I saw country tock bluesman Gregg Allman died. My car is named after him.

My VW life has gone full circle. In 1979 I drove a new white VW Scirocco. It was a replacement for a sky blue Ford Pinto station wagon that was in a rear end collision with an oil field mud truck. 

Luckily, it didn’t explode. The differential bolt did get jammed against the gas tank. Had I been at a complete stop, it may have been a different story. I was slowing down to take the turn towards The 3003 Club – that’s another good story for another day – under the Burlington Northern tressel by where the Fireside used to be.

My lawyer and fellow 3003 Club member, Thomas Padget, worked over the insurance company and I finally was paid. The Pinto was surplussed to Rick Thamer when he was on his way to Lubbock. I bought the Scirocco in Laramie.

Anyway, I can’t remember who went, but a bunch of us drove from Gillette to Denver in early August to see the Allman Brothers at the Red Rocks. Maybe John and Dara Corkery remember who else went. I know Mike the News Record photog was in the car.

When we rolled into Denver, the VW threw a timing belt and was towed to Mountain States VW on South Colorado Blvd. After the show, I was dropped off at a motel nearby – across from the Celebrity Sports Center. We had multiple rides.

My car was fixed the next day. While waiting, I walked down to a matinee at the Century Theater and saw ‘Alien’ in 70mm. There were a few people sitting in this huge round theater. The newborn space monster scene was alarming on that gigantic screen!

I must have returned to Gillette in one piece.  when I moved to Lander a year or two later. I didn’t drive it much for a couple years since I lived in an apartment above the Ace Hardware store on Main Street – mixed use urban living before it was hip. What happened to the Scirocco? I sold it to Bill Sniffin

Meanwhile, 47 years later, I decided it was time to bag the old hobby VWs in favor of something more practical. Over the years, I’ve tinkered with air cooled engines – a ’63 Bug, ’65 Karmann Ghia, ’72 Super Beetle convertible. I decided to get more modern with a ’95 Eurovan Winnebago and ’93 Weekender. 

The ’93 was a bit of a lemon on it’s last legs and rather than hassle with selling it myself, I chanced upon Emich VW – formerly Mountain States – which deals Eurovans. I got a good offer – even though I got worked over pretty well by the mechanic like I was selling on ‘Pawn Stars’. 

I ended up with a 2015 Golf Sportwagen – a chopped down Eurovan. It’s the first new car I’ve owned since the Scirocco and the first with airbags.

That Colorado Blvd neighborhood has totally changed and the VW dealership is an island now surrounded by big box retail, but pulling into that parking lot brought back some good memories. I named the car ‘Gregg”.