La Cucarachita

It's still a legend. 

1982 VW Cucarachita

With 21,529,464 produced world wide, the VW Beetle holds the record as the longest-running, most-manufactured car ever produced on the same platform. First built in 1938, the "peoples car" became one of the most popular and affordable cars ever made. Finally, after 65 years of production, on the 30th of July, 2003 in Puebla, Mexico the last "Bug" rolled of the assembly line.

The Beetle has been sold under various names around the world. In the USA it was called the "Bug". In Brazil the "Fuzca", in France the "Coccinelle" and here in Honduras the "La Cucarachita".

The Bug is an amazing little car really. It has a very simple, horizontally opposed, air cooled engine that can be removed from the car in about half an hour making roadside repairs a cinch. The independent rear suspension combined with the front swing axle gives the car a very decent ride, even on the roughest terrain. It's narrow chassis made it ideal for the small streets of old European cities and narrow mountain or jungle roads alike. With the engine sitting directly over the rear wheels, the traction is quite good, and if all else fails, it is so light that it is easily pushed or lifted. Its flat bottomed floor pan leaves nothing to drag on uneven roads and at times has even allowed the car to float.

In the '60s and '70s the Bug reached iconic status during the "hippie" era. It even became a super star in the 1968 hit movie Herbie, the Love Bug. Another claim to fame the Bug has is the infamous children's game "Punch Buggy". Over the years, millions of bruised young shoulders have attested to the popularity of this game. The game is played like this; whenever a Bug is sited you shout the words "punch buggy, no return" while accompanying them with a solid punch to the upper fore arm of your unsuspecting and less observant companion. (No return means that if the bug passes you again, it cannot be reused against you, an interesting form of self protectionism)

And now Thomas is the proud owner of a 1982 Cucarachita made in Brazil

We saw this little guy for sale on the side of the road in Valle de Angeles last November and decided to buy it as a birthday present for Thomas. It's original owner was from France and when he sold it, it was passed down through several different hands until it reached us. It needs some TLC and we just rebuilt the engine, but overall it is a solid little car that we hope will give us years of fun.

Who says life has to be boring!

Below is an interesting embankment/rock formation Barbe and I saw during a recent trip to the natural hot springs near Gracias Lempira. It has nothing to do with the VW Beetle, but I thought it was cool enough to warrant publishing.