I Love the Smell of Old Bugs

Oktoberfest in McKinney, Texas was a compilation of several things I adore: Germans (my wife’s half), beer and Volkswagens.

 

Of the three, VWs have been in my life the longest. In grade school our next door neighbor had a Beetle. I liked how he took a tiny car to work as a big rig driver and that the roof resembled his bald head. It would be a decade, except for playing Slug-Bug, before Volkswagens would have an impact on me. (‘Slug-Bug’…’impact’…see what I did there? I would be a delight if I were as clever as I thought.)

I’ve owned three Beetles and a Karman Ghia. My first Bug was a red ’67, eighteen years old when I got it (both of us) and the start of what appears to be a lifelong affection (affliction). The other two came in the next decade and the Ghia a few years later.  

They all shared one trait, odor. There’s a certain smell to every old VW. Not leaky exhaust, though most of mine carried that aroma, it’s got an organic feel, probably something to do with the horse hair padding in the seats. More than familiar curves and trademark chirping, the smell of the cars at Volktoberfest sent me back in time, recalling not just memories but feelings. Turns out, the nose has a strong link to emotion.

The perfume of oak trees and minnows makes me happy, probably rooted in my grandparents’ place on Lake Eufaula. The tang of freshly cut grass in the morning makes me queasy…running at football 2-a-day practices. The whiff of antifreeze makes me apprehensive…a ’67 Chevy I had as a teen with a leaky heater core. Oddly, the smell of money, somewhat unpleasant as an odor, evokes little to no emotion, I guess I haven’t been exposed enough.

Location, location, location. The reason for such a strong emotional response being connected to smell has to do with the olfactory bulb (where your nose sends info) being next-door neighbors with the amygdale (where emotions are processed) and the hippocampus (responsible for associative learning). These brain buddies work together to tag odors with emotions so we have a reference for what to expect the next time we smell that smell.  

With scent being so closely related to taste we get the emotional connection to comfort food. I suppose you could even train a kid to eat veggies with a bit of affection. Though probably not Brussels sprouts, they reek of anger and hate.

In my thirties I finally realized the cut grass/2-a-days torture connection and the nausea subsided; partly due to knowing the source of the emotion and partly from the awareness I can now be sessile if I choose.  Antifreeze, however, still smells like work and expense.

So far as the good emotions, recalling the fun of running trotlines, swimming and playing as a child seems to reinforce the sentiment brought by Eufaula’s smells. The scent of summer pasture still reminds me of freedom from responsibility. And (this is a strange one) the smell of cow manure, unpleasant to the majority, reminds me of working with animals as a kid, something I still love today.

As for the musty organic smell of decades old horse hair, it recalls memories of freedom, an oil covered 3-year-old mechanic’s helper and owning a car with personality. That’s why I love the smell of Bugs.