My Awesome 1973 VW Beetle

This was my car in high school. I have so many awesome memories with this sexy beast. Any of you that have had an old vw or just an old standard probably know the art of push starting a car. I had to push start this guy sooooo many times. There are 3 steps in push starting a car. #1) Make sure the car is in neutral. #2) Don't try pushing it up hill (YOU'LL FAIL...I PROMISE;)#3 Push as hard as you can and don't trip while jumping into the car. If you're by yourself this can be tricky. I would push with the door open and try to get a good speed. I would then jump into the car and press the clutch and pop the gear into 1st. Good times! I also had trouble with the brakes. Usually it was while I was driving. One time I was driving down an extremely busy street which is downhill and pretty steep. I noticed the light turned yellow so I pressed on the brake and it fell to the floorboard. My heart started pumping and I reached for the brake with my hand but there was no use. I was gaining speed and I was heading for a really busy intersection. There was also two cars ahead of me already stopped at the light. I drove right between them and clinched my teeth and braced myself for the oncoming intersection( I was screaming at the top of my lungs by the way). I zoomed through the crossing cars without crashing! I then cruised uphill and pulled into Smiths parking lot and coasted til my car stopped. I couldn't believe I made it. I pulled up the brake and it started working again lol.
Not too long after that crazy ordeal I was driving to the mall to go buy a cd. I was almost to the mall when my car all of a sudden lost power. Nothing worked. Then all of a sudden the car started filling up with thick smoke. It was coming from everywhere in the car. Then the floorboard caught on fire. I coasted into the parking lot of a bank. I jumped out of the car and ran into the bank yelling for water. I thought that the sight of a burning car and a panicking kid would get a rise out of someone but no one moved. I screamed for water and the bank teller said very slowly without emotion, " sir, we don't have water." Her face had no expression. I pointed to my car which she could barely see because of the black smoke and she then handed me a little plastic cup and told me there was a faucet out back. Here I was with a car in flames and a little six ounce cup to put it out. I ran to the back and found that the faucet didn't work. I ran back into the bank and screamed, " IT DOESN'T WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She finally gave me a two gallon jug that she had right next to her that she never told me about. I was in shock....I just sat there and stared at her with a blank look on my face. She still had a dull straight face. No emotion. I ran outside and found that there was three separate fires in my car. There was one in the cab, one in the engine, and one in the front( old vw bugs have the engine in the back). Some oilfield worker who had a water tank on the back of his truck stopped and put the fire out. Even when I walked back into the bank the lady had no expression. She didn't even ask how it went or if my car was in ashes.lol. Well, I hope you enjoyed a couple of my VW stories. Maybe I'll write a few more later.