Volkswagen’s Practical Car

I’LL BET EVERYONE WHO READS THIS magazine remembers their first car. For many of us of a certain age, whose family wasn’t named Carrington or Ewing, our first car was probably a high-mileage family hauler that we saw for sale in someone’s yard that we picked up for a couple hundred bucks, made roadworthy, and enjoyed immensely because, despite its flaws, it was ours and ours alone.

Mine was a 1971 Volkswagen Square-back, painted dark blue metalflake over