Driving a beetle, part 2

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- The Volkswagen Beetle that I baptized Blue-green Montana is a motor vehicle that gets rid of stress. Why so? As I drive away, I forget the mess that this world has gotten in to. And for a while, or as I negotiate the left and right turns, the world that passes the windows turns more interesting and adorable.  

In addition, the stress that automobile maintenance supposedly brings is blown away when operating a Beetle because it runs with no water as it has no radiator. Its compact machine at the rear is air-cooled by a fan connected to the propeller shaft.

On the dashboard radio last week, I heard the news about the government retirement age of 56 that might be approved by Congress. I said, it is not too late but finally our lawmakers are using their idle brains.

At least, once in a while, we the people get landmark legislation.

Lowering retirement age from 65 years old to 56 or even 50 can certainly boost a country’s economy. With that, the labor force of a country will soon consist of able-bodied middle-age bracket workers as those aged 57 years old and up will have to be retired.   

I wish our legislators also think of revising work time schedules and salaries to be computed on a per hour basis. I have a strong feeling that with such a law, private companies and government will get rid of workers who only sit idly by until the clock strikes five and it is time to go home.

As mentioned in a previous column, the Beetle that I drive was nicknamed “dune buggy” by my grandkids Owzshee, Zet and Ponzee because they heard that on TV, although there are more than 20 other models.

The Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most recognizable cars in the world during its eight decades on the road however, stopped production after 21,529,464 Beetles were manufactured from 1938 to 2003

Being one of the first rear-engine cars and the longest-running manufactured car ever made by a single factory, Volkswagen also stopped producing the last version of its Beetle model this year at its plant in Puebla, Mexico.

Volkswagen company officials claimed, manufacturing the Beetle was a symbol of Germany’s postwar economic renaissance and one of the first acts of globalization as it was sold and recognized worldwide.

The Beetle became an “emblem of the 1960s counterculture in the United States, and remained as a landmark in design, recognizable as the Coca-Cola bottle.” The Beetle original design is owned by Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche who fulfilled Adolf Hitler’s dream of a “people’s car” that would exceed auto sales of the Ford Model T in the U.S.

The “people’s car” nickname was used as a marketing tool in Germany and other countries where the Beetle was sold so that in 1946, the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg produced 1,000 Beetles in a month. In 1949, the first two units were delivered to New York City, USA.

In 1955, Wolfsburg produced more than one million Beetles, and in 1972, the company surpassed the 15 million sales mark. With that record, Volkswagen unseated Ford as the leading car maker.

That is a lot of cars, reason why we have traffic jams; or is it the reason why we have to widen roads because the demand for transport is high but the size of our roads is not getting any bigger. And because of traffic jams, an economist said, the country is losing some P3B a day.

As I drive away, my mind floats over several issues, including charter change or “cha-cha”, and the need in congress to improve economic provisions in the Constitution. And when not everyone is listening, the discussion swerves towards changing the term limits of elected public officials.

In most attempts, tampering the term limits of elected government officials is looked at by opposing politicians as self-serving schemes. But such proposals can be voted for or shot down anytime in plebiscites scheduled for the purpose.

In the end what is important is for cha-cha proponents to see to it that they are sensitive to what the people want. For one who steers a Beetle, going back to the four-year term limit plus one re-election is still the best for Filipinos.

Happy holidays to everyone and all the best for 2020! Cheers!