Meet Betsey!

Brad B

New member
Everyone has their favorite, most memorable vehicle. Mine is Betsey and this is her story:



My buddy Dave and I did everything together. We were childhood friends. As long as I can remember his family had this VW camper. It always made me smile. They drove it every where. It went from St. Louis to L.A. every year to visit Dave's relatives. It went to Texas. It went to Main. It went to Michigan. Dave and I went with his Dad everywhere in it. His Dad loved it and called it Betsey. It was a good ole girl. When Dave went to college his Dad gave him Betsey and it served him well. Back and forth to out of state schools. We went camping in it. We had Frat parties in it. We went to Daytona Beach on Spring Break in it. We loved it. But Dave was the most hapless mechanic there ever was and I was the only one that could keep poor ole Betsey healthy. It took some doing. And Betsey was getting tired. Dave graduated college, and I was now married, but Betsey was still chugging along, but slowing down. One day, she stopped altogether. She sat in Daves driveway for a year or more. Finally Dave got a job in another city and had to move. He asked me to come and save Betsey. She was mine for FREE! I towed her home and restored her to her youth. I kept Betsey another 10 years or more and we saw plenty more sights and had many more adventures. One day, before I had enough garage space to store her properly, I sold her to someone who offered me a sizeable amount of money. I felt I was doing the right thing. That I was doing it for her. But I still feel guilty. It's the one car, of all I have owned, that I want back most.

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Man, you've stirred my memory bank. I slept in one of these for two days down in Florida waiting to watch the last Apollo moon shot. We were parked in the middle of the Everglades, and lived off of oranges for a day and a half.



"Bubba", as it was affectionately known, was owned and operated by my father's best friend, and the last known Hippie living in the Southern US. :p



Brad - PLEASE keep the pics coming! :bounce
 
Click the van for a tour of Betsy. :)


Its a funny gif but it ends after 2 or 3 loops. lol Oh well. The link is the cool part.

Have you seen the concept van VW made? It looks just like the old one. Pretty snazzy. There is an edmunds review link in the pic.

 
That was a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it with us.



I'm not into minivans but if I needed one the only one I'd buy is the VW. It's the most un-minivan-like minivan on the market so I'd stand out from the crowd of Windstars and Caravans.
 
I am a HUGE VW FANATIC!!!!!! Owned a 66 red vert, 63 black vert, 72 yellow hardtop, and about 400 vw toys and collectibles!! I want the NB convertible, but am going to wait for a bigger engine. My uncle had a camper, with a 914 motor in it.
 
Very nice pic Jngrbrdman. Man I feel kind of bad for not liking the older vehicles that much. Really wish I could get into those older vehicles. Laters
 
Just look at any car made in the late 60's and you will start to appreciate them instantly. I don't know that it gets any better than the 69 Camaro. <drools>
 
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