My Jalopia: A Rebirth

Hello and welcome to a snow-deep Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is November 12th. Today's blog post is an exciting feature from our Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence. This is a tale of love. For context, you're welcome to read my August 2019 blog post: My Jalopia.

Hi. It’s been a while. 

The last time I wrote on this lovely blog there was still warm sunshine, green grass, and clear blue skies. But now… there's still (some) sunshine, but definitely not warmth anymore. There’s no more grass, and I guess the sky will be clear once these dull gray clouds eventually clear out. But enough talking about the weather, and on to the current mystery on our hands. What has the WAKWIR been doing these past 4 months? Loads. Including my hairstyle :)

Just to name a few things: I got my driver's license, started my junior year, got a job, ran a Cross Country season, and resurrected a car from the dead.

Now, many people might not know this, but I’m actually quite the car person. You can automatically tell because if you take one look at my Instagram feed, 90% of it features cars I will never be able to afford - from classic to exotic - but sure are fun to look at and dream about.

Forever, since I was a wee little David, I also loved cars. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, my brother and I made this game called “Beru!” which means “I take it!” in Czech. Basically, whenever we saw a car that we liked, we would yell “Beru!” to claim it as ours. Then we would brag to each other about the massive garages we had that contained all of these cars that we had taken. I have a LEGO model of a 1967 Ford Mustang on my desk, and a LEGO model of a 2016 Corvette Z06 on my shelf.  Heck, even my favorite movie is Disney Pixar’s Cars!

The next step in loving cars is, of course, the ability to drive them and, of course, having the ability to drive any kind of car. Most cars these days have these lovely things called automatic transmissions which are literally the standard when it comes to cars these days unless they’re sports cars which are mostly dual-clutch transmissions.

But fading away in the background are these lovely things called manual transmissions, also commonly known as stick shifts. (But this is all just common knowledge). I happened to be fortunate enough that, out of our family’s five cars, three of them contained this lovely piece of hardware. So, when I got my permit a year ago, I made it a priority that, when I took my driver's test, I would take it with a car that had a stick shift. This is exactly what I did the day I took my test, and I am very pleased to say that I passed. And stick shifts are incredibly fun to drive. So much so, that I prefer to drive one of our three cars with the manual transmission as my daily driver to and from school and other activities.

One of these cars, however, is no ordinary car. This car I can firmly say is a family legacy. Before my dad, it only had one other owner which was my grandpa. Now, what exactly is this car? It is a 1987 Volkswagen Jetta GLI, five-speed manual transmission, often referred to in our family as just “The Jetta.” I love this car. I grew up with it, a blocky rectangular piece of black metal, slowly but surely rusting away. But with a car that old, that's quite expected. It was my dad’s daily driver around town. I remember being taken to and from school or to events in that car from the age I was able to sit in a booster seat just about until 2021. What happened in 2021(besides Covid?) The Jetta died.

Mechanically it was fine. New brakes, engine in perfect condition - everything that was needed to physically make the car drive worked. Structurally? Not so much. A crucial piece of the front subframe itself completely corroded and broke apart, deeming it impossible to drive the car. I was devastated. My dad was devastated. We didn’t want to scrap it, and even though we wanted to fix it, we didn’t know how, or even where to start. And because of our unconcluded decision, we let the car sit. In our driveway. For an entire year.

So that was basically the end of the Jetta’s long-lived history: Driven for 17 years, changed owners, then driven for another 17 years. Until June when my dad had a bright and wonderful idea to try starting up the Jetta just to make sure it had survived the winter and we made a discovery: It wouldn’t start. Since there were no electronic diagnostics on the Jetta, we had to manually find the problem which turned out to be the starter. After what I thought was a pricey $80 and 4-hour replacement, we tried starting it again. After some encouraging support from another car (which mainly consisted of a jump start) it started. I was shocked. Excited. My dad was too. The Jetta could start. We could rev the engine. It sparked hope. In that moment, my dad and I knew that if we could make it start we could make it drive. So what next?

We looked up some YouTube videos, opened The Book of Jetta (also known as the Owner’s Manual), and came up with a plan: Remove the broken old subframe, bolt by bolt, arm by arm, come up with a financial plan, and hopefully install a new subframe. This is a perfect example of a project WAY easier said than done.

Between the middle of June to the first of September, we went through the grueling process of taking the subframe out. It was usually very hot, and we were only able to work on it a little bit at a time. We had our tough moments, for example not being able to pull out a stripped bolt that was nearly impossible to reach. By late August we were able to get nearly the entire thing out and on September 1st, we lowered the entire subframe from the car itself. This was a huge moment.

As we celebrated our milestone in this incredibly long adventure, my dad presented me with a difficult decision. We had estimated the total cost of the repairs to be around $1,000 and my dad told me he wasn’t going to pay the entirety of the repairs needed for the Jetta. I had two options: 1) We split the cost of the Jetta 50/50, I help with the installation of the new subframe, and I retain half ownership rights to the car. 2) I pay the entire cost of the repairs, I help with the installation of the new subframe, and I retain full ownership rights to the car. In other words, the car would be “gifted” to me as a reward for our investment. In much simpler words, the Jetta would be mine.

This was an insanely difficult choice. After a few hours of debating, analyzing, and having many other conversations, I decided to split the cost of the Jetta with my dad. Why? Two reasons. As much as I fantasized about owning my own car, at that moment - and even in this moment writing this - I didn’t feel like I was ready to physically own a car. And second, the more present problem was money. I had a small summer job where I had made some money, but nowhere near enough to cover the cost of an entire vehicle without getting extremely close to debt. Personally, I think I made the better decision.

So our plan was made. My dad flew to the Czech Republic soon after, and Project Jetta came to a short pause. While my dad was gone, I decided to apply for a job at Caribou Coffee so I could partially fund the Jetta and build a gas money fund. (My dad told me he only buys expensive gas for the Jetta.) Because a few of my friends worked at Caribou Coffee, I also thought it would be fun. I didn’t start until a week ago because I wanted to wait till Cross Country was over.

Once my dad got home, things started to pick up again. We bought parts and then hoped for the absolute best as we put the entire subframe back together. It was a slow but somewhat smooth process. Our only complication was a metal sleeve we needed to go inside both control arms. I had completely destroyed the old ones while taking them out during the summer. We were able to salvage and use one of them, but we had to use a bike part to supplement the other. In the end, it all worked out.

Putting the subframe together was easy. Installing it into the Jetta was not. Everything had to be just perfect. It took my dad and me over a month to fully install it because it would not always cooperate. We even had to screw in a few bolts upside down because that was the only easy and effective way to do it in some hard spots. However, as the evenings (and sometimes nights) got colder, our work with the Jetta came closer and closer to a finish. We checked bolt after bolt to make sure everything was perfect. And on the 5th of November, 2022, we did a last check of the bolts, tightened them, removed everything from underneath the car, removed supports, lowered the car to the ground, and finally put on new wheels.

The last thing to do was start and drive the car. After we put in the battery, we were able to start the Jetta. After a quite smoky start, we finally put the car into first gear and drove it. My dad drove it at first to make sure it was safe, and then the big moment: I drove it for the first time in over a year and the third time ever. (My dad let me drive it twice, both times in the Gardens Arena parking lot).

The Jetta had been resurrected. The legacy of the car continues once again. There is something just so satisfying about putting your blood, sweat, and tears (literally) into something and finally achieving that goal and reaping the rewards of it. In this case, it was finally driving the Jetta. I took a few pictures of the Jetta to preserve the memory. That evening, my dad and I celebrated our victory by making homemade fries and watching Jurassic Park on VHS. It truly was a great day.

However, the work on the Jetta is not complete. The next step is to put on new rims and tires, as the current tires are shot, and the rims are rusting away more quickly than we would like them to. We bought them just this last week. Hopefully, within the next few weeks, I can start driving the Jetta around town.

So this was quite the story about a strong emotional connection to a car, which some may think is strange, but I personally think is kind of fun. It’s always nice to have some sort of hobby to invest yourself in; to keep yourself sane in crazy times. I have a few that balance my heavy schoolwork quite nicely. One of them is cars in general, but more specifically the Jetta.

Well, I hope you ALL have a wonderful Saturday, and make sure to keep your eyes peeled for the Jetta if you ever pass through Warroad :)

David (a.k.a. Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence, a.ka. WAKWIR)

PS. My other two hobbies are making electronic music and making digital art. If you’re interested, you can find my art on my Instagram page @daves_art1 and you can find my music link (music coming out every month) here.