VW community brings love bug to the midlands

The 1977 film, Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo, featured one of the best known Volkswagens of all time, Herbie, the Beetle with a mind of its own, known as the Love Bug after it fell in love with an exotic Italian sports car.That spirit of VW love has reached to every corner of the globe over the years and a particular brand of it came to Mullingar a few months ago, with the formation of the Midlands Volkswagen club (MLVW).The members of the new club are focusing on the eighties - the decade of dodgy haircuts and some pretty horrendous music - and particularly the Volkswagen Golf and Jetta. The rise in popularity of old Volkswagens has, perhaps unsurprisingly, coincided with wave of eighties nostalgia in popular culture.When the Westmeath Examiner caught up with MLVW founder members, Conor Nealis and Alan Ryan, they acknowledged that as children of the eighties there was an emotional dimension to their choice in cars, but they also highlighted more practical reasons more and more car enthusiasts are veering towards Volkswagens."When I was growing up I was brought around in the then new Volkswagen Golfs and Jettas. I grew up with them. As soon as you see it, you think of the eighties. It's a retro car. But the main thing that appeals to me is that its a great way to get a retro car that is affordable and parts are easy to come by. You are getting a retro car that is dependable to drive every day," Conor said.Echoing clubmate Conor, Alan, who is a qualified mechanic and the proud owner of a prize-winning Golf Mk 1, said that the one of the great things about eighties Volkswagens is that it is relatively easy to get parts for them."A lot of the parts in Volkswagens were interchangable and don't cost the world. You can take something out of an old Jetta and usually put it into a Golf. To fix them up it's easy to do."Three of the members of the group are mechanics and almost all MLVW-ites do their own work and learn as they go along. However, while it is perfectly acceptable and encouraged in the retro Volkswagen world to tinker under the hood, when it comes to exteriors and interiors it is looked down upon to deviate too much from the original design."We don't do pimping. You try and keep it the cars the same way as they were when they came out of the factory," Alan said.Despite only forming last autumn, the group have already been to quite a few specialist shows. Their most memorable road trip so far, according to the lads, was the GTi International Weekend in Leicestershire, England, which is the biggest in Ireland and the UK.While the long-term plan is to grow the club by recruiting new members, Conor and Alan said that they want to make sure the club has a solid foundation beforehand. Once this is achieved, the ultimate ambition is to host an event in the Mullingar area that would attract enthusiasts from across Ireland and maybe further afield."The Volkswagen scene world wide is friendly. People don't just sit in their cars thinking 'my car is better than yours'. There is a huge Volkswagen community out there and its getting bigger."