In 1970, I was a naive young boy living in Durham, North Carolina. At that time Durham was pretty unsophisticated—certainly without much international influence. That year my father, who was a professor at Duke University, arranged to go on a university sponsored sabbatical to the University of Utrecht in Holland. Our family packed up and headed out on a grand adventure in Holland.
We swapped houses with a University of Utrecht professor who coincidentally had arranged a sabbatical at Duke. My older brother, younger sister, and I were enrolled in Dutch schools. I was in the fifth grade and the only non-native in a Dutch speaking classroom. It was sink or swim—I swam.
My parents had a plan to maximize our experience in Holland and Europe. They bought a 1971 Volkswagen Bus which was orange with a white top. Most weekends we'd pile into that bus and explore our new surroundings. For me as a 10-year old, everything was new, different, and exciting.
We visited the vast stretches of land that the Dutch reclaimed from the sea, the incredible miniature city of Madurodam Park, the blooming tulip farms in the spring, Dutch chocolate shops, and the Delft pottery shops. We also took longer trips to Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, and France. I loved it!
Our trips were very modest. My mother would pack a cooler of local bread, cheese, and some sliced meat. For lunch we'd stop on the side on the road for hearty open-faced sandwiches. My siblings and I would drink exotic Orangina soft drinks, while my Mom and Dad enjoyed a glass of wine. I remember while we were eating, my Dad would use his binoculars to bird watch. It was a wonderful learning experience living a life totally unlike our suburban Durham existence.
On one of our longer trips I was slumped in the very back seat of that VW Bus; left side. I watched a small sedan (I probably didn't know that word then) pass in the left hand lane. I marveled at the taillights. “How interesting.” I thought, “The brake, reverse and turn signal all packaged into a compact round circle.”
To this day I remember where I was sitting and thinking how ingenious the design of those round tail lights were. I wondered who thought of that as it was a great idea. At the time we were seeing so many new things and new ways of doing things, I had moments like this daily. "Wow, that's cool. Why don't other people do that?"
I did not however notice that the car was a BMW, much less know that it was a 2002. Only that it was a well thought-out, beautiful and functional design.
Our family was a lot of things, but none of us was a car fanatic. We brought our VW Bus back with us to Durham. However, during those days we didn't see many European cars on the streets of Durham. Back then if we saw another VW Bus on the highway we'd roll our window down and wave.
I did eventually learn what BMWs were—smart, fast, and fun. It was years later before I saw a now older 2002 and instantly flashed back to that 10-year old kid rumbling down a highway in the back of the VW Bus. “Hey, I know that car! I know those lights!” I had in fact fallen in love with BMWs at 10-years old without even realizing it.
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