Cowboy Up!

Okay. Y’know how the pope’s former car apparently recently sold on the German version of eBay?

He’s apparently trading it in for a pickup!

Okay, okay. It’s not exactly a pick-up. It’s a "pick-up-like vehicle" apparently reverse-engineered from an SUV and outfitted with bullet-proof glass behind where he is to stand, but still

THAT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!

YEE-HAW!

GET THE STORY.

Only problem is . . . it’s a Volkswagen. I’m from a car-fixin’ family, and one thing I can tell you: Volkswagens are (or were) high maintenence. I know the pope’s from Germany and all, but I wouldn’t own a Volkswagen (not even a Volkswagen pick-up) if you paid me.

Still, it’s a sign that the pope’s "gone country" in Alan Jackson’s words.

Maybe I’ll send him a Charlie Daniels Band CD to play while he’s drivingbeing driven around in it. (Can’t you just hear him being driven around to "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"?)

Or maybe I’ll send him a pair of boot that he can use with heretics to . . . y’know.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

13 thoughts on “Cowboy Up!”

  2. I’ve got a ’00 Jetta. Since the warranty ran out, I have spent $4K+ in repairs. That doesn’t count the close to $500 I’ve spent in the routine maintenance a the dealership, which in turn doesn’t include the oil change that I will not pay double price for a the dealership. I won’t be buying any more Volkswagens either…..
    And while we’re on the subject of German cars, I’ll never buy a Mercedes either. Any car manufacturer that can’t spell “compressor” just won’t get my business (not that I could afford one anyway).

  3. Volkswagon’s biggest problems are their engines. They are a great engine, but they have so much proprietary stuff in them, that you really can’t do the work yourself or the consequence of messing up is real big.
    Marc, I won’t be buying a Mercedes anytime soon either. I don’t have anything against the car, they just start at about 10 times my current car budget. 🙂

  6. Maybe we ought to start calling the new popemobile the “popewagen.” However that’s an English-German hybrid word. Maybe we go with “popewagon” or “papstwagen.”
    On the other hand, since the pope is Bavarian, maybe he ought to go with a BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) instead.

  7. Volkwagen is definitely an odd choice. I loved my old 1966 bug, and it took me 100K miles before I sold it, for almost half what I had originally paid. But I also put a small fortune into repairs. He shoulda gotten a Toyota Corolla.

  8. VW offered to make the car, they weren’t chosen.
    I suspect maintenance will be gratis, as a courtesy to Germany’s most prominent son.

  9. I was hoping for a papal delorean. Maybe rig it up with a flux capacitor or something so the pope could go back to the future and combat heresy before it started.
    BTW, Buick Centuries are great cars. I’ve had one for 4 years and nothing has gone wrong yet! Too bad they’re discontinuing them.

  10. VW has, in my opinion, the greatest engine currently in production: The V-10 TDI. 5 liters, 10 cylinders, 330 hp, 550 ft-lbs. Yet, its fuel efficiency blows away any gasoline-powered engine of similar proportions.
    Hopefully, the Holy Father’s “Popemobile-like” vehicle will come equipped with same.
    Plus, it goes without saying that he needs a gun rack in the back window.

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