Carla Schoepfle

As we were driving back from our vacation in Connecticut we passed through New Jersey on the same weekend that the Waterworks car show was starting.  Seeing all the VWs on the road, I remembered one of the questions on the forum that Pete was reading, “How did you become a VW owner”.  Most of the answers were very short.  I don’t think I could put together a two sentence blerb on how we came to own 3 VWs.

The story starts shortly after Pete and I got married.  Pete had owned nothing but VWs and owned a 2000 Jetta V6 at the time (I owned the only car I’d ever owned – a 1994 Toyota Carolla).  He wanted to “trade” his Jetta for a Corrado.  I wasn’t paying much attention to the cars – and simply said “sure honey, what ever you want” assuming that we’d end up with the Corolla, the Jetta, and the Corrado (which Pete had already warned me was “temperamental”).

Apparently Pete is not good at lying to himself. He was adamant that he get rid of the Jetta – and that it would either be sold, or traded for a new car for me.  So we went car shopping. I wanted a car that was either the same size as my Corolla or smaller, had a sun roof, had heated seats and anti-lock breaks and no leather.  Apparently these criteria (especially the size one) limited my selections.  I decided I would also prefer a more fuel efficient car if at all possible as I don’t like to pay to fill up the car.  I ended up getting a VW Golf TDI (I love it).

But the story continues… Pete later decided a pickup truck would be really great to have (so we wouldn’t have to borrow my parent’s to go and get free mulch from the county).  I said that 3 cars were the max (otherwise we’d have to start paying Arlington country more money to park the cars).  So he could have the pickup if he sold my Corolla (which I wasn’t driving anymore).  So Pete ended up selling my Corolla.  And the very next day a little yellow VW Rabbit pickup (diesel engine) was parked in-front of the house when I got home from work.  He’d apparently found one, put money down and was just waiting to sell the Corolla.  I had to laugh.

So – the long and the short if it is – we are now a 3 VW household with 2 drivers.  It’s kinda silly, but it’s been tons of fun.