Beetlemania: Hugh Ward
The speaker on Wednesday 12th February 2025 was club member Hugh Ward, drawn by lot to address the meeting on the topic of his own choosing. Hugh entitled his talk Beetlemania and regaled members with his enthusiasm for buying, restoring and driving VW beetles during a period in his life some might consider a middle-age crisis. He began by looking at the genesis of the Beetle during the 1930s when Adolf Hitler was chancellor in pre-war Germany with a vision for an affordable “people’s car” – Volkswagen. Costing 1000 Deutschmark and capable of carrying two adults and three children at 100 kilometres per hour he entrusted automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche with the design, and the rest is history. The last Beetle to be built was produced in Mexico in 2024, part of a manufacturing network which at its height in the 1960s spanned the globe.
Hugh’s interest was sparked by his son who purchased a wreck of a Beetle from a scrap yard and together they restored it, an engineering achievement which became a passion as they acquired more and more old Beetles. At one time Hugh had 11 in his workshop with parts for sale on e-bay having bought out a VW service and repair dealership in Tassagh, Co Armagh. With the passing of time his enthusiasm dimmed leaving him with precious memories, a shelf full of VW workshop manuals and many photographs of beloved Beetles. He was warmly thanked for his talk by Oliver Loughran whose wife still owns and drives a yellow Beetle sourced 12 years ago from Mexico.
