A Moved Metric Motors Makes it through Maelstrom

My first Volkswagen was a 1973 Type 3 Fastback purchased in Valley Nebraska, in April of 1991. The dealer, who knew nothing about VWs --he didn't know how to open the gas flap when we ran out of gas on the test drive, nor did he know how to open the rear hood to get at the engine--somehow knew to tell me about one John Osborne of Metric Motors in Winside "in case you need to get it worked on" (there's a pessimistic though wholly accurate sales pitch for you). So when that time inevitably came, I took it to him.

Over time my air-cooled VW driving buddies and I developed something of a relationship with Osborne (outside of his presence we either referred to him by his first and last names or just his last name; never 'John'). Sometimes we got along well, other times, some of us not so well (anyone who knows him will have no trouble believing this). Probably because I was (and am) by far the least mechanically proficient and therefore least likely to question his sage wisdom--which, in retrospect, was pretty sage--of us three I think he always liked me best. Plus I had him build an engine for me once.

Anyway, for reasons unknown to me some years ago he up and moved a good number of the VWs sitting on his tiny property in downtown Winside to Pilger Nebraska, maybe a half hour away.

(That Squareback is, I'm certain, the same one I used to see tooling around Norfolk 20+ years ago, driven by some old guy. Mine and this one were the only ones around.)

You might recognize that name, 'Pilger', as belonging to a little Nebraska town that got pummeled by a tornado this Summer. His place seems to've escaped the more severe damage. I got the photos from a facebook friend.

So, yeah. There's a little of my ACVW history and currentish events (and a really, really stupid post title) rolled up into one.