Last night was Pokey’s big debut. On the first Tuesday of each month, the local VW club I’m a member of, the NAVWC, has their general business meeting. I talked Joy into skipping her sewing class and going with me to the big unveil. When we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, there were already 3 guys there so I blasted my new air horns and backed Pokey into a slot next to the other VWs.
It was nice getting the congratulatory comments and compliments on all the hard work, but it also felt really good to finally be driving my Beetle again after so long and to drive him to a VW event. I’ve been on a few club cruises with the guys and it’s just not the same tagging along in your Pontiac or Mazda.
I’ve been trying to drive Pokey more to shake out the bugs, stretch his legs, and get him ready for club duties this year. I really wanted to take him to Bug-a-paluza last month but I just ran out of time and couldn’t safely meet the deadline. So, Pokey’s first car show of the year will be this weekend in Birmingham at the Tannehill Bug Blast. I’ve driven him back and forth to work but this will also be his longest trip since hitting the road again and I’m glad I’ll have the VW club to caravan back and forth with. There’s a much larger and further away show at the end of the month in Effingham, IL that a few of us are going to so start small, right?
I think all the comments last night where great, but there was one that really made me chuckle. The color of Pokey is the same color as the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard, 1975 Flame Red, but to most folks it’s just a beautiful orange. Since Pokey is over 30 years old, he qualifies for a Year of Manufacture tag. That means if you can find a vintage tag from the same year your car was manufactured, you can register it once and use it for the life of your car. Guess what color the 1972 Alabama tags were? Green. The guy who painted my car, Tim from Mean Tiki Customs, noticed the stark color contrast and said “Hey, is that the stem of the Great Pumpkin?!”
I don’t think I or anyone else will ever be able to not think that now when looking at my car.