Nice shot. Makes me remember the beetle my mother had when i was a kid. One time she left the car to buy some milk and left me and my little brother alone in the car, and the carkey she forgot. I tricked my brother to turn the key and the car jumped straight into the shops wall. And when we got home she realised she had forgetted the milk and had to go back again 🙂
The car was called Bubbla in swedish.
This is such a great and hilarious story Jörgen. Just love it. And wonderful that a photograph of a “Bubbla” (I immediately added the word as a tag to this post) brings back your memories. Thank you for sharing.
Love this photo. I love that there are yellow flowers/leaves(?) on the trees that match the car, and the street has a bit of a yellow sheen. Did you mess with the processing to get the yellow tones, or was it a reflection of the light because of time of day?
Those yellow leaves of that birch in the background really complement the car. I made that photograph late night with a 30 seconds exposure. I was standing beneath a lamppost that gave a warm white balance. The Beetle was a wonderfully two tone painted that worked so well with the light and the background.
Thanks for sharing this one Wouter. I owned a yellow 1973 Beetle and ran the your know what out of it!!!! My friend had a yellow Honda about the same age and we’d race the country roads near where we lived. Miss those days!!!
Wonderful, those memories. Love it Duane. We never had a Beetle, but my father had a brown five doors Honda Civic 1977. That was a pretty amazing car for that time.
Nice to see you online again Wouter. Happy Holidays to you!
Best wishes, Eric
Hi Eric, Hope you do well. I still have good memories from earlier this year in The Hague. Best wishes to your family.
Lovely, Wouter. My mother had a Beetle too. The heater control was broken, so the garage turned it on for the winter, and off for the summer.
The lighting is great. Is it just a street lamp?
Hi Mike, All I had was the street lamp and a long exposure. I had no tripod with me, so I used my house key to support the camera and to point the camera slightly up.
Very cool vintage Beetle. Somebody has put some work into this one. I’m no Beetle aficionado, but note no turn signal indicators on the top of the front fenders. As far as I know, that is not original, but is a popular aftermarket mod. The car looks great and your long exposure smoothed the night clouds, but left at least one star and gave great colors. Wonderful. And while we’re talking Beetles or Beatles, did anybody else think the kids walking in front of the building construction in the last post looked like a still from “Hard Days Night”? (Except they should have been running.) 😉
Oh, Beetles! My older sister and her husband worked for a VW dealership for many years in the 70s, and all they drove were Beetles. What is it about these cars that brings back such pleasant nostalgia?
Your image even has a vintage-y feel to it, just right for the car.
With all the new lease cars here it can became pretty hard to find older cars, but I like them as subjects a lot.
Lovely shot there Mr.Wouter, glad to finally see another colored photos being posted in your blog. Hope to see more coming in the future!
I am gradually learning and leaning towards colour (I guess). Currently 50% of my photographs are in colour so it is coming. Thank you!
Wouter, I resisted posting this little story but my resistance has worn thin.
My wife at the time, yes a few before her and one after…wanted a Beetle. One day I was walking with my M4 and I saw this ugly yellow car. It was a 69 Beetle. There was a guy changing a tire on it and I talked with him as I watched and of course made a few photos. He was cursing using words that would shock anyone in a pub.
As he worked I asked him if he wanted to sell the car. “Hmmmmm, what an idea” he said. So we talked and made a deal. I came back in an hour with the cash, we made the deal and I now owned this ugly beetle.
I parked the car in the driveway and started to make calls for parts etc. My wife saw it and was in love. I am not a yellow Beetle so I didn’t get that love.
I spent a lot of money on the car, I never drove it as it was hers and I dare not take a chance…..The car was completely rebuilt and even the floor pans were replaced….
So the last thing needed was to do the upholstery. I called a German mechanic the did restorations. He worked in the VW plant in Germany and now lived 10 minutes from me here in Philadelphia. He asked me to bring the car over and he would quote a price. I was excited, the car would be finished and maybe I could get on with my life.
I jumped into the freshly painted, fully restored Buggy and turned the key. I heard a sound ….POP…hmmmm me thought, what the heck is that….hmmmmm
Well, there’s a thing that VW did on the Carb. They used a rubber gas line to the carb from the tank. Well, it was a widely know fact that all VW Bus owners knew but not me. Not the guy married to my wife, yup me….
I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a very disturbing site. I saw fire coming out of the hood. This didn’t appear normal and I immediately got out of the burning melting buggy. After a few minutes of the Buggy Bar B Que, I realized I should make a photo for insurance reasons. So…hmmmm….uhhhh where the heck is my M4?
People talk today about frying their digital camera but let me tell ya…. When you fry a Leica M4 with a 35mm Summicron on it…well, that’s frying a camera.
Debbie & I divorced about 3 months after the Buggy Leica Bar B Que and I thought ….. at least one thing positive came out of this….
With all the heat…with all the melting fogging smoking cursing praying…the roll of film survived and I saved the photos…
What more can ya ask?
Thanks Wouter my friend… I haven’t thought about her in many years….NO…not her…the buggy…….don
People doubt about the intentions of nostalgia in a photograph, either by subjects or post processing. Interestingly though I get the impression that it brings back a lot of personal memories. And I think that is what matters. Thank you therefore for sharing your personal story Don. And too bad the M4 with the ‘Cron got fried too.
I really like the way you have the yellows in this shot. Looks really good
Great picture, Wouter – and I had one just like this – same colour even – years ago! Adrian
Wouter Brandsma 
Nice shot. Makes me remember the beetle my mother had when i was a kid. One time she left the car to buy some milk and left me and my little brother alone in the car, and the carkey she forgot. I tricked my brother to turn the key and the car jumped straight into the shops wall. And when we got home she realised she had forgetted the milk and had to go back again 🙂
The car was called Bubbla in swedish.
This is such a great and hilarious story Jörgen. Just love it. And wonderful that a photograph of a “Bubbla” (I immediately added the word as a tag to this post) brings back your memories. Thank you for sharing.
Love this photo. I love that there are yellow flowers/leaves(?) on the trees that match the car, and the street has a bit of a yellow sheen. Did you mess with the processing to get the yellow tones, or was it a reflection of the light because of time of day?
Those yellow leaves of that birch in the background really complement the car. I made that photograph late night with a 30 seconds exposure. I was standing beneath a lamppost that gave a warm white balance. The Beetle was a wonderfully two tone painted that worked so well with the light and the background.
Thanks for sharing this one Wouter. I owned a yellow 1973 Beetle and ran the your know what out of it!!!! My friend had a yellow Honda about the same age and we’d race the country roads near where we lived. Miss those days!!!
Wonderful, those memories. Love it Duane. We never had a Beetle, but my father had a brown five doors Honda Civic 1977. That was a pretty amazing car for that time.
Nice to see you online again Wouter. Happy Holidays to you!
Best wishes, Eric
Hi Eric, Hope you do well. I still have good memories from earlier this year in The Hague. Best wishes to your family.
Lovely, Wouter. My mother had a Beetle too. The heater control was broken, so the garage turned it on for the winter, and off for the summer.
The lighting is great. Is it just a street lamp?
Hi Mike, All I had was the street lamp and a long exposure. I had no tripod with me, so I used my house key to support the camera and to point the camera slightly up.
Very cool vintage Beetle. Somebody has put some work into this one. I’m no Beetle aficionado, but note no turn signal indicators on the top of the front fenders. As far as I know, that is not original, but is a popular aftermarket mod. The car looks great and your long exposure smoothed the night clouds, but left at least one star and gave great colors. Wonderful. And while we’re talking Beetles or Beatles, did anybody else think the kids walking in front of the building construction in the last post looked like a still from “Hard Days Night”? (Except they should have been running.) 😉
Oh, Beetles! My older sister and her husband worked for a VW dealership for many years in the 70s, and all they drove were Beetles. What is it about these cars that brings back such pleasant nostalgia?
Your image even has a vintage-y feel to it, just right for the car.
With all the new lease cars here it can became pretty hard to find older cars, but I like them as subjects a lot.
A reblogué ceci sur DmartienJ Space and commented:
Nice 🙂
Lovely shot there Mr.Wouter, glad to finally see another colored photos being posted in your blog. Hope to see more coming in the future!
I am gradually learning and leaning towards colour (I guess). Currently 50% of my photographs are in colour so it is coming. Thank you!
Wouter, I resisted posting this little story but my resistance has worn thin.
My wife at the time, yes a few before her and one after…wanted a Beetle. One day I was walking with my M4 and I saw this ugly yellow car. It was a 69 Beetle. There was a guy changing a tire on it and I talked with him as I watched and of course made a few photos. He was cursing using words that would shock anyone in a pub.
As he worked I asked him if he wanted to sell the car. “Hmmmmm, what an idea” he said. So we talked and made a deal. I came back in an hour with the cash, we made the deal and I now owned this ugly beetle.
I parked the car in the driveway and started to make calls for parts etc. My wife saw it and was in love. I am not a yellow Beetle so I didn’t get that love.
I spent a lot of money on the car, I never drove it as it was hers and I dare not take a chance…..The car was completely rebuilt and even the floor pans were replaced….
So the last thing needed was to do the upholstery. I called a German mechanic the did restorations. He worked in the VW plant in Germany and now lived 10 minutes from me here in Philadelphia. He asked me to bring the car over and he would quote a price. I was excited, the car would be finished and maybe I could get on with my life.
I jumped into the freshly painted, fully restored Buggy and turned the key. I heard a sound ….POP…hmmmm me thought, what the heck is that….hmmmmm
Well, there’s a thing that VW did on the Carb. They used a rubber gas line to the carb from the tank. Well, it was a widely know fact that all VW Bus owners knew but not me. Not the guy married to my wife, yup me….
I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a very disturbing site. I saw fire coming out of the hood. This didn’t appear normal and I immediately got out of the burning melting buggy. After a few minutes of the Buggy Bar B Que, I realized I should make a photo for insurance reasons. So…hmmmm….uhhhh where the heck is my M4?
People talk today about frying their digital camera but let me tell ya…. When you fry a Leica M4 with a 35mm Summicron on it…well, that’s frying a camera.
Debbie & I divorced about 3 months after the Buggy Leica Bar B Que and I thought ….. at least one thing positive came out of this….
With all the heat…with all the melting fogging smoking cursing praying…the roll of film survived and I saved the photos…
What more can ya ask?
Thanks Wouter my friend… I haven’t thought about her in many years….NO…not her…the buggy…….don
People doubt about the intentions of nostalgia in a photograph, either by subjects or post processing. Interestingly though I get the impression that it brings back a lot of personal memories. And I think that is what matters. Thank you therefore for sharing your personal story Don. And too bad the M4 with the ‘Cron got fried too.
I really like the way you have the yellows in this shot. Looks really good
Great picture, Wouter – and I had one just like this – same colour even – years ago! Adrian