I love running into these vintage custom VWs. It’s such a time warp: Once upon a time there were so many of these everywhere, in such a profusion of different styles. Just how many VW custom front-end and fender kits must have been available over the decades? This one is sort of a cross between a Baja Bug and something more street-oriented.
Check out how the rear deck has been cut just to accommodate the exhaust. Can you remember when Baja Bugs and such were thick as flies?
Not many left are there Paul? Hanging a Ford Zephyr V6 out the back of a Baha bug was an easy way to make em go and plenty of room without the panelwork, I havent seen a mobile Baha Bug for some time
Thick as flies? Well, not rare, that’s for sure. I remember in college frequently seeing a Baja style bug with a Buick V6. And then a classmate got a Corvair powered bug. He gave me a brisk ride on a local, twisty mountain road at night and I learned two things: he was a very fast driver, and lots of power under his right foot made the bug’s inherent oversteer much more controllable (perhaps the massive rear tires helped as well). The body detailing on this one is quite nice … wit ha different paint job and wheels/tires it would look even better.
I just love these. There’s something about stripping the Bug’s sheet metal down to the minimum or less that amplifies its essential rightness to the max. Wheels, engine, cabin, period.
It’s exquisitely easy to electrify a Baja Bug, and show off the motor in the process. I’ve been sorely tempted every time I see a Baja on the street. Lots of these at the EV Album. Makes a very neat around town car.
I think this is a variation of the baja more than a cross between baja/street. The one I remember best was named Pinto Beans and it had a 2300 (I think) pinto in the back. Seemed to win a lot. This is a variant of that, not the original car: http://jalopnik.com/5524074/pinto+engined-baja-bug-couldnt-hide-in-the-desert-forever
Ugh, that Pinto thing is sick. Hate to think how it handles with all that iron and water hanging out the back. What a kludge.
Yup. All it did was look ugly and win. Actually Mike, the original didn’t look nearly this thrown together. Pretty nice job but a quick search didn’t turn it up.
Here you go
http://jalopnik.com/5524073/pinto-beans-baja-bug-down-on-the-junkyard
By the time I was driving legally (early 90s), bugs were getting fairly thin on the street. There were still a few kids at my HS that drove them, mostly girls.
There’s always that one kid in HS who has several vehicles, though, and in my case he had a crotch rocket, a Toyota 4×4 pickup, an Eagle Talon…and a fairly ratty baja bug. Someone was overcompensating after the kid’s dad died. Anyway, that baja bug was impossible to miss, and a riot to ride in. Cemented my opinion that no baja bug is complete without the “don’t rear-end me” zoomie tailpipe, which his had.
I’m also a huge fan of these, great find. The Meyers Manx dune buggies were pretty cool too.
I missed shooting a pair of Manxes (Minx?) recently at the lot where I shot the recent AMX Hornet. They were only there a week or so and I never had extra time to stop before they were gone.
I’ve never seen this kit, having an old stack of Dune Buggies and Hot VW’s from my ledgendary Uncle Peter I’ve seen ads for most of them. I think the myriad of styles was partially because the classic Baja Bug was illegal in some states with the close headlight placement.
I thought they were cool as a kid, but these days I prefer Beetles unmodified.
Now if you ever see a Thompson Burro on the street (which predated fiberglass buggies) those are real lookers!
That’s quite the duck face on that bug. I used to build imaginary Baja Bugs out of the JC Whitney catalog and my wife likes them enough that I can probably pull one off as a retirement project, after I finish the Riley Elf shooting brake (Elf/Hornet front clip on a Countryman) and the Austin 7 hot rod project (think T-bucket hit by a shrink ray) queued up in my brain.
There are a couple of decent Beetles in Klamath Falls (saw a nice ’70 yesterday, but it didn’t need the bra), but Bajas are fairly rare. There is (or was) one in our tiny hamlet NE of K-Falls, but I haven’t seen it around since last summer.
Saw this on the road five minutes ago very cool car
It wasn’t a big thing in Ohoho…I think I only saw two; and none like that.
There were a variety of kits available in the Whitney catalog. The one I liked best had the headlight buckets close-mounted, with a fiberglass cap over the abbreviated front. Fenders were truncated but smooth, and the shortened fiberglass trunk lid matched well to the body.
The rear, of course, was just shortened fenders and a basket-cage for the engine and transaxle. I’d seen photos of that type of kit, but never in person.
Always wanted to try…but when I got the Bug, it was a super-duper one. No kit for me…
Yesterday in Tacoma I saw a Citroen DS-19 on the street just a few blocks from my dentist’s office. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me. It was a beautiful sunny day, but it’s raining today. At any rate I wouldn’t pay another bridge toll just to try to see it again, probably….