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Editor's note: This is part of a series at KSL.com featuring some of Utah's coolest cars. If you own a customized vehicle — from sports cars to semitrucks — email jormond@ksl.com with a photo of the vehicle and a brief description for consideration.
KAYSVILLE — Anne Argyle has always loved Volkswagen Bettles.
She went off to college in a red 1960 Beetle she bought for $500, which she considered a fine get-around college car. When she returned home around 1973 she wanted something newer, so she sold the '60 and bought a yellow 1972 Beetle. After a few years of that and some problems, she left air-cooled Volkswagens behind.
Decades later, friends told her of an old Beetle for sale at a shop in Farmington. She took one look and fell in love with the 1960 baby-blue Beetle. She begged the shop owner, who was selling it for someone else, to hold it until she could come back to buy it. He did, and then she did.
Because the car, which Argyle named Bettie, ran rough, backfired and smoked, she didn't drive it much and ultimately moved it to her mother's garage for more protection than her carport offered. One day her mother asked her to move it to make a little space in the garage. It was tough to start; and then after moving it about 2 feet, the engine caught fire.
The fire department was nearby and doused the flames before they did much damage to the garage, but not before the back end of Bettie was burned (if you're new to old VWs, the engine's in the back).
Argyle said the insurance company totaled the car and paid her $7,000 for it. She said she bought it back from them for $1,100. Her family told her to forget about it and move on. She did not.
Burned-back Bettie returned to the carport while Argyle figured out what to do.
In September 2018, Argyle's sister ran into the No Show, an all-Volkswagen get-together in Kaysville. Argyle went by as it was wrapping up, walked right up to a group of people, showed them photos of her burned Bettie, told the strangers her story and asked what she should do with it.
That group, the Voodoo Kruizerz VW Car Club, told her not to let it go, though any of them would've been glad to take it off her hands.
They later checked it out and saw it was in bad shape, the fire suppression almost as damaging as the fire to the engine. Members split up the problems; some took body parts, and Brian Thomson took the engine.
Thomson and his son Braydon did almost a complete rebuild. He said the piston rings were rusted to the cylinder walls due to the fact that they had sat in water for years. The Thomsons redid the wiring and bulb sockets and added a new wiring harness. They rebuilt "dang near the whole car," as Thomson described it.
Thomson — who said he only drives air-cooled Volkswagens like Beetles, Buses and his pickup — found more problems upfront with Bettie's axles and brakes, so he took care of those, too. The bill came to $0. Others kicked in labor, parts, and know-how, and soon the rear of Bettie was looking as good as new.
In the process of picking up so much help from the Voodoo Kruizers, Anne picked up a boyfriend from the group, Trent.
The new couple trailered the completed project to Teasdale, Wayne County, to cruise it through Capitol Reef. On their first drive, Anne said a deer jumped in front of them and smashed the front of the car. Trent pulled the bumper free of the wheel and suggested they turn around and go back.
While returning, they collided with another deer, which cracked the windshield and broke out a light. It was driveable, so they finished their getaway with the damage.
The club worked and referred Anne to others to get the front end fixed. The good part about this, as Thomson explained, is that after the repairs the entire Beetle had a fresh coat of paint and the restoration was really complete.
So why would a car club give so much of their time and talents to a stranger for free?
"That's what we do," Thomson said, adding they instantly considered her a club family member. "None of it makes sense. We just do it… just crazy, I guess."
They had months invested. Thomson said that when Argyle was talking about selling, he could feel how much she loved that car.
"I understood because I have cars I love," he said. "It was her dream car, she was devastated."
Thomson said he could understand what it would be like to have your dream car burn in front of you, and knew she would regret letting it go.
Anne Argyle kept her dream Beetle, her new boyfriend, and her new car club family, now traveling and cruising with them.
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