How many people can you stuff into a phone booth?

According to the Guinness Book of World Records some say 27 and others say 15, but others say a qualifier is needed such as the size of the people and the size of the telephone booth. It was one of those silly college things of the 50s. The door needed to close.

The next episode of stuffing was in a Volkswagen car. In 1960 a record of 18 people stuffed themselves into a Volkswagen bug. The Guinness Book started keeping records and included rules for the stuffing. The window and doors must shut to make it count.

There are two reasons for me to address this subject of the stuffing a Volkswagen. Recently when I was in Michigan for a weekend with my granddaughter, she rented a car and it happened to be a new Volkswagen Beetle. It was a cute little car. And I mean little.

First of all we couldn’t figure out if the trunk was in the front or in the back. My Dad drove a Volkswagen many years ago and I remember the trunk was in the front with the engine in the back. The main problem we had was trying to find how to open the trunk, wherever it was. So we crammed our luggage in the back seat, which was also somewhat of a joke.

If you don’t remember the Volkswagen, it first came to America in the 1949s and it was never named a Beetle or a Bug, it was called a Type I. There were several movies made about the car and for one movie it was named Herbie the Love Bug.

One of the most popular Volkswagen of the times was the van or bus. It was the live in moving home or camper of the era.

Back to our experience with the car, when I was ready to return it to the rental company I could not find out how to open the gasoline cap. So much for that little trip to Michigan.

If you will notice I have been writing about the 1950s for a couple of weeks. The museum this year is going to highlight the 50s in its displays and activities.

The museum will open May 14 with a display of the Korean War in addition to commemorating the D-Day anniversary.

Later in the year will be displays of art including the 50s, a 1950s House and Christmas of the 1950s. If you have anything that will fit into the display please contact the museum mentors who are there every Wednesday morning.

If you have a Volkswagen and would agree to park it in front of the Museum to help us advertise, we would keep watch over it and make sure no one picked it up and carried it away.

And if you visit the museum this summer, I would be glad to exchange stories with you about experiences with a VW. There are some dozies that I dare not put into print.

 

Jo-Ann Boepple works at the Edwardsburg Area History Museum.