One of the few things that surpasses my enthusiasm for food is my disease passion surrounding old cars.  I like driving old sheds, cars that most people might not want to be caught dead in.  Volvo 240 wagon anyone?  I’ve had 2.  And a 740.  And a 940.  And Peugeots.  I can find something interesting with even the most hated automobiles (I have a thing for YUGO’s – and that’s not a joke.)

One of my earliest loves has been anything Volkswagen.  Well old Volkswagens.  There was a cruel period during the late 90′s – just ask anyone who’s got a 99 Jetta or Passat how much of the electrical system they’ve replaced in their ride.  Or how much they’ve spent trying to get the check engine light to extinguish itself.  You’ll likely need to sit down for a lunch to discuss the depth of the situation.  At the end of such a meal there’s a decent chance something else will have broken on their car.  Perhaps Germany was on vacation during that period.

I’ve recently fallen into the purchase of an old VW Westfalia Campervan.  On a side note, an exciting thing for me is the fact that the data plate reads “Made in West Germany.”  How cool is that?  Not one – but TWO Germany’s.  Germani.  It’s almost as old as I am – to be fair it’s a bit of a malignant tumor delightful project (kind of like me) – but it spurned a lot of reading online.

Isn’t that a friendly looking thing??

At this point you’re asking yourself – what the hell does this have to do with food?  Indeed.

One of the silly things I’ve stumbled across while doing a lot of inane research into my new family member is that since the early 1970s, VW has been producing its own Currywurst sausage.  Yes – sausage.  The “production line” for the sausage is headquartered at the butchery in VW’s sprawling Wolfsburg factory.  It’s one that turns out over 4.8 million Currywursts per year.  For many years the only way to get your grubby little hands on them was to actually work at the factory or be a visitor to VW’s theme park - Autostadt (yes they have a theme park.)

If that saddens you, you’ll be delighted to know that it’s now available at the Deutsches Currywurst Museum Berlin.  That’s a museum dedicated specifically to currywurst.  Those Germans are an exciting people.  Because that’s not weird enough, at some point during the 90′s VW created their own brand of thick ketchup to top the sausage.

VW Butchery Circa 1973 – If ever there were a photo worthy of a caption contest…