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A Life Cut Short

Julie Aleva was passionate about her VW 412. News of her death shocked friends far and wide.

By Lois Grace

Julie Aleva was a livewire, with boundless energy and a sparkling personality that enabled her regularly to transcend life’s speed limit. Julie was so passionate about her 1974 VW 412 Estate Wagon, named Sparkie, that she proudly wore a tattoo of the car’s face on her arm.

But on this joyous road of life, friends and acquaintances were shocked to learn that Julie had died on Nov. 1, 2004. Though her health had been precarious for several years, no one saw this coming. How could someone so vibrant be gone at age 34?

Julie lived in Los Gatos, Calif., near San Jose. She was no shrinking violet, quickly becoming a fixture at VW shows and events in northern California by bouncing from car to car virtually nonstop. She once said, “I make it a point to be everywhere,” and that meant any Volkswagen show or event she could get herself and Sparkie to.

She and Sparkie were also four-time participants in the Gene Berg Memorial Cruise, taking part in cross-country VW caravans to honor another VW celebrity, the late Berg. When her health permitted, nothing would stop her from joining other VW enthusiasts in doing what we love.

I met Julie in 2001 on a photo shoot of our respective cars. We’d both been contacted by the same photographer who wanted to shoot the VWs for a calendar, and he met with us both on the same day. Julie was accompanied by her boyfriend, Ryan Holmboe, so Rob and I socialized with them for most of the day.

No one had more fun with her VW than Julie. Her smile and devotion to the hobby were infectious, and her energy and enthusiasm made it easy to love her. When the day ended, I felt like we’d been friends all our lives.

Julie caught the VW bug at age 11. She had a friend whose mother drove a VW 412 wagon for newspaper deliveries. That particular 412 was in rough shape, after having been used hard, but the moment Julie laid eyes on it, she was smitten. She considered this ungainly VW model nothing less than “mobile art.” For several years, she nurtured her dream of owning a 412, but she never gave up hope of having her own Estate Wagon.

When Julie turned 16, she inherited her mother’s 1984 Rabbit convertible, and although that was every high school girl’s dream car in the mid-’80s, she continued to pine for a 412. Julie drove the Rabbit happily anyhow and dumped her savings into the car for racing upgrades, transforming this previously unassuming little convertible into a slammed, GTI-powered force to be reckoned with.

At 17, she did a stint driving the Rabbit around the track at Sears Point Raceway as a student of the Bondurant Racing School. She even appeared in an issue of Car and Driver magazine in an article dedicated to young “enthusiastic” drivers.

Meanwhile, with her 412 obsession far from diminishing, Julie’s father found a used 1974 in a San Francisco classified, and they looked at it just for fun. Julie drove the car and was hooked. The only drawback was that to get this 412, she would have to sell the Rabbit. Three months passed and on a whim, she called about the 412, but it had been sold, and Julie was heartbroken. She felt she’d let her dream slip through her fingers.

But she was in for a surprise. About five months after Julie first saw the 412, her father called on her 18th birthday to say he was “bringing her birthday present over.” When he arrived, she threw the door open to see the beloved African Red 412 sitting in the driveway. To make her wishes come true, her dad had sold his own car to buy the 412 the two had looked at five months earlier. Julie’s love of automobiles, and Volkswagen in particular, was one she enthusiastically shared with her father.

In the 16 years of her stewardship, the 412 is a shining example of meticulous care and loving attention. The restoration was the ultimate challenge, given the relative rarity of the 412 and lack of popularity among collectors. Julie spent years just trying to find VW shops willing to tackle the project.

The stock red paint is complemented by a unique black and white houndstooth interior that Julie saw in a European car magazine on the Internet. Eventually, bodywork and multi-stage enamel paint followed in 1999. The engine was rebuilt to stock specifications at 200,000 miles, and the restoration was completed in June that year.

With the fabric glue on the interior still drying, Julie drove straight from the upholstery shop to Irvine, Calif. — 350 miles away — to debut Sparkie at the 1999 VW Classic at Irvine Meadows. The day of the big show happened to be exactly 10 years to the day that Sparkie entered Julie’s life. Better yet, Sparkie was honored with a second-place award in the Type III class — among some stiff competition.

This was the first time in the 15-year history of the VW Classic that a Type IV won an award, let alone in the Type III class. Since then, Julie collected even more trophies and awards, including a coveted position as the May pinup car in VW of America’s 2002 calendar.

Memorial cruise: On a Sunday morning in November, 20 Volkswagens carrying their owners, friends and relatives met for a cruise to honor Julie. It was a beautiful day, and she would have so loved to do what we were doing: driving our cars to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, south of San Francisco. A generous potluck picnic was set out and a small “memorial” to Julie was set up on one table, with candles and photo albums containing pictures of our friend.

After sharing a great picnic, we took a few moments to share memories and reflect on Julie’s passing. As we stood in silence, ringed by the 2,000-year-old redwood trees and watching the candles flicker, two crows that had been squawking above us suddenly stopped. As they flew quietly overhead, looking down on us, we could hear the flutter of their feathers as they passed.

Julie is survived by her parents, David and Donna Aleva; her maternal grandmother Marie Balog; her longtime partner, Ryan Holmboe; her extended family in Pennsylvania, a host of friends all over the United States; and three beloved kittens, Margie, Rita and Rose.

In addition to VWs, Julie was passionate about animal rights, maintaining a vegan lifestyle for 20 years. Her dedication to calling attention to animal cruelty inspired and influenced many, especially her mother, about whom she often said proudly, “If you think I am intense about animal rights, you should see my mom. I’ve created a monster!”

In addition to working with animal rescue organizations, Julie volunteered at Raphael House, a shelter for homeless families in San Francisco.

Memorial donations can be made to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; Feral Cat Foundation, P.O. Box 1173, Alamo, CA 94507; or Raphael House, 1065 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109.

Julie was a tiny person, as small and slender as some children. But her personality and love for her friends and her VWs was limitless. Her wacky sense of humor, her bright blonde braids, those big eyes, and that Sparkie tattoo will live on in our memories.