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Teen finally gets to drive his vintage cars
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Dylan Tischer recently got his license. But well before that, he owned many vintage Volkswagens. John Cross
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Dylan Tischer has seven Volkswagens
Even before Dylan Tischer had his driver’s license, he owned seven vintage Volkswagens.
The wait to drive them legally finally ended last week for the 16-year-old when he passed his driver’s test — a big day for Dylan, who is the proud owner of a 1961 Beetle, two 1967 Beetles, a 1973 Beetle, a 1970 convertible and a 1966 Volkswagen bus.
His real beauty is his 1966 Beetle, he said. Dylan bought his first Volkswagen from the junkyard when he was 12 years old and has been buying and working on the cars ever since.
“I’ve been interested in cars most of my life,” he said. “I started getting books from the library and looking them up, and it kind of took off from there.”
Dylan joined the DEM Volkswagen Car Club in Mankato about a year ago and will participate in his first car show in Morristown Saturday. The car show will take place at the Morristown baseball field in conjunction with their annual hot-rod car show.
“He was one of the first ones we met when we decided to start forming,” said Ed Stock, 56, founder of the DEM VW Car Club. “This young kid (didn’t) even have a license yet, and he’s all fired up about Bugs. He really enjoys them and loves to work on them. His dad is really in it with him. It’s a great father-son thing.”
Dylan comes from a long line of car buffs, according to his father, Scott Tischer, 42. His brothers and his dad always had a lot of old cars.
“Model As, Model Ts and stuff like that,” Scott said.
Scott even has a Model A in his garage. He said he has been interested in cars since he was a kid, mainly fixing up old Fords, until his son turned him on to restoring Volkswagens.
“I guess it’s more or less my son (who) is really interested in them, and I’ve just kind of helped him,” Scott said. “He’s the Volkswagen nut.”
Scott said he likes the Volkswagen Beetles for their vintage aesthetic, while Dylan said he likes them for their air-cooled engine, which is uniquely located in the back of the car.
“They’re so cheap and easy to work on,” Dylan said. “I just really like them.”
Stock bought his first Volkswagen in college. It was the only car he knew how to fix. Plus, they were cheap. He said some parts were difficult to find and had to be specially ordered. But he also managed to find Volkswagen parts locally.
“They’re so simple. The average guy can fix them. If you gave me a big V8 I wouldn’t know what to do with it,” Stock said.
Stock owns two Volkswagen Beetles: a 1972 he bought more than six years ago and a 1957 he bought 20 years ago. He said he doesn’t so much restore them, but rather just keeps them running.
Stock said he usually takes his cars up to the Twin Cities Volkswagen Club, which has 150 to 200 cars, but he is excited to see the turnout for the event in Morristown. He said if 25 vintage Volkswagens turned out he would be ecstatic, and if owners of the newer line of Beetles turned out, it would be a completely new ball game.
The Volkswagen Club is a little unconventional in that it does not have regular meetings, but rather occasional hamburger runs.
“We’ll just set up starting points and ending restaurants and people are welcome to join us any place along the route,” Stock said. “We keep notices in our cars, and whenever we see a Bug, we throw it on their windshield.”
Stock started the DEM (which in German means “the noble machine”) VW Car Club with two other Volkswagen enthusiasts about a year ago with the interest in bringing Volkswagen owners and lovers together to work on their cars and generate public interest. Officially, the club has about 15 members, but with many other participants.
“Mostly we started to kind of help people, help people get their cars going and keep them going,” Stock said. “It’s been tremendously fun. We’ve met a whole new group of people that are just out to have a good time.”
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