news:
on friday i got a call from a man i didn`t know. i`m known as a car-guy in my area, so somebody gave him my number.
it was a guy called Hans Müller, who wanted to offer his dad´s old mk2 jetta.
the call was oviously in german, but here`s the translation:
Me: hello?
"hello, hans müller speaking. do you want a car for free?"
"maybe, what car?"
"mk2 jetta, my dad got it from new. we don`t want to get it scrapped. it does run and drive. car is located in Gießen, come over if you want!"
"ok, when?"
"whenever you want, we`re retired and at home in Schulstraße XX in Gießen-Wieseck"
"and the car is for free?"
"yes, if you take it it is for free!"
so i went to see the jetta, expecting a wreck. if Mr Müller jun. is retired, how old may his father be?
i got there half an hour later, nice house, trimmed lawn, all nice and clean. exactly how you think a german pensioner`s house should look like. i went to ring on the door, but in the same moment Mrs. Müller opened the door and let me in. i wasn`t allowed to see the car till i had met her father in law and owner of the car. and till i hadn`t had a cup of coffee and some biscuits.
well, where to begin...
Mr Müller sen. didn`t look a day older than sixty. not a day. he was ninety years old, playing football in the garden with his grand-grand son and gave me a handshake that nearly shattered my fingers. he asked me to sit down with him on the porch and asked me about my car history-so i took out my phone and showed him some pics. i wanted to show him how to switch to other pictures-but "i have a smartphone myself, also android!" he said. umm, ok. the guy is ninety. and has a smartphone. ok.
well, the story to the car: he won the lottery in 1990, five million marks. he already had a house,so he bought another one for his son. an he decidet to do do something good for himself. to buy a new car! picture that: you win the lottery, you have enough money to buy everything you like-and you buy a Mk2 Jetta. not a porsche or a ferrari or a BMW. a jetta.
well, he said. i always liked to travel, he said. i wanted to go to all the places i never had been and i hate to fly. so the jetta was in my opinion the best choice. it took me all around the mediterranian sea, morocco, algeria, tunesia, lybia, egypt, israel, turkey, greece, ex-yugoslavia etc. i been to the nordkap in this car, to moscow,lake aral, the caspian sea,everywhere. i had no trouble at all with the car. it is not as heavy as a jeep, has an enormous boot and everybody can fix it it`s a VW! he said. and then he showed me all the documents to the car. all the photos, all the repair and service bills- indeed. the car had done 1416322 kms.
he said:every 10000 kms the car got new oil, 10W40 full-synthetic from the beginning. also new airfilter and sparks. everytime the car was in the garage i took the mechanic by my side and said: "for every rust-spot you find or oil leak you`ll get 5 marks tip!" as you can imagiine-the car was alwasy perfect maintained...
i wanted to see the car. now. i really was getting impatiend, so i asked him to see he car. but first i asked him why he want to give it away?
he said: i made that desicion when i was sixty. i said to myself: i will get my eyes checked every year to see if i`m be able to drive. safe to drive. if not, i ill give back my license. if i am, i will drive till i`m ninety and give back my license then. old folks like me should take the bus!
i was really, really impressed by this man. i think i never met somebody with such a personality like him. the only person i know who comes close is the former german Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. he has such an integrity,strength of character you won`t find in today`s generation.
so, let`s see your car! he said. my car? ok. oviously i had no chance NOT to take it, he made the decision i had to take it with me.i asked him about that and he looked me right in the eyes and said: son. I'm ninety. do you think i wasted the last hour just to keep this thing?
well...i waved the white flag and he opened the garage.
i looked for the jetta but it wasn`t there. no one-and-a-half-milloin-km-jetta today, i thought.
there he is! he said.
waaaaait! in frond of me was parked a bordeaux-metallic MK2-jetta, 1.8 GL, all options except leather seats and electric windows. and, i swear, if he had told me this had made only sixty thousand kms, i would have belived it! the car looked so good-no dents. no rust. no worn seats. no damage in the plasic parts or on the paint...
the car has never been re-painted except the boot. and the tires are shot, he said.
i still coudn`t belive it.
the car got center-locking, electric mirrors (i`ve never seen this on a mk2 golf or jetta except a GTI!) foglights, ski-bag,original audio system, full adjustable seats,sunroof,tinted glass-but no electric windows.
well, he said, i thought if i have an accident and the battery breaks and the doors are jammend AND the car catches fire-how do i get out of the car? so i went to handles!
and i wanted velour seats.leather is nice, but park your car in the sun-you will burn your ass. and in winter your nuts freeze of! (quote!)
so, i took the car home with me. the DOT-number on the tires said made in 2015 but thew were totally shot. hardly 1mm profile left. they were also the standart 175/70/13, so i put the ATS Cup on and took it for a little spin today.
and i was thinking about the car. Mr Müller kept all of the documentary to the car. sadly. today i phoned him again. and i phoned a friend of mine who works for Volkswagen Classic in Wolfsburg. in my opinion this car and all of its documentary belongs to a museum,the VW museum in Wolfsburg. lets see...Mr Müller said it would be ok for him to give all of the documents away IF they decide to take it. but he said: son, it`s just a car. it was made to drive, so i drove it. now anybody else should go on drive it. it wasn`t made to get stared at by some idiotic tourists! (quote!)
when he gave me the car it was washed and the tank was full. so, as i said, i took it for a little spin to an old castle nearby and took some pictures. does it need to mention there`s no rattle, no squeaking and everything works? instrument lights, all 3 steps of the heating blower, everything!
here`s todays pictures:
this is what a nearly one and a half millin km car looks like!
unbelivable. if anyone else had told me this story i seriously wouldn`t have believe it
let`s see what will happen to it. i will get some new tires for the original wheels this week.