What A Difference (Almost...) A Decade Makes

 I did a quick photo search tonight and I came across something amazing. Back in March 2014 (March 20th, to be exact...), I spotted a 1970 Volkswagen Campervan sitting at the side of Main Street in Centerville, Utah. I stopped, snapped a couple of pictures, and thought how much I would have loved to fix it up, but, it was...

A hunk of junk.

Funny, what a difference a decade makes.

Just look at the thing. So much work.

I think I even told my wife who knows I love classed VWs about the van. I have no idea if the thing even ran--I know it had an engine, front seats, and all four tires. I don't know the condition of the inside or the pup-up tent. I don't know if rust had all but destroyed the undercarriage.

Still...

$1500.

That's all it cost. For $1500 I could have bought it and parked it by the side of the house. If I had done just that, bought it and parked it for a decade, I could sell the thing for ten-times what I paid, especially if it ran. 

Sunday night, I decided to text message a high school friend. Jimmy is one of the finest people I've ever met and the almost forty years since we graduated high school together have not caused me to think any less of him. We chatted briefly about the old days and I said something about how those days were gone, like the favorite cookies we used to eat when we got together, or finding a $500 VW bug that offered reliable transportation. He picked up on that and said sometimes he's like to own a classic beetle, but then, would it be worth it?

I agreed. The cars were dangerous, unreliable, no heat/AC, but I am still drawn to them like a "bug" to a flame. Seeing photos of that classic van and considering how much it cost back then...had I bought it, I probably would have cursed my decision and ended up selling it for scrap. 

Still...

It might have been worth it after all.