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cided she wanted a Volkswagen Bee-
tle. We have no idea where that idea
came from since she was surrounded
by Fords her entire life. Still, the Bee-
tle idea was okay with me and we
started talking about the cars and
looking at options. And then soccer,
and other high school and family
events came along forcing the Beetle
plan to slide down the priority list. It
slid so far down that over the years I
forgot about it.
Apparently Nicole never forgot
about it. Not too long after she was
married she found the perfect Beetle
for the perfect price. Unfortunately,
Carl, her new husband, didn’t have
that same appreciation and the pur-
chase of a lifetime didn’t happen.
Then, just a few years later as Nicole
was completing her doctoral studies in
education leadership, Carl was seeing
life much more clearly and found the
second best purchase of a life time – a
1972 Volkswagen convertible. That
ran.
It has a few aches and pains but
for a ‘72 VW it’s a decent car and now
our Shelby has an adopted sister to
share the garage with on occasion.
Hmmm, it’s not a Shelby. But it is a
convertible. And Mama likes it so I
guess it’s okay.
The old car lessons began right
away. One of the first, and on the first
day even, was that the battery is
under the rear passenger seat. And if
that battery isn’t covered (as was not
done by the previous owner) the seat
springs will contact the battery posts
with the slightest weight on the back
seat cushion. Their daughter, An-
niePearl, is definitely heavy enough to
depress the springs. I’m told the re-
sulting fire was impressive, with real
flames! Fortunately, they were able to
pull the seat out and no one was hurt.
Nor was any real damage done. Once
everyone’s nerves settled, Carl in-
stalled a battery box with a cover.
Less exciting, but still an atten-
tion-getter for the younger generation,
is driving without power steering or
power brakes. Trying to slow down
and downshift, while muscling the
steering wheel though a corner and
holding a Starbucks is very likely
going to result in a stomach knotting
moment as the car refuses to respond
immediately to the driver’s intent. I’m
not admitting to anything, but some
older drivers might want to relearn
that.
And maintenance. Yes, Nicole has
already seen that a vehicle that’s older
than she is will require unending at-
tention. However, there is a social up
side. It appears the Volkswagen peo-
ple, particularly the air-cooled folks,
wave to each other on the road. In
Volkswagen speak, “air-cooled” refers
to the early generations of vehicles
that didn’t rely on fluid, other than oil,
to cool the engine. Unfortunately, in
her earliest days of air-cooled owner-
ship, Nicole wasn’t getting too many
waves from other drivers. The car
wouldn’t restart when it was hot and
she was hesitant to take it out. The
clincher came the day she was barely
out of the garage and it just died.
Things were not going well for our
newest, old-car hobbyist. A few days
later the Volkswagen showed up in
front of my house on a trailer.
It took a few days to figure things
out but we got it running. Now it just
sits there and purrs like a high
mileage 1972 Volkswagen should. But
the best part was that when we
cleaned and rebuilt the carburetor,
Nicole did most of the work. She even
asked if we would “
need to prime it or
something
” when she was putting it
back on. That was a nice afternoon
and definitely a high-five moment
after the test run.
The youngest of the Texas Devlins
is AnniePearl. Technically a Stroud,
AnniePearl turned nine a few months
ago and like many children, she has a
number of interests. They range from
arts and crafts and riding her bicycle,
to helping her father field dress game,
and helping me with the cars. Two or
three years ago she started helping
her mom and Auntie Shelby with the
GT500’s tires at the Yellow Rose car
show. She has always asked what I’m
doing if I’m working on the Shelby,
and if she can help. As she’s getting
older it’s rewarding to see how she
learns and connects the dots with the
mechanical aspects of the cars.
The Volkswagen is an opportunity
for both AnniePearl and me to learn.
Even simple things like the heater
controls needed to be figured out. But
we did work things out and it was a
joy to see AnniePearl get her mother
down on the floor with a flashlight, to
watch as she operated the heater con-
trols and explained what was happen-
ing with the ducts and doors. Can she
check the oil? Absolutely – and just
about every time we go near the car. A
test light? Yes, that and a jumper wire
is really fun.
It’s probably safe to say that even
AnniePearl is able to balance her au-
tomotive priorities. One day when we
were working on the Volkswagen she
said she was going to play with her
Super Snake. I said okay and didn’t
think anything of it. A few minutes
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2016 65
Nicole [
near
] and Shelby [
far
] at the 2014
Yellow Rose car show.