Travels with Rico traces the exploits of Stanford University undergraduate students on and off their overseas campus near Stuttgart, West Germany in the early 1970’s. The extremely popular European campus resided on "Landgut Burg", a vine-covered butte overlooking the Remstal (Rems Valley) and the Dorf (village) of Beutelsbach, Baden-Württemberg (German state), in BRD (Bundesrepublik Deutschland = West Germany). Selected Stanford University students from the graduating classes of 1970-72 spent six-month sessions on this Stanford-in-Germany campus from the summer of 1968 through the spring of 1971.

The Volkswagen automobile success story demonstrated to the world the prowess of German engineering and the impressive economic recovery of post-WWII Germany (Wirtschaftswunder). Central to the story line of Travels with Rico is a tiny 1953 Volkswagen bug that was nicknamed ‘Rico’ after one of its early owners. This particular representative of the VW family passed from group to group and ferried a series of students throughout the European continent. Rico the automobile assumes a personality and strength of his own which persists until his self-imposed exile and subsequent arrest by overzealous Italian officials in 1971.

Our story begins when the car’s first student owner, Richard Dinihanian, arrives at Landgut Burg as part of Stanford-in-Germany Group XXI, summer-fall 1968. Richard procures the VW and over the next 6 months becomes a living legend among subsequent student groups. We think you will enjoy these memorable and often humorous offerings from more than two dozen Stanford alumni.

Sincerely,

Tod Tolan '71, Editor

Reisen mit Rico Committee:

Barbara Rust Berring '71,

Linda Gibson Schwall '71,

Tim Gillespie '71,

Nelson Dong '71.