YOU ARE HERE: Central Kentucky Home→Collections→Mud

Cool Rides: Jeff's 1963 Volkswagen Beetle

July 30, 2007|BOBBIE CURD

STANFORD - Jody Elliott, 26, pulled a sunken 1963 Volkswagen Beetle out of the mud at his parents' place and with it came a flood of memories.

His brother, Jeff McQueen, was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1985 at the young age of 15, just a year after his parents bought him the car. The case has never been solved, and after Jeff's death, the bright blue Beetle was put away in a shed, never to be driven again.

"The mud was so deep that roots were growing out from between the tires and wheels," Elliott says.

The car was always known to be off limits to him and his friends, kind of an unspoken taboo, Elliott says.

But he realized that Jeff would not have wanted it to sit and rot, unused. He and his stepdad waited until December, when the mud was frozen, and pulled the car out with a tractor.

After vacuuming the mice nests out of it, Elliott saw that all the original parts of the car were still intact, even the makeshift floor board in the back seat, under the battery, that McQueen's father made with a road sign.

"Jeff went over a bump when he was driving it, and the battery fell out of the floorboard," Elliott says as he pulls up the back seat. "He drove home with the battery dragging the ground."

Elliott and his stepdad were shocked when they replaced the battery and the fuel system and the car started after about 15 minutes of coaxing. They did not expect that out of a mud-soaked car that hadn't been started in more than 20 years. "I guess it says a lot for German engineering," Elliott says.

Despite the rust, he likes the car just the way it is, for now.

"Most car shows have a division for unrestored vintage cars," Elliott says. He points out the spots of rust poking out through the blue finish in almost an art-like fashion, and says that judges in this category watch for the patina.

Nothing on the interior has been touched other than the 8-ball custom gear shift.

Elliott thinks about Jeff everytime he pulls the car out. And he knows his parents do, too. They are tickled that the vehicle is in working condition now.

He talks about how anyone 35 or older has their own story about a Volkswagen Beetle, and how "Beetle Juice" makes other people feel, especially when they see it in this condition.

"The way this car makes everyone smile ...," Elliott says, rubbing a hand over the faded finish. "I'm sure it did him too."

|

|

|