‘Crazy restless’ couple drives a Beetle around the world.

Raise your hand if you’d willingly drive a 44-year-old car across the world.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Well, that’s exactly what Orange County vintage car enthusiasts Ed (76) and Janet (65) Howle plan to do. As part of a recreation of the 1908 World Race, the Howles will drive their 1967 Volkswagen Beetle from New York City to San Francisco, then across China, Russia and Europe. How cool is that? We imagine if the car in our opening sentence was a vintage VW, we’d probably see a lot more hand raisers.

Technically, the 14,000-mile road trip is a rally, in which “drivers and cars have to reach a series of predetermined destinations at specific times,” writes Thomas Goldsmith in a recent News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) article.

The pair has always been adventurous, home-schooling their youngest children while sailing the Caribbean and authoring a suspense thriller based on the terminated 2008 World Race.

“It beats a retirement community,” said Ed.

The 15 or so teams participating in the rally will embark from New York next month and travel across America, China, Kazakhstan and Eastern Europe, finally ending at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The journey will take more than three months.

“Make your life the adventure you want it to be,” added Janet.

We’ll keep our eye on the Howles and hope to report a fast and fun finish by the happy couple soon enough.