An older adult female wearing a light pink button-up shirt with small floral patterns stands next to a vintage Volkswagen Beetle at a service center, holding hands with an adult male in a light gray hoodie and black cap.

10:02

Hot VWs Magazine 869K views Save

Mimi, 90, still drives the Beetle she bought new

Name: Mimi, 90, still drives the Beetle she bought new
Uploaded: 2023-07-11T13:00:45Z
Duration: 10 min 2 s
Description: Mimi Carroll backs her Yukon Yellow Beetle out of a tight spot without a wobble, working the clutch herself. Then a host from Hot VWs Magazine asks her age. She's 90.

Mimi Carroll backs her Yukon Yellow Beetle out of a tight spot without a wobble, working the clutch herself. Then a host from Hot VWs Magazine asks her age. She's 90. more

She bought it new right here at Capistrano Volkswagen, back when the dealership went by another name. Her husband has been gone for two years now. “In the 70 years that we were married, this is the only brand new car we ever had,” she says. “It's my car.”

Mimi Carroll, with curly white hair and a pink patterned shirt, smiles in front of a metal shutter. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Mimi bought the Beetle new, and it stayed the only new car of her 70-year marriage.

The paint is Yukon yellow, her favorite color, redone within three years when the first coat didn't last. Her brother had bought a Volkswagen in LA and loved it, and an earlier one of their own never quite suited them. “I bought the '70, and that was the end,” she says. To Mimi, it was the best car in the world.

Her husband wanted it to look sharp from day one. “We got to dress it up a little,” he told her, so every extra went on before they drove off the lot, mag wheels included. An old German man cut a design into the window glass on a wheel. Inside, the only change was the seats, because Mimi was too short for the high-back ones it came with.

Mimi Carroll, with curly white hair, smiles in a pink shirt with a small animal print. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Mimi was too short for the high-back seats, so lower ones went in, and the rest stayed original.

The rest of the inside is all original, and she still has the paperwork, down to the sales receipt. People ask to buy it all the time. At Costco, folks who know the car run over to help her fill the tank.

Even her husband once tried to trade up. On his way home from work, he saw a Porsche for sale in San Juan and bought it on the spot. When she asked what they needed another car for, he said they would sell the Volkswagen, and she said no. “That car was mine,” she says. “It was meant and bought for me.”

The plate says MIMI 70, but the car has a name of its own. She calls it Lovey. She keeps it washed and polished, sticks to the first lane or the one next to it, and takes her time. “I drive it with love,” she says.

The first engine went 400,000 miles before it quit about a mile from home. She called her husband, and he was there in a minute. They had it towed and rebuilt from scratch, and it has gone a little more than a thousand miles since. When the host asks if she will put another 400,000 on it, she says, “I hope I last that long.”

A pale yellow vintage Volkswagen Beetle parked beside a two-tone van near a brick wall. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — After 400,000 miles on its first engine, Lovey now runs on a rebuilt one.

About three people want to buy it, she says. Make that four, since Miles Brandon, who owns the dealership, would get in line too. None of them should hold their breath. When Mimi opens the garage door, she has a greeting ready, “Oh, you darling bug.”