You’ve probably heard the Volkswagen Beetle being called a bug, but why are they sometimes called slug bugs, and how do you play the game associated with them?
Not many cars can lay the same claim to fame as the Volkswagen Type 1, more affectionately referred to as a „Bug.“ Technically, the Type 1 didn’t officially become the Beetle until 1968. If your family was lucky enough to own a Type 1 or a Type 2, otherwise known as a Microbus, you were living the whole Volkswagen life. Fans of the popular hit television show „Outer Banks“ will recognize „Twinkie“ the Microbus as the ride of choice for the beloved Pogues.
People across America really fell in love with the German-made people’s car (the literal translation of „Volkswagen“) between 1968 and 1973, when over a million Type 1’s were sold yearly. Part of that love affair (and corresponding sales spike) can be directly attributed to Walt Disney’s hit comedy „The Love Bug“ (released in 1969) about an anthropomorphic VW Bug named Herbie.
Learning how to drive a Bug’s manual stick shift (an option that’s becoming extinct) was a rite of passage for many growing up in the era, when the little cars skittered across the highways in droves.
