- Bill C.-

I call him “Doc.” But you know him as Richard G., a member for almost a year now. As a nurse practitioner, he has the huge task of keeping yours truly running smoothly; or at least as well as can be expected. I guess it is sort of like trying to keep our VWs running; with sagging, squeaking chassis and all kinds of parts wearing out.

I first became aware of Richard’s interest in Ghias through my wife, who is the phone receptionist at the same practice. Richard had always loved Karmann Ghias and dreamt of someday finding a decent one to purchase; especially a convertible. Here is a little bit about his 1971 Karmann Ghia convertible in his own words:

“I purchased my 71 KG at the end of the summer of last year.  I had been looking on the internet for over a year.  (If you don’t know there are many web sites for KG’s).  I found one that looked promising and drove to Birmingham, AL to take a look at it.  I pulled a trailer with me, so if I liked the auto, I could bring it back.  When you look at a car and bring a trailer, ones negotiating abilities decrease because they know you really want the car.  This was the particular year I wanted because the years after, all had different bumpers which I did not like.  The top was in bad shape but overall the car was OK.  The largest problem with these cars especially, the convertibles, is the rust and body damage.  It is rare that you can find a KG without the nose being dented or the floor pans being rusted, in either case mine has both problems.

I chose the KG for several reasons.  I wanted a convertible sports car that was not too expensive and somewhat easy to work on.  As with any VW’s, parts are easy to find.  My mother is German ‘many many times, so therefore I enjoy the history of the VW line.  The lines of the KG are unique and most people can recognize them anywhere.  If you are looking for speed, the KG is not the car for you.  When I first bought the car, I had only driven one other KG before.  I knew they did not have much power but when I got her home and drove her, I thought my riding lawnmower had more get up and go. -----Bill may interject his story about the 3 cylinders—“  

Yes, that “3-cylinder story;” I’ll tell you later. But first a little bit about Richard and his family. I hope I get all of this right.

Richard grew up as a “military kid;” lots of traveling around the world and all. He became a corpsman in the U.S. Navy. That led to his current profession, which is that of a nurse practitioner in a Bartlett practice. “Doc” is “married with children” with a lovely family. His wife, Robbie, is a surgery room nurse. And they have two daughters; Meghan, who is in high school with “license to bump & dent” and little Abby, who is just over one-year old. They are also horse lovers. With two or three horses of their own, they recently built a beautiful home on an acreage with a barn, tractor and all. (I wanna drive the tractor! People LOVE the tractor.)

But about those 3 cylinders… Richard had driven his Ghia over one fall afternoon, not long after he had bought it. We looked it over and checked it out. He commented how the car didn’t have much power. Since it was his first Ghia, I figured he was comparing it to a V8 or something and said, “Yeh, these VWs are not known for tearing up the road.”

But as he left to drive home, I finally heard the motor running as he headed up the street. I remember commenting to Connie, “Wow, that’s only running on 3 cylinders. No wonder he didn’t think it had much power.”

So she passed the info onto him, the next time she saw him at work. Turns out, he found a plug wire terminator was loose and had fallen off the spark plug. Richard was impressed by the new found power of what now seemed like a NEW engine! Vroom! Now, if he just had a new top…

That’s a long story in itself… Richard missed last spring’s driving season, waiting for a local “home shop” to finish up repairing the top mechanism and replacing the top and headliner. Richard’s word to the wise: Never tell a repair person, “No big rush.”  That guy better never come in for a physical. Ha ha!

Well, he’s glad to finally have his baby back, with all forty horses and a new black top. We can expect to see him, and maybe the family too, at lots of future get-togethers and events. I’m glad they are all “with us.”

“See ya later, Doc.”

Air Bill