to pay $2,000.00 cash for a new one. Good writing as always. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Dear Suzanne,
Can you imagine paying $2000 for a new car these days? 😯 Thank you re my writing.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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You know you’re growing up when you wonder “could Dad have been onto something”
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Dear Neil,
It’s amazing how smart our parents become as we grow older, isn’t it? Thank you for driving by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I liked the black comedic touch at the end there. Good one Rochelle. One of my early boyfriends had a purple VW, with pink and orange regency striped door. It was very reliable, but it had no floor under the rear passenger seat. Early AC I think. 🙂
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Dear Sandra,
A purple VW? Oooh, I’m jealous! Gad you caught the dark humor as intended. This one seems to be bringing back a lot of memories for people. 😀 Not a bad thing at all. Thanks for driving by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Heehee! VW beetles transcend their origins – I would still love to own one. My first vehicle was a Vespa scooter, and its registration number is the only one I remember!
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Dear Liz,
Despite her quirks, my blue bug is a car I remember with great fondness. No one thought I’d ever learn to drive much less own my own car. Happy to afford a laugh. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Old cars are so tempermental! VERY tempermental! Loved how you went with the prompt!
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Dear Miles,
That car was definitely temperamental. Certainly made me ‘mental.’ 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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The “People’s Car” was the butt of many Jewish jokes, especially in the 70s. William Goldman used it as a catalyst for his novel Marathon Man. Don’t forget the massive recall, too!
Nice story. Loved the irony of Israeli plates on a VW.
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Dear Josh,
The “People’s Car” indeed. Such sorry beginnings. Did you ever see the movie “Bye-Bye Braverman”? A lot of pokes taken at the VW in that satire. I caught the irony in the photo, too. Thanks for driving by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Owning a Nazi vehicle and getting booed for that. Quite a common experience i would think. But seems a little distant thought for us in far away India. More of an Amby guy, the road king back then.
Your special touch is evident in this as well. Brilliant, superb, outstanding…i shall soon fall short of adjectives, dear ROCHELLE.
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Dear Neel,
Thank you for the adjectives. I hope I can live up to them. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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My mother had a pink one… was great – till it rained… then the floor would get flooded!!
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Dear Dale,
My car wouldn’t start after a good rain. Water collected under the distributor cap. (All of my bug’s quirks couldn’t be contained in a mere 100 words. 😉 ) Thank you for your drive-by comment. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Ha Ha! Of that, I’ve no doubt. Seems these Bugs all have a certain amount of bugs!
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Ahhhh, thanks for drawing me back to memories of my own “1st”. 1968 Opel Ralley Kadett. It’s been so long I don’t remember how they spelled the name!
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Dear Frances,
You spelled it correctly. I didn’t start driving until after we were long out of high school and I had a toddler. You can ask Karen ne Wolf about our driver’s ed experience. 😉
Happy to dredge old memories or you. 😀 Thanks for driving by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Trying again… many, especially our insurance company, WISHED I hadn’t started driving until much later! Lol
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Love it! I got the same comment thrown at me this past weekend (in regards to a beetle bug car I was looking at 18 yrs ago). I, too, have fond memories of a beetle bug and popping over hills just so our heads would hit the ceiling. Herbie lives forever in memory! 🙂 ❤
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Dear Jelli,
I definitely have fond memories of the bug…and some not so fond. But she was my first car so she’ll always be ‘gentle on my mind.’ 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Hahaha. Thanks for sharing the very lovely anecdote, Rochelle. so admire your writing style.
Regards and best wishes,
Moon.
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Dear Moon,
Many thanks for such a lovely comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Memories. I didn’t think you would ever be able to drive. When I brought that bug home and told you if you would learn to drive, it would be yours, I wasn’t sure I had made a good decision. But, you did. It was a quirky little,thing though. Kinda like its driver.
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Dear Jan,
That day it felt right. I knew I could finally learn to drive. Thank you for you patience all those years ago. ❤ We've had a few quirky cars over the years, haven't we? 😉
Love,
Your quirky wife.
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So funny. I love this memory. My first car (a Toyota) chopped up leaves that fell through the outside air vents and blew little pieces into your eyes when the heater turned on.
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Dear Lish,
Your Toyota sounds almost as delightful as my Bug. We all have that first car, don’t we? It’s amazing we survived them. Thank you for driving by. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Ha!!!!! You betcha’.
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Chuckling I am! Wonderful memory with details that add humor to the tale. Reminds me of my brother’s first car….he actually had pieces of wood on the front floor because you could look down at the street below — as in no floor in places! 🙂 Nine years older than me, taken from this world at 51…sweet memories brought back because of your tale here. Thank you! PS: Haven’t posted here in a while. Nice to be back.
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Dear Lillian,
I’m happy to see you back. Glad you could chuckle. At the time it wasn’t something I always laughed about. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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My first car was a Jetta. I rarely think about the history of the car company, but this photo does point it out, doesn’t it? I like your little story and I hope the car actually did keep you safe, despite bogging down when you most wanted power! I think that was a trait of the old Bugs – I never drove one, but was often in one when the driver swore at it as it seemed to go slower the more the accelerator was pressed.
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Dear Trent,
I had a love hate relationship with that little car. Right from the beginning it had problems. Two weeks after I passed my driving test by the skin of my teeth, the clutch went out. Thus the reason I had trouble with “overall control” on the test. I think I had a guardian angel keeping me safe. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A lovely descriptive anecdote. I don’t think people are referring to the quality of the cars when they rhapsodize about the good old days, do you?
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Dear Penny,
Agreed I think the memories of the good old days are usually sweeter than reality. Glad you enjoyed my story and took the time to say so.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I think maybe your dad had a point. Terry’s old blue VW was a massive pain in the neck!
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Dear Linda,
It was about the size of the car for me in the day. But I often think Dad was right. That car was a mechanic’s nightmare. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Ah, happy memories. It seems that half of the hippies in Ann Arbor way back when had a “slug bug”, and hoo boy, but they were noisy little buggers. But so adorable, who couldn’t love them? Of course, that was before I knew about the Nazi connection, hm…
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Dear Joy,
I knew of the Nazi connection and went there anyway. After all, my car was a 1971 model and not a 1930’s “People’s Car.” Now you have me humming Alice’s Restaurant and thinking of his red VW microbus, with shovels and rakes and implements of destruction…” Thank you. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Not a bad song to be humming! If you can remember the words, that is, which would put you one up on me. 😉
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Actually I had the whole thing memorized in High School. To this day I remember large portions of it.
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Color me impressed!
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Everyone has a Beetle memory! Mine was traveling 4 hours with 6 occupants and luggage to a campus football migration. Love the thoughts that you inspired with this one!
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Dear Ruth,
This one did inspire a lot of memories for many of us. How fun is that? Friday Fictioneers is all about participation after all. 😀 Your trip sounds ‘memorable.’ Oy! Thank you for driving by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Loved this snippet of time. Beetle or not.
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Thank you, Michael. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Lovely anecdote. The past for a lot of companies is difficult to ignore, but these days so many car companies are or have been owned by the big German and Japanese firms that were around in the war that’s hard to own a car that hasn’t been attached to them in some way. And then there is there more recent ethical failings… Maybe we should all cycle!
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Dear Iain,
I really wish my city had rail system. I would never drive again. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Octavia Preminger,
Your dad should have known that VW Beetles were the only make of car where you could actually see over the steering wheel instead of through it. I had a 1959 model, and you’re right about the heater. It kept me toasty all summer. The motor crapped out on mine. I found metal shavings in the oil pan. A VW sure isn’t the same German engineering as a Mercedes Benz.
Watch out for deer,
Marlin Perkins
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Dear Marlin Perkins,
Like I said, ‘fun size.’ Why is it the heater didn’t work in the winter. Froze my noogies off. Not to mention I once had a head-on collision with a full-size poodle. It left quite a dent on the front of the car and walked away, unscathed. Great little car, that. Ah memories….always fonder than reality, aren’t they?
Thank you for your drive-by comment.
Shalom,
Octavia Preminger
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Loved this.
Don’t know much about cars though but I still loved it.
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Dear Chioma,
I don’t know much about cars. What I know is that when I turn the key in the ignition it goes, if it doesn’t, it’s broken. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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LOL
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Great little story and clever, but I feel ever so slightly uncomfortable with it – is it making light of a serious matter? Or am I being super sensitive?
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Dear Patrick,
I never make light of that matter. That you should know by now. Like poking fun at your enemy while always watching your back. I hope that made sense. Glad you liked the story in any case. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I have had an aversion to VW Beetles ever since a friend of mine was severely injured in one back in junior high. However, they DO continue to exist in Veracruz in great numbers. You’d think it was the 1960’s again.
Five out of five summer heaters (and “some are” not). 😀
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Dear Cuzzin Kent,
I can understand your aversion. I used to say my car was made out of bonded Reynolds Wrap. If you read my comment to Marlin Perkins you’d see what I mean. The French poodle story is 100% true. But the car did have its good moments and it got me out of the house. Jan was happy to no longer have to be a chauffeur. Thanks for the summer heaters.
Shalom,
Cuzzin Shelley
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😉
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this story resonates with me. my first car happened to be a 1971 yellow super beetle that i bought second hand for $2,000. brought back happy memories.
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Dear Plaridel,
I’m pleased that this brought back happy memories for you. :D. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Sounds like my first car (a 1985 Fiesta). It was great until I took my foot off the accelerator, then the engine would cut out.
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Dear Ali,
It seems that most of us have that car in our past. Thanks for driving by. Keep your foot on the accelerator.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A delightful tale with a nod to history. Brilliant.
Click to read my FriFic
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Dear Keith,
I suppose there’s a tiny nod to history. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I always wanted a VW Beetle, but never owned one. A car with character! A lovely tale.
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Dear Clare,
The car does have character for sure. And mine WAS a character. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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My dad had a sky blue Beetle when we were kids. We loved it very much, despite the fact that on hot days the PVC seats seemingly heated up to a temperature greater than the surface of the sun! Not good when you’re only six and wearing a skirt that rides above your knees when you sit down.
Lovely writing, Rochelle and an interesting wander through the car’s chequered past. Funny how Hitler’s ‘People’s Car’ could become so loved over the generations. From facist beginnings to iconic status – strange how the world turns.
Lovely to be back after two weeks of enforced FF abstinence (no wifi connection feels like having a limb amputated!)
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Dear Lynn,
Your dad’s seats sound like my grandparents vinyl covered furniture. Wearing shorts on hot days at their house proved painful.
It is ironic that the “People’s Car” evolved into the “Love Bug” isn’t it? Truth is stranger than fiction. Thank you for such a lovely comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
PS Well said. Being without wifi in this day and age is like having a limb amputated. I think of close friends I only communicate with on the internet.
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A curse on vinyl seating – the bane of legs, young and old! Glad to have all my limbs back and functioning again! 🙂
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Shalom, Rochelle
My striding through Neil McDonald’s Friday Fictioners backlog turned into a march at the end, but I got to my destination satisfied.
Sorry about the commenting mix up. I have just closed my eyes for a sneaky forty winks while my MacBook updated it OS – various improvements and security enhancements. Maybe that was it?
I liked this memoir, I have not read a memoir in a flash before, so it was new to me. I feet you could have added more and more memoir flash fictions about this much-loved first car. Perhaps you already have? Your style is comforting, like listening to a longtime friend, whom you are compelled to listen to.
Hope your fishing trip feels successful. 😇
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Dear Kelvin,
I confess to being something of a comment junkie. Yours was worth the highly successful fishing trip. 😉 Although you can’t really call it a flash fiction…but just because our name is Friday Fictioneers doesn’t mean we’re legalistic about it. If it’s a story, fact or fiction, in a 100 words it’s Kosher. My most common genre is historical fiction (fee free to peruse….I’ve been doing this for over five years, so it’s a lengthy journey…I didn’t start out as the leader.)
Thank you very much.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I can think of worse things to be addicted to. 😌
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I always wanted a VW bug. I enjoyed the story. It must have been a little heartstopping passing through busy intersections.
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Dear Sascha,
Heartstopping is one way of putting those moments in intersections. Sweaty palm, see your life pass before you moments. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Loved the anecdote that you shared with your readers. I admire your writing and try to learn something new, Rochelle.
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Dear Kalpana,
Thank you for such a wonderful comment/compliment. You’ve made my day. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Great memories! I think we’ve all had or known a car like this! Hilarious!
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Dear Laurie,
It does seem we’ve all had ‘that car.’ I’m enjoying other’s stories as much as I enjoyed writing mine. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Maybe he was right. Dads usually are. At least it seems so to doting daughters! Love it!
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Dear Sabina,
That car really should have been painted yellow for the lemon it was. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you!
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Fun! Loved the heater working well….in summer. Yeah, I have great memories of a car like that too. 🙂
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Dear Pam,
It seems to me we’ve all driven ‘that car.’ Thank you or stopping by. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Querida Rochelle,
Isn’t it wonderful when you can look back on a simpler time?
We had a VW too. It was beige. We had it until the motor caught on fire with my 1st born in the back. YIKES !!! I guess I should have written about that. I didn’t remember until I read your story. I always read the stories after I’ve posted mine. I don’t want to be influenced by someones story. Great story … I love reminiscing about fond past memories. BTW … bravo girl, I never learned how to drive ours because it was manual.
Hasta la proxima … Adios, Abrazos y Shalom
Isadora 😎
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Querida Isadora,
Ah the memories of those first cars. They’re always simpler in retrospect, aren’t they? That VW was unique to 1971 in that it was what they referred to as “automatic stick shift.” It didn’t have the clutch pedal and you didn’t really have to shift. (It did handle better if you did). En realidad, I learned to drive a stick several years later when we bought a Plymouth Horizon. Now, in the day when manual transmissions are on the verge of extinction, I don’t want to drive anything else. Go figure.
Gracias, abrazos y shalom,
Rochelle
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Lovely story Rochelle, our first cars hold all the memories. I remember hitching round France and it was always and only cars like this would stop for me.
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Dear Michael,
So true.No car will ever be the same as the first. 😉 Thank you for hitchhiking by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Such reliable cars those Beetles – the heater working all summer, and never when you needed it most, was a great touch 🙂 I’m sure it wasn’t personal, but maybe your dad knew something the rest of us didn’t.
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Dear Sarah,
Reliable indeed. I could always rely on her to break down in the rain and lose power at intersections. 😉 Thank you for driving by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Funny stuff. My first car had the same carburetor! lol
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Dear Dawn,
What is it about those first cars? Thank you. ;D
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I also have a VW Bug story…but I better not share that one 😉
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Hi i came across your blog i love your writing 🙂 if you have time i would love you to look at mime
https://weenotions.wordpress.com/2017/09/02/doom-gloom/
Your feedback would be really appreciated 🙂
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ROTFL!!! I just posted a photo of what my 1st car looked like!
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