Amusing VW story

Amusing VW story

September 13, 2014

This is a short story about a Volks wagon beetle that I was recently reminded of. It happened quite some time ago when I was fortunate enough to be involved in a different career than the present. At the time I was working as a State police prosecutor. On the day in question, my car had been in the workshop undergoing some minor repairs. After a long and tiring day, my colleague and friend offered me a ride home as he lived close to my home.

He too did not have his car but was taking care of a friend's Volks Wagon Beetle. His friend was away in Darwin, completely on the other side of the country. As we lived in Tasmania, a small island State, the expense of transporting the car was prohibitive. He had decided to leave the car and go off to Darwin for work.

After our long and exhausting day, we soon found ourselves in the large car park opposite the police station looking for our ride home. The prosecution branch is located in the building. My friend seemed to be somewhat disoriented and confused, he exclaimed: 'Bloody hell, someone has stolen the car.'

We did notice another Volks Wagon beetle nearby of a similar colour, faded white, and the same year and model. and after checking it, my colleague was adamant that this other Volks Wagon was not the right one. I suggested he try the key and unusually the key did fit the car. By this time I was beginning to think my friend had lost the plot a little. Maybe it was the right car and he had just had a brain freeze and forgotten where he parked it. "No" he insisted, "It's not the same car."

Feeling a little embarrassed and annoyed because by this time I just wanted to get home and rest the weary brain, we trudged back to the station to report the incident. The desk officer had a little chuckle to himself and reported it immediately to the radio room. We decided not to wait for a result as that might never happen we grabbed a lift from a patrol car. As circumstance would further enlighten us a short time later there came to a bemused comment over the patrol car radio: "I think we just put that car on the ferry at Devonport to go to Melbourne". It was the response of two young detectives returning from the Devonport ferry terminal.

Here's how it went, it seems the senior detective sergeant at Launceston police had authorized two junior detectives to collect the car from the carpark which he had purchased to send to his daughter in Adelaide. The same senior sergeant later became the State Assistant Commissioner. The two detectives having been armed with the key had located what they thought was the correct car. Without checking the registration, they had subsequently driven it to Devonport, over 100km away, and placed it on the ferry to be transported to Melbourne and then onto Adelaide.

It seems that VW had the forethought to only manufacture a small number of interchangeable keys. Now not all was bad in this story. My colleague's friend managed to save himself the considerable ferry cost as he was able to travel to Melbourne and then drive his most reliable car in the 20th century back to Darwin. The detective sergeant, unfortunately, had to fork out another ferry cost to send the remaining VW to Adelaide for his daughter.

The moral to the story, look before you drive a VW or borrow wisely.