Enrique Neufeld, owner of The Wizards (German car specialists), and owner of various years and styles of VWs, had made several attempts to organize a Bug club in the Miami area, but got little backing or participation. So he was far less than enthusiastic when customer and friend Bill Steckley (who owns a l969 rag-top, 1961 23 window microbus 178 camper) walked into his shop in the summer of 1994 and pressed him to give it another try.

Bill, an obvious hard-core VW fan, is nothing if not persuasive, and Enrique and Bill spent the next several weeks drumming up interest from friends, strangers, word of mouth, and windshields flyers. On July 18, 13 VWs and their guests showed up for the new (unnamed) club's first caravan and breakfast, to Miami Beach.

At the club's inception, the plan was to meet for a caravan breakfast once a month, but it soon became apparent that some of us had no social life to speak of, and additional monthly events have been added. The club now gathers for two caravans every month; a Sunday caravan/breakfast and a Thursday caravan/dinner. We also participate in a monthly open car show sponsored by the South Dade Street Rods. We periodically caravan to car shows around Florida. Our breakfast caravans are usually to a restaurant, but we have also driven to the Everglades and to the beach to enjoy al fresco breakfast picnics. One memorable Sunday featured an unbelievable breakfast feast wholly prepared and served by two of our members, Virgin and Peter Van der Vlught (l980 Vanagon).

Enrique Neufeld's one caveat to Bill Steckley for organizing and defining the club was that we participate in some type of meaningful community based volunteering on an ongoing basis. In the spring of 1995 the club began volunteering at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, building houses for low income families in Goulds. We continue to schedule these workdays every 2-3 months, where we are as handy with a hammer as with a metric wrench.

One of our first hurdles was naming the club, but it proved to he an easy task. Angie Claussen, wife of charter member Rick ('69 specialty bug), came up with a name suggestion that was undeniably ours. Anyone who lives in South Florida (or any other tropical area) has encountered a Palmetto Bug (or several million). What are they? A cockroach, of course, but no small, easily vanquished creature is the Palmetto Bug. They are known to grow up to three inches in length, are able to fly, don't limit themselves to nighttime activities, get no respect from most people ("gross" and "ugly" are not uncommon descriptions), and can survive being stepped on. It sounded perfect to us, and the name was adopted immediately with overwhelming approval.

The Palmetto Bugs has no dues and no official membership roster or rules. Although we call ourselves 'members,' we don't actually have members - we have participants. The vast majority are VW owners, but not all are. Members drive bugs, Microbuses, Vanagons, Type IIs and IIIs, Scirocco's (yes we allow water cooled, despite religious differences) Karman Ghia's, Things, and we even have a new Cabrio in the group (of course they kept their bug!). Car years range from a 1951 split window all the way to the l996 Cabrio.

Our unofficial leader is Bill Steckley. Bill is a professional photographer and maintains scrapbooks of photos from most of our events which he hauls to each outing for everyone to see. He also keeps participant statistics (name, telephone number and car year and type) on index cards. Members volunteer anytime there's a need for work to be done. Two members share our membership roster to telephone everyone a few days prior to each event. Everyone appreciates the reminder, and it helps ensure good turnout.

Since that first caravan, the Palmetto Bugs have ventured as far as Titusville to the north, Naples to the west, and Key Largo to the south. In all over 100 different VWs have attended events. Each caravan attracts anywhere from 10 VWs to 36 at our biggest turnout for our first anniversary.

In July 1996 the Palmetto Bugs put on a 2nd Anniversary Rock 'n Roll Dance as a benefit for Habitat for Humanity. This was the most ambitious undertaking ever attempted by our club, and we were very proud when lots of hard work and plenty of donations resulted in a big gym, a terrific live band, a crowd of over 150 people, and nearly $2,000 raised for Habitat for Humanity.

An interesting phenomenon we've discovered, which probably shows up in clubs across the country, is the number of bug owners who have purchased or are 'saving' their bugs for a child, who in some cases are still knee high when the car is purchased. Have you every heard of someone saving their Lincoln Towne Car for their kid?

Enthusiasm has continued to grow with new members and their great ideas, and a new specialty car club was formed as an off-shoot of the Palmetto Bugs. Founded on November 8,1995 at Bug Jam '95, .Wide Five is a strictly vintage VW club for pre-'67 Type 1's, pre-'70 Type 2's and Type 3's and special interest vehicles. Wide Five, refers to the bolt pattern found on the early VW's. Wide Five members meet weekly on Sunday evenings, along with participating in Palmetto Bugs events. Wide Five was formed by Bill Dwyer, Patrick Gomez, Michael Hedrick, Kevin Schmucker and Danny Tito. They felt there was a need for a serious vintage car club in the area.

Palmetto Bugs are completely unfazed by being viewed as non serious. They are serious about having fun, and about making certain everyone who participates feels welcome. Their members are as diverse as their cars, and it's one of the elements that makes the Palmetto Bugs a successful club. If you are interested in becoming a member contact: