BUG NUTS LOVE THEIR VOLKSWAGENS

Jay Grim shows the interior of his Beetle.

To understand why the Volkswagen Beetle will probably never become an endangered species one must get to know the volks who drive them.

"There are a lot of human characteristics to this car," Jay Grim said while casting a pensive glance at his 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. "You can change the metal hood over the front lights to make the eyes either look friendly or mean."

Once Grim revealed that he preferred to keep his car's "eyes" friendly, the vehicle's true personality began to emerge, each body part identified by the owner.

Jay's father Orville, who is the other half of the OJ's Service Station owner tandem in Cape Girardeau, said the car has been restored to reflect the blueprint of the original 1963 model. Fifty percent of OJs business involves repairing and restoring Volkswagen bugs and vans.

"Some people like to change some of the features to make it easier to handle, but we wanted to keep it mostly like it was when it was manufactured," Orville said. Thus the Wolfsburg crest, taken off the hood in 1963 but still intact in the interior, was still visible on the steering wheel. Such minute features would likely escape the casual eye. But a bug nut would know the difference.

"If you're a bug nut, which is what many owners are, you'll know about those kind of things," Orville said. The Grims were bitten by the bug when Jay bought a "Baja Bug" in 1987. "We restored it and I used to drive in at St. Joe Park in Farmington," Jay said. "That was later sold but we kept buying Volkswagen bugs and working on them and became known for that when people saw them in our lot."

The only departure the Grims have taken from the original 1963 bug is the size of the engine. "We replaced the 1,200 cubic inch engine with a 1,600 engine to get a little more power," Orville said.

The Grims presented the bug, which includes a license plate that reads "C-MY63" in a recent car show at Cape Girardeau County Park. The powder blue bug finished third in that contest. "We had the car cleaned up then," Orville said. "Now it just looks like it's been used a lot. It's a good car for my son to use around town. It gets 35 miles to the gallon."

The front grill appeared to be smiling. The front hood depicted round, well-fed facial features.

The interior even included a love vase, which was connected to the dash board. Naturally, the vase was filled with a plastic flower to put some sunshine into winter's arctic breath and hearken back to the decade that defined the bug: the 1960s.

Orville and his wife Wanda don't try to portray the Volkswagen bug as a romantic vehicle. The romance is in the eye of the beholder.

"If you sit in the back, it's uncomfortable," Wanda said. "I know, I've been back there before. And we've seen a family of five, both adults over 6-feet tall, and a dachshund in the back, not seem to mind at all how uncomfortable it was." Orville said that Volkswagen literally means a car for just plain folks. "Volks means people and Volkswagen is literally translated as the people's car," Orville said.

Added Orville, "With a Volkswagen, you either hate 'em or you love 'em. It doesn't seem that there are many people who are in between when it comes to those cars."

Susan Pekios doesn't hesitate to tell where she stands. "The first car I owned was a bug and the last one I own will probably be a bug," Pekios, who drives a blue 1976 convertible Beetle, said. "I told my kids that when I'm a little old lady, I want them to pick me up in the Super Beetle and drive me around."

To Pekios, the Volkswagen Beetle is part therapeutic, part nostalgic. "I guess I'm always going to want to cling to a little bit of that hippie left in me and the Volkswagen does that," she said. "There is nothing like getting in my Beetle on a warm sunny day, putting the top down and playing a tape. It does more for me than any psychiatrist ever could."

Lenny Martin, who owns Karpet Korner in East Cape Girardeau, continues a 20-year-old family tradition of Volkswagen Beetles by adorning the fifth bug with various patches of carpet. The car is in front of the store and is called the Rug Bug.

"I drive it around every once in a while," Martin said. "It's a great way to draw attention to our store and I like to drive the car. As far as loving or hating them, though, I would have to say I'm a middle-of-the-road type of guy."

When Orville was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, he appreciated the practical side of the Volkswagen.

"I saw Volkswagen bugs in Germany from 1959-62 and they were quite popular," he said. "The reason Volkswagen has sold more cars than any other car manufacturer is because it's easy to work on and is very economical."

Ron Baldwin, who services Volkswagens in Benton, was a mechanic for Volkswagen dealers in Cape Girardeau during the late 1960s and 1970s. "It wasn't uncommon for us to sell 100 VWs a month," Baldwin said. "The thing I've learned about the bug is that if the owner treats it with loving care, the car will return the favor."

Orville Grim was quick to point out that the Volkswagen was a car ahead of its time as an automobile pioneer. "They came out with the first rear-window defogger, sun roof, emergency blinker switch and the indicator to let you know when your brakes are wearing down," he said.

The Volkswagen Beetle can be traced as far back as the 1930s. The car was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian engineer who wanted a compact, durable car that most people could afford.

Because of strict Environmental Protection Agency emission standards, however, the Beetle was no longer imported into the United States after 1979.

"The kind of Volkswagen people buy now are Golfs, Jettas, Scirroccos and other models," Jay said. "But the ones who still own a Volkswagen Beetle tend to be pretty adamant about not letting go of what they have."

Pekios said, "When you spend time painting your bug or doing mechanical work on it, it becomes that much harder to part with."

The car that was built to become affordable for every volk has suddenly caught the attention of those who can buy more expensive models. "A man who was driving a Lincoln Town Car asked me how much I would sell our '63 bug for," Wanda Grim said. "I told him to forget about that because the car wasn't for sale. He said,`I know it's not for sale, but if you did sell it, how much would you take for it?'"

Wanda, Orville and Jay Grim were reminded that the words "Town Car" are lettered in chrome on the back of their '63 bug.

They just smiled, let the irony sink in for a few minutes, then went about their business, like plain folks who are happy to have been bitten by the original bug.