Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Several years ago, my California-based mother-in-law was bicycling along Minnehaha Creek when it started to hail (small pieces). It was such a funny experience, she called a West Coast friend who has lived only in Hawaii and California.

There was a pause from the receiver. “Pieces of ice . . . are falling from the sky?”

Yes, not everyone takes for granted the frosty wonders that drop on us in the north. A week ago, it seemed winter might be napping and we’d get another few weeks of classic-car and bike weather. Luckily, the weatherfolks were on the ball and I saw their forecast for today.

My friend John trades in collector cars and has a heated garage with an MGB GT’s worth of extra space. We got Maggie, my red B GT, tucked in at 9:00 last night, as close to experiencing snow as most any classic owner who doesn’t drive it year round wishes his car to get.

As the photos reveal, John is one of the Volkswagen faithful, a fan of all their now-classic models: Beetle, Thing, Karmann Ghia, Bus. He’s got an eye on the street and an ear to the ground at all times for their characteristic rounded shapes and air-cooled brumbling. He’s even got a Bradley GT–the racy aftermarket fiberglass body set on Bug running gear. The seats and interior on that car ooze ’70s glittery-plasticky charm.

For VW watchers, the cars here include ‘57 oval-window bug with sunroof, ‘59 Bug convertible, ‘72 convertible, ‘58 bus, ‘79 bus, ‘56 bus, ‘60 Karmann Ghia, ‘78 Bradley GT, ‘74 Thing (plus ‘67 GT500 clone and ‘67 Dodge Coronet 500).

Sales are brisk for John. Owners may be wary of troubled economic times or fearful values will drop, so they’re turning some cars into cash. This Shelby GT500 clone, mocked up like the car Nicholas Cage drove in the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds, is bound for Russia.

Gotta love the license plate. John also picked up a Dodge Coronet 500 convertible for himself. Always liked the late ’60s Mopar convertibles. Lotta style and room for two couples to cruise top-down on warm summer nights. (Given our short window for those each year, perhaps we enjoy them more than warm-climate dwellers.)

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 11:42 am and is filed under Car stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.