Just the other night, my brother and I were talking about old Volkswagens, and how the internet had saved them.

When I was seventeen, I had a 1968 Karmann Ghia. The image is much more romantic than the reality, I assure you.

Parts were hard to find locally, and searching beyond your borders was difficult. I’d have to get a copy of VW Trends, or HotVWs, and hope there were suppliers in the back pages for whatever part I needed. Plus, I was seventeen, so I tried to do it all on the cheap (read: lots of tape and wire hangars). I eventually sold it for $200, which was what I paid for it, so it was all good.

Twenty years later, I’m knee-deep in VWs. I have a 72 Westy, a 72 Fastback and a late model Passat. The internet has made it easy to find parts and information. eBay makes it easy to buy, sell and trade. There has never been a better time to be an enthusiast.

And what’s better, the local shops that do continue to sell parts for and service old VWs are doing brisk business. People are buying and selling old cars like never before, and they need local people to support their habits.

Best of all, though, are the thousands of innocent volkswagens - each one a reminder of a cherished memory - spared the teenage terror.

I hear the stories every day, usually at a stoplight: “Oh, I remember…,” and they smile that smile (you know, the dirty one), “I just got out of college, we had just gotten married…” They’ll then proceed to tell me how they sold it to some seventeen year old kid. I just shudder.

At least now, that kid will have the option of not destroying it. Oh, there will be mishaps and fires and many, many oil stains in the driveway; but there is now an entire community of people just like him, out there waiting, just in case he wants to keep it alive, and continue to make people smile.

More VWs. More smiles. All thanks to the internet.