Now here’s a well-preserved flash from the past. VW kits of every possible permutation were the rage in the seventies and into the eighties. The Beetle’s construction lent itself superbly to the task. A few bolts released the body from the platform, which could also be quite easily cut and shortened. The resulting short bed pickup variation makes quite the little hauler, although one wonders of an un-shortened platform wouldn’t have been a wee bit more useful. Ride and handling? Don’t ask. Although this profile shows off its best side, there’s a bonus or two in the other shots:
No self-respecting kit car from this vintage would be authentic without a grafted-on grill; either a gen-u-ine Mercedes number like this one, a fake Rolls Royce, or the very popular ’37 Ford.
Load capacity is a bit limited, but easy to get to. As is the engine. But the best vintage piece on this ‘dub? The steering wheel.
That’s quite a nice vintage Empi wheel, and one I haven’t seen in decades. The frost on the window is what it’s like driving a beetle in cold weather, except it forms on the inside, from your breath.
My ’70 bug had adequate heat for Chicago in January, but once the heat was set, you had to pry the flap closed, since it had corroded enough to defeat the return spring. I do recall heating the beast while I scraped the ice off the windows. Once the ice was gone, the interior temp was tolerable. Much better than my ’64 MGB with flow-through ventilation due to rust holes.
I agree. Every Beetle I’ve had (even my ’59 now with the old stale air heater) have had good heat. The defrost sucks, but I’m not cold.
Now my ’63 Bus, the defrost actually works, they did a better job positioning the vents in the buses. The cabin temp is marginal to adequate.
Yes, as long as your heat exchangers and ducts weren’t rusted out, you got a decent amount of heat. Defrosting was another issue. The dash-mounted squeegee on this example is a nice touch.
Those rims have to be as rare as that steering wheel! I’m warming up to these cars. I never saw the attraction to a vehicle that kinda wants to kill you but…
I keep thinking of my Aunt’s 68, owned since new, sitting in a garage not collecting miles out in California.
A company named Bernies had a recirculating heater. Just pulled inside air thru the HE and sent it back. Quite an improvement according to reports. Came close to doing this to a vw but made a trike instead. This looks like a kit back window but a company in Utah made one that had rounded edges and looked like vw did it. Whats up with the tilted front fenders?
This thing was probably fast and got better than stock gas mileage because of the weight. You could talk me into it if the transmission would hold up to pulling a trailer with a round bale of hay.
The Mercedes grill makes it look more like a Morris than a Mercedes. I have to think the trailer hitch is more useful than the bed. I have to admit, I’d drive it in a flash!
I love that it has a hitch on it, I wonder what has been towed with it during its life. Although the thing that sticks out to me is “legroom”, there really can’t be much with the way that cab got shortened. Still I’ll bet that thing is a blast to drive and gets lots of smiles, waves, and thumbs up when people do.
A buddy and I once drove from Brandon to Regina and back in the dead of a prairie winter in my ’61 Bug. Had some sort of hose connected to the gas heater to blow warm air onto the windshield. Not fun, but we were young, stupid and mostly pissed.
The presence of a fuel gauge and the small license plate light (presuming it’s original to the car) peg this VW as a ’62 or ’63 model. The hood and front fenders appear to be ‘glass. I always assumed the short chassis mod was to make wheelies all the easier. (c:
This is the kind of pickup I could get into.
The grafted on grill on this VW looks more convincing than the Aston grill on the new Fusion. My cousin had a bunch of VW based dune buggies about 35 years ago. The problem with the exposed engines was that he was regularly the source for midnight auto parts among the VW driving community of his city.
The EMPI steering wheel is outstanding!! I’ve never seen that one before…
Should have left the nose alone. I’m good with everything else.
You’d think they would lengthen the (already short) chassis instead of shortening it when they turn it into a pickup…
SOMEONE MADE FIBERGLASS HOODS/GRILLS THAT MADE THE BUGS LOOK LIKE ’40 FORDS . IT ALSO GAVE THE TRUNK A LITTLE EXTEA ROOM. I HAD A 71 TYPE THREE FASTBACK .THE HEATER WAS HORRIBLE, MY BREATH WAS HOTTER . THERE WAS NO RUST IN THE HEAT EXCHANGER. NO GOOD FOR N Y WINTERS
Disturbing…LOL
A lot of time and effort, but I think it works better if you start with a Bus!
Anyone else notice that the front fenders were rolled back and the headlights are only good for signaling aircraft?