Beetlemania

I posted a photo Sunday of me with my first car and now it has me awash with memories about that Fontana gray 1965 VW beetle.
I bought it for a paltry $1,600 on Aug. 1, 1965 - the day Charlie Whitman climbed the bell tower in Texas and sniped innocent passeersby until the cops got him. I remember hearing news reports of the shootings while at the dealership - University Motors in West Lafayette, Ind.
The '65 beetle was the last model year before the folks in Regensberg added an external fuel filler door and (I think) the first model year with a gas gauge. To fuel the car, I had to pop the trunk (in front) to access the fuel intake.
The car was desperately underpowered and could only top 70 mph with a strong tailwind. I added a parcel shelf under the dashboard and a snazzy wood gearshift knob - those were my only modifications, unless you count the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity decal on the windshield. I still have the gearshift knob.
The dashboard layout was spartan in the extreme: round speedometer/odometer, gas gauge and AM radio with knob switches for headlights and wipers.
The car had a pathetic heater/defroster apparatus that meant you had to bundle up for winter drives. But once you got moving, hardly anything could stop the thing. The rear engine and narrow tires made it the best snow car I've ever driven.
As it aged, it developed starting problems because moisture seemed to accumulate in the distributor cap.
The longest trip I ever made in it was through eastern Canada to Niagara Falls and on to Montreal and Quebec City.
Eventually, it succumbed to rust. By the time I let it go to a friend for $100 or so, it had more than 100,000 miles on the odometer (an impressive number in those days) and you could see the road through holes in the floor on the passenger's side.
I followed it up a few years later with a green '71 Karmann Ghia convertible that I also took to the 100k mark, but it was a completely different animal.
Would I buy a Volkswagen product today? Thank you, but no.
While I prefer German motorcycles, I like my cars from Japan.