Senior year of high school, I drove eight other people to a party in my '74 Mercury Comet. (That picture is my actual car, not just a pic of a Comet.)
I was having problems with the muffler falling halfway off and dragging on the ground at the time. While on the freeway with all those people in my car, I noticed a bunch of sparks behind my car when I looked in the rear-veiw. So I had to pull over to the side of the freeway, get my tools out of my trunk, and put the muffler back up. With eight people crammed in the car. Fun times!
When I was a child, my father had an already old MG, with a cloth top and running boards. Usually if more than two people were going they took the Beetle instead, in which I’d have ridden in the back seat (even if there was no other passenger, and sitting down not standing up, rules not all parents had and which I didn’t like); but one time they needed to go somewhere and take me, and the VW must have been in the shop.
So I rode lying down (there wasn’t room for me to sit up) in the pocket behind the seats, which I think the roof fit into when folded, or maybe it was for small bits of luggage. I was quite small, and thought this was fun.
I also remember, including as an adult, riding loose in the back of open pickups; and, as an adult, on somebody’s lap in a jammed full seat.
Thanks for the correction, I didn’t know the exact year when they switched to a 12V system. One of my best friends has been a VW Beetle and Bus enthusiast for 40 years, has owned several Beetles and still owns a 1972 1302 which he bought in his early 20s and has done a lot of work on, and his mantra is “don’t buy a 6V model, or you’ll be in a world of pain.”
