Larry and Nancy Zuelke with their Volkswagen Beetle at last summer’s antique car show at the Codman Estate in Lincoln. (Photo: Alice Waugh)
By Brett Wittenberg
In 1957, Chicago newlyweds Lawrence and Nancy Zuelke headed to Boston so Larry could pursue a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard. The couple packed up their brand-new baby-blue Volkswagen Beetle with all their possessions, including a chair lashed to the roof. The Beetle, a wedding present for themselves, cost around $1,500, about the same price as a motorcycle—“pretty affordable,” said Nancy.
In the year just ended, Larry and Nancy celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary—and their Beetle’s 55th birthday. Two hundred thousand miles, more than three dozen services, and one massive restoration later, neither the Beetle nor the marriage seem any the worse for wear.
When they bought it in 1957, the car had been available in the U.S. for around a decade, but the Zuelkes’ model had a host of modern improvements: tubeless tires, a new radio, side-view mirrors as standard equipment, and turn signals that turned off automatically. Truly, there had never been a better time to be VW Beetle owner.
After giving 22 years of service, the Beetle was very much in need of an overhaul. Lawrence decided against the typical route of bringing the car to a mechanic, perhaps because he knew what he might be told. Instead, he brought the car to the automotive workshop at Minuteman High School in Lexington, which at that time allowed locals to bring in their cars and use Minuteman’s tools and equipment to perform their own repairs.
Over the next three years, Larry lovingly refurbished that sentimental wedding car. The baby-blue Beetle—now a true classic—was restored in time to present it to Nancy on their silver anniversary in 1982. “It was so good to see it like new again,” Nancy recalled.
Although originally from the Midwest, Larry and Nancy are now Lincolnites through and through. The pair made Lincoln their home in 1961 and raised three children here. Larry put his master’s degree to good use by becoming a landscape architect. Nancy served as Lincoln town clerk for 23 years, helping to ensure that her adopted hometown ran as smoothly as it could.
Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the Zuelkes’ Beetle will have to wait until next year’s antique auto show at the Codman Estate, where they appeared in summer 2012. Lawrence brings the beetle to Lincoln’s classic car show so others can reminisce about a simpler time, or at least enjoy the classic styling of a car whose features are basic by current standards, but which is more striking and beautiful today than it was in 1957.
Brett Wittenberg is a resident of Lexington, Mass.