Some will come to Rolling Art for the vicarious Roll-Royce, Ferrari, Porsche and champagne experience, but what goes better with the real Tryon Beer Fest beer and brats than Tim Hayes’s vintage Volkswagen?

The German Volkswagen Bug, or Beetle, is the best-known car of all time. Simple, affordable, and cheap to operate, it has just about everything required of an automobile. Created in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, it was one of the first cars to be designed with the aid of a wind tunnel – hence the beetle’s shape – unibody construction, torsion bar suspension and an air-cooled rear engine. By the mid-1930s, Adolph Hitler wanted to make the “people’s car” a socio-economic centerpiece for his new Germany, but it was several years before it could be manufactured at a reasonable cost. Just a few cars were built before the factory turned to industrial priorities for World War II. Like so many other German industrial assets at the close of the War, Volkswagen became a political football. So production didn’t resume until the late ‘40s.

Volkswagens were first exhibited and sold in the U.S. in 1949, although only two were sold that year. Max Hoffmann, the son of a Vienna Rolls-Royce dealer, began to import the car for the American market, selling a total of 328 beetles in 1950 through his New York City agency—along with Lagonda, Aston-Martin, Jaguar, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz.

Among the cars featured at Rolling Art in Tryon on Saturday, November 8, will be a 1950 “deluxe import model” and survivor of the first 328 Volkswagens in the United States. Owned by Timothy Hayes of Asheville, “Brown Sugar”—named for his then three-year-old daughter—is still completely original down to its 25 horsepower engine, tiny split rear windows and spare tire tool kit. Also original are the six-volt electrical system, semaphore turn signals, hand crank for extremely cold starting conditions, working eight-day winding clock, as well as many brochures which came with the new car.

After leaving the Max Hoffmann agency in New York, Brown Sugar remained with its first owner until the late 1970s when it came to North Carolina in the possession of a close friend of Hayes, from whom he purchased it in 2009. Rarely in our “throw-away culture” has a 64-year-old Volkswagen had only three owners and remained in its original state. Because most baby boomers either had beetle, had a friend who did, or “crammed” one during college, Tim’s car should recall many fond memories for Rolling Art visitors.

The public is invited to visit the Rolling Art exhibit near Thompson Garden Gallery and Outdoor Living on Palmer St. in Tryon on Nov. 8, from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Last year, over 100 vehicles were in this free show. This year’s event is again scheduled concurrently with the Tryon Beer Fest.

Exhibitor registration is also free. If you have a collector car, motorcycle or truck you would like to show, call 828-859-3185 or email rollingarttryon@gmail.com and provide the year, make and model of your vehicle along with your contact information. Everyone is welcome.

-article submitted by Warren Board