Classic Car Stories: The Orange Volkswagen Karmann Ghia I Regret Selling
To All The Cars I've Loved Before: Classic Car Restoration, JDM, and Automotive History
Classic Car Stories: The Orange Volkswagen Karmann Ghia I Regret Selling
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Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a classic sports car that many people love for its speed and cool design. It's been around for a long time and is often seen as a symbol of American cars, making it a fun choice for driving.
Brand
Honda
Honda is another car company from Japan, famous for making reliable cars like the Civic and Accord.
Brand
Datsun
Datsun is a former car brand that was part of Nissan, known for making budget-friendly cars in the past.
Term
water cooled
Water cooled means the engine uses water to keep cool while it runs, preventing it from overheating.
Car
1987 Cabriolet
The 1987 Cabriolet is a convertible version of the Porsche 911, a famous sports car. It has a soft top that can be lowered for open-air driving.
Term
snowflake rims
Snowflake rims are a type of wheel design that looks like a snowflake, usually with five spokes. They were popular on certain cars, especially in the past.
Term
high gloss
High gloss means the paint on the car is very shiny and smooth. It makes the car look more attractive and shows off its design well.
Car
Carmen Ghia
The Karmann Ghia is a vintage car made by Volkswagen that looks sporty and stylish. It was made between 1955 and 1974 and is based on the same platform as the Volkswagen Beetle, which is a very famous car.
Car
Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle is a classic car that has a very unique round shape. It was first made in the 1930s and became very popular, known for being simple and reliable. It was produced until 2019.
Car
Chevrolet Corvairs
The Chevrolet Corvair is a car that was made by Chevrolet in the 1960s. It had a different design compared to most cars, with the engine in the back instead of the front.
Term
air cooled
Air cooled means that the engine uses air to stay cool instead of water. This is how some older cars, like certain Volkswagens and Porsches, were designed.
Concept
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach is a well-known car show in California where people display and judge classic cars. It's a big event for car lovers and collectors.
Concept
Lime Rock Park
Lime Rock Park is a racetrack in Connecticut where car races and events take place. It's a fun place for car enthusiasts to watch races and see cool cars.
Car
Volkswagen Cabrio
The Volkswagen Cabrio is a small convertible car that many people enjoy driving because it has a roof that can be opened. The models from 1987 to 1989 are known for their classic look and fun driving style.
Car
Porsche 914
The Porsche 914 is a sporty car made by Porsche that has its engine in the middle, which helps it handle well on the road. It was made a long time ago, from 1969 to 1976, and is popular among car enthusiasts.
Car
Lucid Air
The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that runs on batteries instead of gas. It's designed to be really comfortable and high-tech, making it a great option for people looking for a stylish and eco-friendly ride.
Car
Volkswagen Rabbit GTI
The Volkswagen Rabbit GTI is a small car that is fun to drive and was made in 1984. It's known for being sporty and practical, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Company
Bring a Trailer
Bring a Trailer is a website where people can buy and sell special cars, especially older or unique ones. It's popular among car lovers who want to find something special or sell their own cars.
Car
Volkswagen GTI
The Volkswagen GTI is a popular small car that is fun to drive and has a sporty look. Many people love it for its speed and handling, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Term
fuel injection
Fuel injection is how modern cars send fuel to the engine. It helps the car run better and use fuel more efficiently than older cars that used carburetors.
Term
semi-automatic
A semi-automatic transmission lets you change gears manually without needing to use a clutch pedal. It's a mix of automatic and manual driving, making it easier to control the car.
Term
rust repair
Rust repair is fixing parts of a car that have gotten rusty, which can happen when the car is exposed to water and salt. It's important to keep the car safe and looking good.
Concept
mid-engine
Mid-engine means the engine is placed in the middle of the car, which helps it handle better when driving. It's a popular design for sports cars.
Car
Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 is an early sports car made by Porsche, famous for its sleek design and good handling. It was one of the first cars made by the company after World War II.
Car
Volkswagen Bus
The Volkswagen Bus is a big, boxy van that many people love for its fun look and roomy space. It's famous for being used on road trips and has a lot of fans who enjoy its retro style.
LIVE
Welcome back, Planet Earth, United States, Northeast, Southeast, to all the cars I've loved.
Before your podcast where every car tells a story in, we talk about life lessons through
cars because guess what?
We are where automotive history and American history meet your history, your family's
history.
We're going to get into, with our very special guest today, a situation where automobiles
are her family's business, her bloodline, going back over a century.
And before we get into that, let's, let's, a little bit of housekeeping, how you doing
over there, partner?
How's the audio?
Audio sounds good.
Audio sounds good.
Sound good.
Yeah, we had to, yup.
No, I was going to say the network plumber, aka me, was having network problems for
once.
Yeah.
For once it wasn't you.
So.
You never, that's true.
Thank goodness.
We're going to hear about the guys on smart lists or Mark Marin having any of these technical
difficulties, but you know what, Listenerland?
They do.
They have them.
They do.
You got to figure it out.
We have this product to put on the air.
We work hard for you to come up with great guests, great stories, et cetera, et cetera.
So we're just going to kind of roll with it.
I'll let you know if you're glitching or having any problems.
But like Doug said, for once, hey, so what is that background?
That's the Golden Gate Bridge, correct?
It is.
It is.
Zoom selected it for me, but I think you and I walked across it, didn't we?
Or at least three quarters of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So.
In 2017.
It was a while ago.
Yeah.
Doug and I have known each other for quite a while and he used to be one of these.
Would you call yourself a road warrior in prior jobs?
You would just kind of crisscross the nation for his jet set glitzy high tech gig.
And he'd always say to me, Hey, man, I'm going to be here for a weekend.
You want to come here?
You want to be here there?
That was a great trip, though.
I do remember that trip because I flew into San Jose, rented the car first.
This was in, I'm going to say April, April or May of 2017.
I got into San Jose.
I think it was actually February.
Oh, you might be right.
You might be right.
We were out there.
San Jose, by the way, is beautiful.
I had never been there before.
You come out of the San Jose airport and it's just, you know, most airports you come out
of and you're in some industrial warehouse district.
Absolutely no fun to be in San Jose.
You look one way and the mountains are right there and I said, Oh, I want to be a mouse.
I just drove up into the mountains and just drove around in circles until your flight
came in a few hours later.
What happened after that?
We went to like the Intel Museum out there.
We did.
We went to the Intel Museum.
We went to the Jelly Belly Museum.
Jelly Belly Museum was great, except the weather was terrible.
The traffic was terrible and it closed.
And it closed.
It was, it was raining and I was so angry at you because you made us late.
We missed the last tour by five minutes.
So you know, all we got to do was experience the gift shop.
Well, and I was angry at you for being angry at me.
So I did a 180 in the parking lot and reverse in our rented Mustang, which yeah, seemed to
be entertaining to you, I think.
Yeah.
Maybe we're terrible travel partners.
Have you ever thought of that?
Could be.
Could be.
It's possible.
Yeah.
Here we are to tell the tale.
Do you remember the car that we rented?
Of course.
Probably a 2016, 2017 Mustang V6 had some had some guts.
It was red and we got that awesome picture in the hills of San Francisco where the that
house from, God, they call it the pain in ladies, I think the pain in ladies.
Yeah.
And it's these beautiful town homes, $10 million town homes, you know, 1300 square
feet right behind us.
That was a great picture at we did a lot of walking.
We went to the not to go too far.
We went to the what was it?
We went to Alcatraz, which was awesome.
That was still amazing.
Yeah.
Tom, our guest, let's see.
We interviewed Tom recently for an episode and he just went there with Jamie.
And so we were talking about Alcatraz and I told him.
I told I told him about the funny stunt where we went on the last tour
that I and I tried to lock you in one of the in one of the cells.
But yeah, unfortunately, I had a hole in the wall and I got out.
Yeah. Yeah.
Just like Shawshank Redemption.
Not too.
You got it.
Not to.
And I will say that Mustang, though, do not handle well in the rain.
Do not handle well in the rain.
Be very careful.
Real World Pontiacs also the same.
Don't ask me how I know what I would.
I was I would also say, thank God, that car was automatic
because I could not imagine driving stick shift in San Francisco.
Oh, my God.
Twenty. I could barely see over the hood.
What if he'd stop?
Yeah, brutal, brutal.
Talk about rolling back.
But enough about me.
Let's talk about you.
What do you think about me?
No, we have a great guest to get to today.
Yeah.
And so excited to do the show.
A friend of the show.
We cannot get enough of these wonderful people we meet.
And who's going to introduce her?
Are we going to fight over ourselves
to introduce this wonderful guest or what?
Well, are you freezing or am I freezing?
No, no, I'm here.
All right.
So I'm going to I'm going to hand over.
Yeah.
Well, Guinevere came to us by way of James,
who has really been a master social
networker for us for the show with bringing us.
Interesting, James McCrae.
And I don't know how he knows so many
wonderful, giving people, but that is how Guinevere
has been brought to our doorstep.
How are you going to bear?
Hi, guys.
Thanks for having me tonight.
They're doing well.
Fantastic.
And we are reaching you from the Wilds of Connecticut.
The Wilds of Greenwich.
Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Now, how did you let me ask if I may,
how you came to know James and then
how did he approach you to be on our show?
I met James a few months ago this spring.
I actually went to school to become
a fine art photographer, photographer
and the Malcolm Prey Achievement Center,
which is a car collection in.
Bedford, New York, they're right on the line.
So they bring kids down from tech classes
and they do everything from, you know,
how a car runs to how to winterize a car
to just basic car facts.
Me and my dad have gone up to Newburg before
to do history of cars and they had cars
throughout the decade.
So this time it just happened to be a photography class.
So James and I were both there as mentors.
I happened to bring a car and teach one of the groups.
Wonderful. OK. OK.
And then and then he just started
to tell me about that car.
Nice. Nice.
Nice. Sorry.
And I I interrupted, but I had to ask.
And this will this will maybe be a good lead in.
Was that car a bull?
I sorry. Was that car a Toyota?
Was it a Honda? Was it a Datsun?
What kind of car was it that you brought up there?
It was a Volkswagen.
That day it was actually a water cooled Volkswagen
because it was raining and Lily doesn't come out in the rain.
And it was pretty it was a pretty crappy day.
But photography is better when it's cloudy.
So I did bring the water cooled car that day.
So it was a 1987 triple white cabriolet with snowflake rims.
Snowflake. What does that mean?
What does snowflake rims mean?
Oh, oh, that has like the five spokes.
That's you. Yeah. Never.
That's pretty neat.
That is very neat.
And so and so he mentioned to you that he'd been on this podcast
or or he mentioned that there was a podcast.
He mentioned there was a podcast.
I can't remember if he said he'd been on it,
but he said it was super cool.
It was about people that people that love their cars
and have great stories.
And he said, I can just tell you
you can talk about all your cars, you name all your cars.
So he said, I think you'll be a good fit.
We owe that guy a cookie.
We really do.
All the great people that that that traverse
our virtual conference room here.
So I have to tell you that, OK, we're going to see
that a theme will persist through this discussion on VWs.
And I have to tell you, I think your first car
is just the neatest first car.
I've never owned one, but I would love to hear about your first car.
My first car I got before I was even 16.
My dad, my dad. So jealous.
My dad and my grandfather got me a 1973 Volkswagen car
Mangea and it was propaganda orange.
And my parents both tried to teach me to drive.
I remember being in an office park down the street from my house.
And there's like there's all these duck ponds in the middle
and there's beautiful flowers and my mom's teaching me to drive
and my little sisters in the back seat.
And I just remember stalling so bad
and my sister hitting the back of my seat.
So stressed out and like I was just like, oh, my God, I can't do this.
I can't drive stick.
And I I don't think I drove that car once I turned 16.
They they kept trying to teach me.
But eventually I sold it, which I forever regret now.
I mean, I even love, love, love that it was tropical orange now.
But yeah, I think I'm going to have to hold a second hand grudge
with you and against you.
Think if you had that now.
I was when we were when we were prepping
and reading these show notes, Doug and I were chatting about you
before even met you on the show.
You the last Carmen guy I saw was in a in a Walmart parking lot.
I'm going to say a couple of years or so ago and the feelings of nostalgia,
the waves of it is such a beautiful machine.
And this one was I'm just going to say
white, I mean, it just is beautiful.
I don't think it was pearl asset or anything,
but just this beautiful white paint job and just buffed to this high gloss.
And when he drove away, your jaw hit the ground.
They just make the need of sound when when revving and pulling away.
So you said you called it tropical orange.
And did you make that up or was I made that up at 15 years old?
That was I don't know.
I don't know.
Actually, I've never investigated what Volkswagen color it was.
But in my, you know, teenage self, it was tropical orange.
Yeah, I like that.
Yeah, the Germans, the no nonsense Germans probably had,
you know, didn't have the the clever, cute, quirky,
nickname, color nicknames that all we Americans are fond of.
But OK, so you sold it.
What what happened to that car?
It just you put cash in your hand or your folks hand.
And it just kind of that car just kind of walked away.
Yeah, that one didn't didn't stay around.
Then I got a 1989 Cabriolet dark blue.
I think it had a gray top at the beginning.
And I came home from high school one day
and there was like a big pink bow on it, like you see in a car
commercial and my dad had gotten a big car bow and put it on this car.
And I guess I could like kind of drive at that point.
I think I had my license.
I didn't get my license until I was 18.
I have a bunch of younger siblings.
So and I wasn't really looking forward to driving.
But eventually I got it.
I got the Cabriolet and it's been in someone's garage forever.
So I put the top down.
I'm like cruising around Greenwich Avenue, going out with my friends.
And I finally go to put the top up.
I'm at home. My dad is standing right there.
And this was there's no electronics.
So you have to like right on clip the buttons and then, you know,
wiggle it and make sure they're loose and you go up behind it.
You know, like do the squat and then the full body press.
And I just hear the biggest rip as it comes laying down
because the top was so dry rotted.
It just, yeah.
So she got a new top and I went to school in Boston.
So for the next two years, I was on the T
and then, yeah, my final two years, I had the car up there a lot.
And it was it was nice to have a little car
because I could find parking or I remember. Oh, in Boston.
One year I just parked on my friend's lawn and no one said anything.
So now let's talk about the top for a minute.
Do you remember?
Do you where did you source the replacement top?
Or did you just bring it to a dealership or did your dad just say,
I have ten of these shoved in the back of my closet?
How did you source the top for that car?
At that time, I mean, we still don't have a computer to this day.
So at that time, it was my dad probably making a lot of phone calls.
We had we have an upholsterer we work with.
But my dad did the top on my most recent cabriolet.
So it's always good old dad.
That, yeah, good old dad.
When it comes to the old, OK, and I guess we'll get into the family
business here is so much to chat about.
We'll get into the family business here and we can actually start chatting about that now.
So it you do restoration work in the family business,
I guess, would be a secondary question.
But primarily, let's back into what sort of what sort of business
is your family known for and what business did you grow up around?
We're known for Volkswagen's.
We're known as the air-cooled specialists kind of of the tri-state area and beyond.
I grew up in the garage.
I grew up there after school, sweeping floors, picking up nails.
So tamp tires, when it get damaged, you know, shoveling snow.
So it's been my whole life.
The shop is 102 years old.
Yeah, I grew up with the knowing the original
Grisha Brothers, it was started by them and their parents,
but they were around for a little bit of my early life and my great-great-aunt
who also ran the business.
She was around.
Gotcha. May I share the website here?
Is that OK? Yeah. Yeah.
OK, I know Doug is itching to get in here, partner.
But let me just let me just share.
Let me just share the site.
It's pronounced Freesia, F-R-E-C-C-I-A Brothers.com.
I'll give that to you again.
And if you're listening, you can get on the show notes here.
But F-R-E-C-C-I-A Brothers.com, FreesiaBrothers.com.
And if you go to this website, I love.
And this is your fingerprints all over it, Gwinnibur.
I can tell that this beautiful black and white photo
and it's got it's got a little Carmen Gia there with a couple of
beetles off to the side and it looks like some jacked up dune buggy thing.
Ready to go.
Just hit the bar. Yes.
The bar. The bar.
All right. Well, I need to just step back and be quiet
because I know Doug has a million questions here.
You're fine. You're fine.
But yeah, I mean, there's some great car stories here.
So you mentioned 102 years old, the family business.
It didn't start doing Volkswagen repair
just based on the timeline.
But what did the family start doing?
We started out as painting horse drawn carriages
and, you know, become one of the first dealers.
We have a very low dealer plate number.
The post road, I think, was, I believe, with a dirt road back then.
We're right on dealership road.
There's also porches across from us.
There's Maserati, Lamborghini, Audi.
And our
door front is kind of like wonky compared to everyone else.
But our door, our garage door, points true north,
which I think is pretty cool.
Very cool.
And so, yeah, horse drawn carriages,
eventually over the times, they evolved,
they became car dealers, repairs.
And my dad told me the story of and I heard my
my, you know, the elders told me the stories.
You know, we used to sit at the door,
we used to sit at the garage door and wait for a car to break down.
And we run out there, you bring it back into the shop and you'd fix it up.
And then I believe it's the fifties,
the prey, the Blanchard prey dealership opened.
And by the sixties, people were bringing us Volkswagen's.
We were doing restoration.
We were doing repairs.
So we were kind of always known for Volkswagen's.
If people left town and came back, they'd give us a call.
And then throughout time, they were just doing Toyota's, Datsun's.
Honda's, you know, they were just regular mechanics.
But I went to school in Boston for fine art photography.
And I came back in 2012 and, you know, there was no computer.
There was still a rotary phone.
And I said, come on, like, let's go strict specialty.
Like it'll be fun.
Like we don't have to keep up with the computers.
We don't have to keep up with these crazy panels and the electronics.
Like the Volkswagen's the easiest car to work on.
They're super cute.
Like, come on, people love them.
And it wasn't until I think 2014 I was allowed to create a website
by my grandfather and it was so basic.
It was it was just our name, our address,
the hours and the phone number.
But it was your, yeah, your stake in the ground.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And now and now you have not only the website,
you have a Facebook page.
We're going to put that on our show notes as well as Instagram.
Facebook, Instagram, a voicemail, which is a voicemail.
A push button phone, maybe a push button phone.
I do. My dad, I do.
He has one request was I'd still like to write everything out
on carbon copy paper.
So we do keep that, which is very pretty.
Yeah, yeah.
I just mentioned to somebody the other day, I said, you know,
some people are just analog people in a digital world.
And if that's what you're used to and that what what's works,
what works, stay with it.
I love that.
Keep the history.
Agreed. So, yeah.
So just sort of by happenstance, right?
Here, the shop was there.
All these car dealers flowing out in front of it
and they started doing car repair, right?
It was just kind of perfectly located, right?
It was just it was a line.
Yeah, the door, the garage door pointed true north.
And that's what we did, right?
That is that is so awesome.
And fast forward.
Still family business, I believe you told us your
your father's still involved.
Your husband works there as well.
Yeah. Any any others?
I looped my husband in.
OK, not not there full time, but, you know, on snow day
on snow days, everyone comes down and helps.
And then they're, you know, they're always wearing the t-shirts.
They're always leaving business cards on cars.
If they pass by, they're always taking pictures.
I mean, it is a family affair.
Yeah, and that is so great.
And they kept it, right?
They kept it going.
And with your help, right?
They focused on Volkswagen's, I believe, some Porsches
and Chevrolet Corvair's, right?
Keep it there. Keep it at air cool.
Yeah, we kept it air cooled.
So it's, you know, 90 percent Volkswagen.
And then we do get the Porsche, the Corvair.
Specialist. The Corvair Vans are cool.
But Volkswagen and they are in.
My grandfather passed away in 2018
and he had put a book, a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle away in the 80s.
And I took her out in 2019 and started showing her.
And that's when I really got involved.
Well, first I saw Lily Prey speak at the Prey Center.
And I mean, there was never there was never a choice in my heart.
I was always keeping the shop going.
That's what that's what I was meant toward to do my whole life.
That's what I was expected to do, but it's what I wanted to do.
Even better.
I always thought like when I went to college, Kat Von D was big.
I always thought I was going to be like the Kat Von D of Volkswagen's.
I wanted to learn to pinstripe.
I have no drawing talent at all.
So I just put, you know, my photography, my marketing.
I put what I knew how to do to use.
But I saw Lily Prey speak and I went home.
Eventually my little gray bug came out of storage.
And I said, I'm going to name her Lily.
And then another year later, Lily, the person has become a very good friend.
My life mentor.
And I said, you know, before anyone else tells you, I said, my car's name is Lily.
And we've just been the best of friends since.
Fantastic.
Well, and you.
So in your in your position at Fresh Young Brothers.
You do all the marketing and media, right?
So you've you've taken that your college trade, if you will.
And and made that part of the business, right?
Kind of painted the business in your in your color, so to speak.
And you tell us what you do with that sounds like you do travel.
You do some special events.
We you do some.
Uh, pardon me, some fundraising and whatnot.
And we're going to put all this on our show notes.
But if you don't mind indulgence.
Um, I so I started showing in twenty twenty one was my first show.
And that was with Turtle Garage.
And I believe that does sponsor the it does fundraise for the Prey Center,
which is a car collection left by Malcolm Prey.
And they do take in kids from technical schools and mentor them
and help them find jobs.
And they're really big on keeping the car culture alive.
And we are that's where I met James.
It's nice to meet like some of the younger generation and see what's going on.
And I do I do travel a lot, I guess around like in right now.
It's it's you know, it's Connecticut, Massachusetts.
I was trying to go to all drains this past week,
but the small cargo had their big show.
So I had to be here for my Volkswagen pupil.
But I'm I'm at the point in my automotive career
where I'm trying to go out a little further.
So I'm making maybe a Miami show this year, Amelia.
And then eventually I get out to Pebble Beach.
There is a cool there is a cool concourse at Lime Rock Park.
I'm really looking forward to next year.
I didn't, unfortunately, I didn't make it this year.
I was supposed to, but wait a minute, I have a great idea.
I have a great idea.
Sorry to interrupt.
Just great idea.
We have to have a Pebble Beach to all the cars I've loved before rally
with all the listeners and guests.
Let's make it happen.
Yeah, you guys have a virtual garage.
Yeah. Yes.
All right, Gwynevere, you are our chief marketing officer.
I think you didn't ask for the job.
You just got hired.
I dig it.
Hey, but wait, there's still some.
Doug, can I did you have more?
Can I hop in here real quick?
No, hop hop in.
I do have some air-cooled questions and air-cooled love.
All right.
Well, here I do want to bring this in.
Please. Before we go for it, let's talk about the camera.
You mentioned the camera, but one thing I had to get to
before time spins away from us is now your second car
is a 1989 Cabrio, but your daily driver is an 87 Cabrio.
And your other daily driver, it's two, is a 1963 Beetle.
So how do you choose which to decide in any given day
and compare the second car, that Cabrio with the Cabrio you own now?
The Cabrio I own now, I actually named her Gadget.
The first one was Jessica.
The new one is Gadget because she's automatic.
And I think she had a radio, which I never had in anything else.
So I just felt like it was so high-tech, which I'm very.
Of course, compared to a super car, it's nothing, but it makes me happy.
So that's all that matters.
And then I have the 1963 Beetle, Lily, which she does not have a radio,
but I do love driving her back country.
And people people ask me all the time, do you play your phone?
I said, no, I kind of just like the quiet and the digital detox.
And especially now it's New England and you are a walking VW commercial.
I can just envision at dusk the leaves trailing behind.
And you're just on curvy mountain roads.
I see it. All right, Doug.
Sorry, back to you.
Back to you with the air cold.
The air cooled interrogation air, air cooled culture.
So some people with air cooled cars, they don't want they don't want a radio,
right, because you have that beautiful sound.
So yeah, maybe, yep, the chirp.
So maybe you could tell us all the benefits of air cooled, right?
What what gets people?
What keeps them happy, smiling at about air cooled, right?
And yeah, why why it's so we know it's nostalgic, right?
But there are some other good attributes of air cooled engines.
Yeah, I mean, we'll go off to nostalgia first.
Everyone has a book, everyone has a Volkswagen story.
Right now, the Cabriolet is having a hot moment because they're back.
So I was driving that around a lot before, without getting stopped.
Now I'm getting stopped all the time with people talking to me.
But if I if I take out Lily, the bug, I always plan like an extra 30 minutes
to an hour to do my errands, because I know I'm going to hear
at least like two or three Volkswagen stories and I want to hear them.
So like someone walks up to me, they say, I have I have Volkswagen.
Like I'm already invested in your story.
But yeah, they've stayed around like no other car has stayed around before.
People have hoarded them.
They've hoarded their parts.
My dad was telling me how there used to be like strictly Volkswagen
like displays and cow doors and I think Sears,
which you've never seen for another another car brand.
But they're the simplest cars to work on.
They were specifically created that way.
They were specifically created to be very efficient.
One of my favorite Volkswagen ads.
I mean, I probably gravitate to it more because we're in New England.
And I remember my dad having, you know, if you have if you have a small business,
you're working 24 seven.
So there was times it would snow and my dad would be, you know,
out snow plowing, but there's that old ad.
How does this no plow driver get to work?
And it's the little picture of the Volkswagen.
So the engines in the back, but my personal, which helps with the weight.
My personal rule is I'll drive them all, you know, fall, winter
in New England until the salt comes down.
That's right.
Look out for that salt.
You got to watch out for that salt.
And then they go away.
But that leads that leads back to the other question.
There's no water in them.
There's no antifreeze.
You know, you don't really have to winterize them.
Just make sure I think, you know, give them a good spa day and put them alone.
Yeah, soothing spa music.
OK, our research, I got to get a couple things in here real quick.
Research department, we have dozens of analysts on staff
that help us get through any given show.
And one of them just all automotive experts, one of them got
handed me a note here, a folded up cocktail napkin that said,
Tropicana Orange is actually Signal Orange.
That was the official name.
So now, you know, and Doug has a little BW story to tell before.
Gwinnivere, we'd like to hear about your nine 14 dreams.
And then we'll we'll head to show gently toward 914 dreams.
Yeah. So my my very quick story, and I wish I could remember the year.
Um, it had to be maybe post high school,
but I wish I could remember the year of the car.
I love convertibles.
In fact, I think the first convertible I ever went for riding
or one of the first was a Volkswagen bug convertible.
And I have to tell a silly story.
I was hungover and I got to tell you that family story family show
feels so good.
I was dehydrated in the fresh air, made me feel so good.
And that that story just stick and it was a yellow.
It was a yellow convertible bug, but.
Wanted to buy, I want to say, was a 60s convertible bug.
And my dad was my mentor slash I had no mechanical skills.
And we found one and it had the floor floor plant floor
pans replaced. It would run and my dad talked me out of it.
And he said, I don't know anything about bull dragons.
And they could forward.
I'm like, they're the simplest cars in the world.
He just didn't want to deal with buy you a car.
He just didn't want to deal with you on that day.
Well, that's all. That's obviously going to pay for it.
But he knew he would get trapped into helping me.
So exactly. I guess he wasn't worth that time.
Man, and I won't even start with my stories.
And Listener Land knows all about my 1984 VW rabbit GTI.
That car was it. Yeah.
Oh, and then I was sitting around with my kids last night.
We were watching Black Sheep with Chris Farley and David Spade.
And during a commercial, this great movie during a commercial break,
I just started thinking about that car.
I think I was talking. Oh, no.
In the early part of the film, there's a rabbit on the side of the road.
And I paused it and I said to my kids, look at that.
I had an 84 VW rabbit GTI.
And they were like, oh, that's interesting, but it doesn't look like much.
And and. And so I, you know, I immediately pull out the phone
and look online and and I find just something is probably on
bring a trailer that sold recently for like thirty five thousand dollars.
And it's just this pristine.
Oh, my gosh, it was pristine in the same.
What was what was the Sunset or something?
It, yes, it had white with the air dam with a little red GTI in the front.
And then the blue cloth with the red in the middle.
And like it was my car to a tee.
And I fired it off the dog and my kids all in a text thread.
And I said, this is it.
This is my history.
OK, I said I wasn't going to talk about it, but I did.
All right. We got everybody has a Volkswagen story.
Yeah, I know.
Whenever whenever I'm watching a movie,
I mean, I just saw my time hop two nights ago.
I watched Willy Wonka last year, the original one.
If there is a Volkswagen in it, I will screenshot it.
Post it on my social media.
But when I was little, I watched Herbie.
I mean, he was so real to me.
I wanted him and I did the day I went to my dad's shop.
And there was three Herbies parked out front.
It was like someone.
It was like someone told me Santa Claus wasn't real.
I was like, why are three of them here?
Like, what is this?
But why aren't they talking?
Yeah, why aren't why isn't the hood flapping?
Yeah, I mean, that's such a cool story.
I do want to get in here.
All right, so back to the we're all over the place here,
but we're so excited.
I want to get back to the company's website.
So as you were talking about what your family's business does,
again, freeshabrothers.com, F-R-E-C-C-I-A, brothers.com.
You go to freeshabrothers.com services.
And this is what I was going to ask you early,
but by the magic of the Internet,
I was able to answer the question
from this lovely website you've put together.
So full service repairs and restorations,
a air cooled specialist, which, you know,
fuel injection specialist, semi-automatic experts,
all mechanicals, including, right, all the way around the car,
brakes, clutch, exhaust,
tune-ups, engine repairs and rebuilds, et cetera.
And I love how at the bottom, well, close to the bottom,
it says, other services, rust repair and floor replacement.
And then it says, convertible tops and interior work.
So that's exactly what you were talking about.
So if anybody in listener land has an OVW,
you don't know what to do with the top, just bring it to them.
Just bring it to them.
Convertible tops and interior work, like you were saying.
The upholstery, glass and rubber, electrical work.
And then across the very bottom, it says,
thinking about a custom project, give us a call.
And I love that.
So it's very open-ended.
I mean, your your company is fearless.
I just love it.
I mean, we just we just want to keep them on the road.
So to make people happy.
Yeah. I mean, we have that grief.
We had a crazy flood here two September's ago.
And I remember rescheduling everything I had in the shop
because to I believe it was a dune buggy.
I believe it was a candy apple red dune buggy
with extra flake in the paint, which had just been painted.
And a silver, a silver convertible bug, two separate owners.
They were completely flooded, completely submerged in water.
We had to have them in the shop within 24 hours
to rinse them in fresh water.
And we took apart every single piece.
It was the biggest puzzle
I have ever assisted on in my entire life.
Wow. Wow.
So funny.
Yeah, go ahead.
No, I was going to say I hate to do the DeWaring plug.
I saw a picture of a DeWaring that got caught
in the one of the storms down south.
Of course, they're not going to total it, right?
It's it's already in DeWaring of Florida
and they're going to take it apart and clean it up.
And you got together.
Piece of history.
Just like the dream, like the bull.
Keep the dream alive.
You got it.
All right, Doug.
Doug wanted to mention one or two more things
before we close out here.
Oh, I think I think I'm going to limit it to one.
OK, so your dream car, Christian hinted at it.
Guinevere, what is it?
And tell us why.
Oh, yeah, I've been on a 914 kick recently.
OK, 914 1973.
My dad has a little black 914.
And I've been driving past one.
There's a different shop across town and there's a white one.
And I know this lady owns it and I just keep watching it.
But I'm on a 914.
I'm on a 914 kick.
It matches my white Cabriolet.
Yeah, my dad, me and my dad went cruising right before this.
And it's just a cute little zippy car.
Yeah, it's such a it's such a neat car, right?
It's a Volkswagen Slash Porsche collaboration, right?
Yeah, and the engine's right in the middle.
So you can have the front and the back open
and they'll be like on the sidewalk in front of our shop.
And people are looking at it like, oh, yeah, where's the engine?
But it's fun.
It definitely moves much different than the 63 book.
And my recollection is the 914 somewhat.
No, it was the 912.
I'm sorry, I was going to say took the place of the 356
because it was cheaper.
But that was the 912.
Sorry about that caught myself, my automotive trivia.
And the one the one in Volkswagen we didn't talk about
was the Volkswagen bus.
And I don't know if you're a bus person.
I think we have to save it for another episode.
I know our listeners will want to talk about a Volkswagen bus
till they will have my dad.
We'll have my dad and cover it up with you guys.
Yes. Can we have.
Yes, father, daughter, perfect.
Yeah, yeah, we'll come back.
Yeah, we've had we've had husband and wife.
We've had father, son, father, we've we've had just.
Would he do it?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, we did.
We did a podcast last week for the history of Greenwich.
So yeah.
OK, that awesome.
Oh, we have. We want that.
I feel like we could easily talk for another hour.
So we have to get on here here.
I hear Guinevere's dinner bell going off in the background.
So I think we've got to let her go.
She's got to eat at some point.
Doug, did we get to all our hard news
hitting questions for Guinevere?
We did. We did.
And the best part is I can't wait for the family connection.
Thank you to James for connecting us with always, always here.
Guinevere, we'd like to assume you're another friend of the show
and you just give us another referral to a sense like a great man,
your dad, and I'm looking forward to the father daughter event.
Yeah, you know, thank you for having me.
I'm so glad James recommended this.
And I've really loved listening to the show these past couple of weeks to prepare.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Have a good evening, guys.
Great to meet you.
Thank you for being here and for listening to me.
And you know how to get ahold of us, Christian at CarsLove.com
Doug at CarsLove.com Guinevere, you know how to get ahold of her.
FreesiaBrothers.com.
Check them out.
Visit them next time you're in Greenwich with your 914, your bus, your VW thing.
And that is going to put this episode in the books.
Doug, how do we do?
Are we done? Did we get to it all?
We did it. We did it.
About this episode
A heartfelt discussion unfolds as Guinevere shares her deep-rooted connection to Volkswagen through her family's 102-year-old business. She reminisces about her first car, a 1973 Karmann Ghia, and the lessons learned while growing up in a garage. The episode highlights the nostalgia surrounding air-cooled VWs, the joys of restoration, and the vibrant car culture that keeps these classics alive. Guinevere's passion shines as she talks about her daily drivers and her dreams of owning a 914, making this episode a rich tapestry of automotive history and personal stories.
Original notes
Click here to share your favorite car, car story or any automotive trivia!
Guinevere, co-owner of Freccia Brothers Garage, invites us into a world of vintage Volkswagen magic and the family memories made along the way. She starts by introducing “Lily,” her cherished 1963 VW Beetle, and “Gadget,” a 1987 Cabriolet – both members of her family in their own right. As she recounts her first car (a Tropicana Orange Karmann Ghia handed down from her dad), listeners are treated to a warm story of how classic cars can bond generations. Guinevere shares practical restoration stories from her Greenwich, CT shop: reviving a flood-damaged dune buggy, sourcing parts for a rare VW Type 3, and even doing a father-daughter project replacing a Beetle’s convertible top.
Each tale highlights craftsmanship and a touch of old-school ingenuity, like using century-old techniques to straighten a frame or preserving carbon-copy service records from the ’60s. Beyond the technical, this episode shines with heart – Guinevere speaks on hosting community “VW days” where enthusiasts swap stories and kids learn to wrench on air-cooled engines, keeping automotive culture alive.
Guinevere's favorite episode is "Growing Up DeLorean – Kat’s Personal Automotive Legacy and Life Lessons" https://pod.link/1733902541/episode/21bc2a128a77f6b4aebc3657124d0d80
"Air-Cooled and Carefree” will leave you smiling and maybe a bit misty-eyed, as it captures the simple joys of classic car life – the smell of an old vinyl interior warming in the sun, the shared laughter over a stubborn bolt, and the way these beloved cars connect us to our past and to each other.
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