You know you are getting old when:

[BobHufford]

I've already driven a couple of them in the last couple of weeks and will look at another one this week. I guess, after driving enough of them, I will be able to ascertain if I really want to own one, as opposed to worshiping them from afar, as I have thus far done.

You could get a non-running one and worship that (like I've been doing for the last twenty years).

 

[scottyrocks]

haha, I can also worship pictures that don't take up garage or driveway space.

 

[vitanola]

Tell you what, try and find a non synchro gearbox car, spend an hour driving and double declutching it, you'll appreciate anything after that.

And that is why so many old timers were loath to give up their Flivvers.

 

[tonyb]

If I lived the way I did when I started driving, I'd get by fine with double-clutching and Armstrong steering and roll-yer-own windows and six-volt electrics and bias-ply tires and drum brakes all around and all those other things that were pretty much the order of the day back then.

But I don't.

 

[GHT]

So now I've looked at, and driven, two Beetles, a '66 and a '57. Both have more good points than bad. But I can't get over the feeling that I won't want to drive a Beetle after I've bought it. But I still want one.

What to do, what to do . . .

Could you not hire one for a week, just to evaluate that it's really what you want? The UK has such specialist rental companies, so I'm sure they must be on your side of the pond too.

 

[GHT]

the one car I kick myself to this day for ever selling: a '56 bug -- oval window, semaphores, sunroof. I almost cry when I think of what that car would sell for these days.

Just for you.

 

[scottyrocks]

Could you not hire one for a week, just to evaluate that it's really what you want? The UK has such specialist rental companies, so I'm sure they must be on your side of the pond too.

A great idea, but places with services such as that are as rare as hen's teeth, especially on our east coast, and even more so in my immediate area.

 

[1mach1]

A great idea, but places with services such as that are as rare as hen's teeth, especially on our east coast, and even more so in my immediate area.

Amen to that.

 

[2jakes]

.

I've wanted an old Beetle my whole life. I learned to drive a stick shift on my Dad's '71. Well, almost l

So now I've looked at, and driven, two Beetles, a '66 and a '57. Both have more good points than bad. But I can't get over the feeling that I won't want to drive a Beetle after I've bought it. But I still want one.

What to do, what to do . . .

Don’t be bugged!
Buy it.
I did.
If you have buyer’s regret.

Remember this.
I’m thinking of adding custom plates:

Just about every other week I get little notes
attached to the windshield asking if it’s for sale.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I know I'm old because I first joined the FL in 2005, and I was old then!

 

[Stearmen]

When you almost throw away your new drivers licence that you received in the mail, because you don't recognize the old geezer in the photo!

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Yeah, what is it about cameras these days? They always make me look much older and fatter than the guy I see in the mirror!

 

[Trenchfriend]

When you start into primary-school was happening in another world as the world of today. Another world in 1991.

 

[Zombie_61]

When you almost throw away your new drivers licence that you received in the mail, because you don't recognize the old geezer in the photo!

My driving record is so clean that the Department of Motor Vehicles mails my new license to me just before the current one is due to expire. This has been going on for so long that the photo on my license is now about 25 years old. At this point I'm really beginning to wonder how much longer it will be before someone notices the guy in the photo looks far too young to have been born in 1961.

 

[Trenchfriend]

German law changed, but my german (EU)-driving license, from the time before the change, is valid until 2033. Then, the picture will be 30 years old.

 

[Fading Fast]

My driving record is so clean that the Department of Motor Vehicles mails my new license to me just before the current one is due to expire. This has been going on for so long that the photo on my license is now about 25 years old. At this point I'm really beginning to wonder how much longer it will be before someone notices the guy in the photo looks far too young to have been born in 1961.

The last time my drivers license picture was updated was 2004. When I fly and the security people look at it and, then, at me, I'm always wondering if they are going to say anything - but so far, nothing. I'd like to believe it's a comment on how well I'm aging, but I'm afraid it's probably more of a comment on our lax airport security.

 

[GHT]

Yeah, what is it about cameras these days? They always make me look much older and fatter than the guy I see in the mirror!

You know that Newton's Law, the one about: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Well there must be something similar in ecclesiastical terms. It's my theory that we not only have guardian angels, we also have sadistic little devils too. It's not you in those photos, anymore than it's your reflection in the mirror. it's that little sh*t photobombing you. Everytime there's a camera lense pointing your way, he's there. See a mirror, check your appearance, he's there again.
Mine has a real sadistic streak in him. He carries a bag of tomato skins around with him. If ever I've puked, my little sadist throws handfuls of tomato skins into the vomit. It used to perplex me how I threw up tomato skins until I realised I had a personal demon.
How do I know of this little pervert's existence? Because, like you, I'm much too young to be old.

 

[tonyb]

The last time my drivers license picture was updated was 2004. When I fly and the security people look at it and, then, at me, I'm always wondering if they are going to say anything - but so far, nothing. I'd like to believe it's a comment on how well I'm aging, but I'm afraid it's probably more of a comment on our lax airport security.

TSA agents at DEN had me stand in one of those body imaging scanners. One agent asked what I had in my right front pants pocket. Nothing, I told him. I turned said pocket inside out to show it was indeed so.

It occurred to me that what the scanner saw was the plastic mesh used in the surgical repair of an inguinal hernia a couple years ago.

 

[Fading Fast]

TSA agents at DEN had me stand in one of those body imaging scanners. One agent asked what I had in my right front pants pocket. Nothing, I told him. I turned said pocket inside out to show it was indeed so.

It occurred to me that what the scanner saw was the plastic mesh used in the surgical repair of an inguinal hernia a couple years ago.

Ugh, that sounds unfun (once I looked it up). Hope all is well for you now with that?

Wasn't there a little dustup several years ago when it was shown that those body scanners are reasonably revealing?

I've been in them and they always get militant about having you empty your pockets before (more so than when you just go through the regular scanner). What happened, did they dial down the image or did people just move on and accept it?

 

[tonyb]

Ugh, that sounds unfun (once I looked it up). Hope all is well for you now with that?

Wasn't there a little dustup several years ago when it was shown that those body scanners are reasonably revealing?

I've been in them and they always get militant about having you empty your pockets before (more so than when you just go through the regular scanner). What happened, did they dial down the image or did people just move on and accept it?

Pleased to report that the hernia repair was a walk in the park (had the surgery in the morning, was out walking the dogs that evening) and that it is holding. Most -- about 90 percent -- of the type I have are successful. I'm acquainted with a couple of unfortunates whose repairs failed. It can be quite disabling.

As to the imaging ... Yeah, the photos I've seen show more detail than many might be comfortable with. I'm not concerned by it -- not for myself, anyway. Anyone who would linger over such images of me is a person in sorrowful need of entertainment, so I'm happy to oblige.