VW Beetle smitten by the bug

It's the marque that can start World War III in the back of family cars around Australia as children jump at the chance of being able to “punch-buggy” their siblings when seeing a Beetle go past. It's a car that spans different generations of fans, all attracted to the cult-like status of the uniquely designed “Vee-Dub” Beetle. And for Leanne Brkovec, it's a passion that started more than two decades ago when she married a Volkswagen mechanic.

“I married into it,” she says. “The marriage didn't last, but the fanaticism did.”

Brkovec originally owned a Mini van, but as her husband at the time was only interested in Volkswagens, she decided to sell the Mini and convert to the Beetle craze.

“I explain it to people as being like getting malaria; you get infected and then it might go away for a while, but it always comes back. It's just like getting a bug,” she says, pun intended.

And they had such a bad case of this “bug,” that along with her ex-husband, they decided to open up a Volkswagen business 26 years ago.

She now runs Volksbahn at Pendle Hill, a shop dedicated to selling Volkswagen parts and paraphernalia and servicing the cars as well. And it was through her business that she was introduced to her 1972 Beetle.

“We've been servicing this car for the past 15 years for the same little old lady, “ she says. “She decided to go into a retirement home, so we bought it off her.”

Brkovec bought the car 18 months ago for $5500, a lot less than what it's really worth.

“They really gave it to us because we'd been looking after it for so long,” she says.

“This sort of car goes for about $10,000 on the open market, (with) low mileage, one owner, and never been in an accident.”

The Beetle only has 62,000km on the clock and had been well looked after by the previous owner.

“She was an elderly lady who used to live around the corner. She'd go out with her girlfriends shopping and always garaged it."

“Her husband had even made her home-made cardboard sun shields for it.”

However, Brkovec's passion doesn't stop with the Beetle. She's a fan of all Volkswagens.

She says she's owned too many over the years to keep an accurate count but her current collection includes the 1972 model, a 1954 Beetle, a 1964 Type 3, a Kombi and her everyday drive,a 2004 VW Golf. Her two sons have also been infected by their mother's enthusiasm.

“I think both have been indoctrinated,” she says. “They grew up with all our friends having Volkswagens. They just grew up around it, so they didn't really have much choice.”

Both boys have their own Volkswagen collections, with modified, stunning Bugs among them. And her eldest is a Volkswagen mechanic.

The German company began selling the Beetle in Australia in 1953. In 1977, it stopped producing them in Europe after the introduction of the Golf in 1974, and because they felt people were tired of the slow and noisy car. While some were still being made in Mexico and Brazil, they didn't meet Australian emission standards.

Brkovec's was technically a 1972 model made in Germany, but it was road registered in 1973. Brand new it was worth about $2500.

The history of the Beetle dates back to Nazi Germany — an idea formulated by Adolf Hitler. The Beetle was to be a model for the masses, a car most ordinary Germans could afford.

It featured an air-cooled, flat-four rear-mounted engine and ultimately proved to be a real success, with more than 21 million sales worldwide. Brkovec says the Beetle was particularly popular with women.

That still seems the case, and for Brkovec, the best thing about the 1972 model is the smell.

“It doesn't smell like its been used — it still smells like vinyl, that rubbery smell inside,” she says. It's something she says that can be found in a lot of other Beetles as well.

“It's just a good feeling to drive one and you don't realise you're going as fast as you are. You don't expect it to do that sort of speed.”

And while her model is standard, as it came out of the factory, Brkovec says many other Beetle owners can be really fanatical about their cars, with modified versions with more than $50,000 worth of work being taken to car shows.

Brkovec is a member of the Volkswagen Classic Car Club and mainly uses this model for club runs and car shows, such as a Beetle display at Darling Harbour on May 24. While many people may see the Beetle as just another cute car, for most owners it's so much more.

“Most people buy Beetles because they want a Beetle, not because they want a car,” she says.

Snapshot

1972 VW Beetle

Value when new: about $2500

Value now: $6000-$10,000 for a model in good condition; average condition $3500-$5000

Verdict: The car with the bug-like looks, made famous in the Herbie movies, was originally produced as an affordable “people's car.” But over the years, it has become more than just a car — it's an obsession.