Goodbye, Old Friend

Saying farewell to a car we have loved for almost 80 years, the wonderful Volkswagen Beetle

- Bob Rupani

The last Volkswagen Beetle was made in July, marking the end of one of the most amazing automobiles ever. Many salutations for this globally loved bug have been written. The media has gone gaga with the history, and the legacy of this iconic car and all its facts, figures, landmarks, etc, have already been listed or shared. So in this fond farewell of mine, I shall try and stick to what the Beetle actually symbolises to me.

My inerasable and fondest memory of the VW Beetle is seeing its photographs in an incredible book on the legendary “East African Safari Rally”. I had come across this book (which sadly I have now misplaced) in the 1970s and it had some truly spectacular shots of the Beetle bashing its way through the African bush. One particular photo I remember clearly is of Joginder Singh, the Kenyan champion of Indian descent, literally plowing through the wet and slushy African landscape in a Beetle, along with his brother, Jaswant Singh. Joginder later went on to become the first driver to win the Safari three times and was also one of the first “Flying Sikhs”.