Ferry Porsche, son of the great Ferdinand, once honored me with an interview for a radio program that volkswagen was sponsoring. It was an odd situation inasmuch as I was employed by the company as a p.r. assistant while at the same time announcing (and getting paid for) a weekly show for the CBC, Canada's national radio network. Such a thing would never happen in today's corporate culture but I had a fantastic boss, Dr. Hal Albrecht, who'd hired me when I was a freelance announcer doing occasional car stuff. He thought I should continue those efforts and was willing to put VW ad money behind them. He later did the same for a TV show.

Volkswagen Canada was the Porsche distributor in Canada, thus when Ferry Porsche came to visit an interview seemed a natural. We did it in a company office with a wind-up portable tape recorder. Wind up? Yep. In those years portables were not battery-powered. VW bought this device for me and I used it until technology made it obsolete. Wish I had it now... would be a museum piece. The only question I can remember from that interview was this: "Mr. Porsche, where should the engine be: in the front or the rear?" His reply: "It doesn't matter, as long as the engine and the driving wheels are in the same place." We didn't discuss all-wheel-drive.

This long-ago interview suddenly seems relevant as Volkswagen is showing a small concept car at the Frankfurt show with the engine (are you ready for this?) in the rear. According to Australia's Drive.com.au The VW Up! is about 136" long and 64" wide with seating for four and modest luggage space under the hood. This, my friends is the real new Beetle! But don't expect to see the engine hanging out the back. It fits under the floor, where engines rightly belong. It will be part of the company's new Small Family lineup and hopefully will come to North America. I suspect the late Ferry Porsche would approve. I certainly do.