Young Volkswagen enthusiast has an 'AirCooled' club

Fallbrook native David Taylor has started what appears to be a pretty cool car club. Or, as he would say, an "AirCooled" club.

Taylor, 18, founded Fallbrook AirCooled in February, and the club's most recent gathering on July 1, attracted 34 members who share a common bond – a passion for classic Volkswagens and their restoration.

Taylor recently graduated from North County Christian School and will be attending Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta in August. In the meantime, he is spending the summer promoting Fallbrook AirCooled by managing the club's web site, http:fallbrookvolkswagen.com, and Facebook page.

Taylor said he named the club Fallbrook AirCooled in honor of the engines in old Volkswagen bugs.

"The engines are always in the back and there are slits on the back cover so that air can get in there and cool the engine down while it's running," said Taylor. "The outside air literally cools the engine so it won't overheat."

Taylor said the Volkswagen bug grabbed his attention at an early age.

"My love for Volkswagen literally came when I was 6," said Taylor. "That was the first car I always wanted. I saw them and thought, ‘ah, those things are really cool.' I think it was the look, the way it ran, the engine – the way it was loud. There was just something…I don’t know, because it’s not a typical car that a young child desires."

Taylor said his fondness for the Volkswagen bug faded a bit as he grew older but returned full-force when he was shopping for his first car.

"I was on Craigslist looking at all these different cars and wasn’t even thinking about Volkswagens," said Taylor. "And then there was this '73 bug – it just popped up in the middle of the page. I was staring at it for a long time and then I called the guy. I went up to Los Angeles, looked at it, drove it, and brought it home."

It was during the drive home that Taylor realized that the bad tires he was traveling on weren't his only problem. The brakes were also in very poor condition.

"I had to do a lot of downshifting," said Taylor, who quickly learned the purchase price was "a deal" for a reason. "It was not expensive when I bought it, but the money I've put into it, now it's an expensive car."

Working on his Volkswagen only increased Taylor's fondness for the car, and sparked a desire to meet others who shared his passion for the vehicles. He discovered a Volkswagen club in Temecula and liked what he saw.

"I was like, ‘this is really a cool idea,'" said Taylor. "They’re all hanging out, they’re all friends, they’re all eating hamburgers and having a real good time. So I started going to their meetings. Then it struck me –Fallbrook, we have all these old cars here and we have all these clubs, and there as so many Volkswagens here, but there’s no club."

Thus, Fallbrook AirCooled was born. The group meets in the parking lot at Albertson's (1133 S. Mission Rd.) the first and third Fridays of every month at 6 p.m.

"It’s a perfect place for people to see us and come up to talk to us," said Taylor. "That’s where I’ve met a lot of people. Some say, ‘oh, we’ve got three Volkswagens at home, when can we come?’ It’s grown by word of mouth. We literally just hang out and talk, or get something to eat together from one of the places in the shopping center. There’s a lot of camaraderie."

Although Fallbrook AirCooled has members from Oceanside, Temecula and even Corona, the majority of the members are locals.

"A lot of members are people that have lived in Fallbrook their whole life, and when they were in high school they had a bug," said Taylor. "And now that they’re in their retirement years, they picked up that passion again. I’m actually the youngest person in the club. There’s a few young guys, probably in their 30s or 40s, but the majority of people are in their late 50s or early 60s."

Taylor said the club rules for Fallbrook AirCooled are simple.

"We want it to be family friendly," said Taylor. "It’s Fallbrook, it’s a happy place. Just have a very good persona. Just be nice."

Taylor said his goal is to one day establish Fallbrook AirCooled as a non-profit so it can help the community of Fallbrook.

"I would love to support the different charities I constantly hear about here in Fallbrook, like the Fallbrook Food Pantry," said Taylor. "Hopefully we'll continue to grow and eventually be able to do that.

"My goal is for the club to really make a name for itself, to be a club that people see and say, 'hey, there's that club, Fallbrook AirCool. They're awesome. They're all about involving themselves in the needs of the surrounding community and being there for everyone.'"

It's an ambitious and admirable plan for a college-bound young man who doesn't seem daunted by the challenge. It appears Taylor is "AirCooled."