I just got back from LA last night, and I was going through a few pictures from the huge Galpin Car Show, and this one caught my eye. It’s a Beetle convertible, I think a 1967, and while there were many, many other old air-cooled Volkswagens, many more interesting, this one caught my attention because I realized it’s outfitted in a way that I feel like I’ve seen before, but I’m not quite sure what to call it. It’s not a Baja Bug, but it shares some traits, it’s not quite a full rally Beetle, it’s not exactly prepped to race – what is going on here, exactly?
There’s some interesting details and traits here: the fenders are a bit cut down – not to the degree a dedicated off-road Beetle would be, but a bit. The spare tire is mounted on that carrier at the rear – an odd choice considering the already significant rear weight bias – there’s wider rear wheels, no running boards, a semaphore slot (unoccupied, and this car is way too late for semaphores, so not sure what’s going on there), a towing arm setup up front, and all on a convertible.
Strangely, it reminds me a bit of a noted and quite famous grouch’s Beetle:
I mean, yes, the one I saw is vastly better cared for and likely free of worms, but there’s a bit of an aesthetic parallel.
The look is like a rugged-and-ready kind of thing, but less specific than the other popular ruggedized VW looks.
What should we call this, if this look/subculture lacks a name? Utility Beetle? Rugged Bug? Survival Beetle?
I’m open to ideas!
— J
It’s the Fury Road Lite edition.
*Führer Road
Führerkäfer.
Käfer used to tow boats, light planes or gliders…
Kübelwagen
In motorcycle terms, it’s a Scrambler. Perfect for fire roads at lowish speed.
That there, m’boy, is a Beetle GT.
A grand tourer, complete with hitch for flat towing behind the RV on said tour. Park the house on wheels in a new quadrant of the country and then go exploring all about the region in your Beetle GT. Spare tire on the back so you’ve got room for overnight bags in the frunk, convertible top for those days when it’s so nice it would be a sin to have a hard top blocking the view of the sunny sky or the autumn leaves as you spiritedly whip along a winding Vermont road. Upgraded beefier suspension parts for putting on some serious expeditionary miles, bigger 1914 jugs for those times when the terrain proves a bit more challenging than expected.
When you’re set on re-discovering American the beautiful from sea to shining sea, you can’t do better than the Beetle GT.
Does the lettering next to the antenna say “Mini Ponies?”
Wish we had a better shot of the rear end! All convertible Beetles had decklid vents since the convertible top and hardware meant no vents under the rear window. I could see this being prone to overheating. But it also looks like the lower part of the decklid and rear apron have been cut off along with the rear fenders. So maybe it gets enough cooling air from that setup. That’s my theory.
I suppose they could have dropped a Subaru engine back there though, but I think you might see a little more of it poking out where the apron and fenders are cut out. Too dark to tell, and it clearly doesn’t have the distinctive factory muffler and tailpipes to give us any clues. Jason, did you happen to hear it running?
Still looks better than 90% of the crap the industry has for sale as “modern 21st century” offerings.
A Scroungeling. Got some parts here, some parts there…
Dung Beetle?
I seriously don’t mean to offend the Beetle crowd or imply they are poop, but I think it works.
COTD.
Came here to say this.
Only if it has a V8, so at least it goes like poop.
it seems like a rolling project beetle. or a junk pile beetle. took a couple piles of parts and put the best of the parts and slapped them together. the bumper tire is really weird in that it looks stock so should fit under the bonnet. but then, what else is going on up there. the smooth engine cover makes me wonder if it is a convertible thing or if there is really some other motor hiding in there and the front needed space for a radiator or something.
It’s a Beach Beetle! Want a Meyers Manx but need something you can actually use daily? Don’t want to go full Baja bug because you want some semblance of road manners, but also still want to rip around in the sand? The Beach Bug is for you.
Convertible roof for open-top beach enjoyment, more rear weight bias for better traction, wider tires for weight distribution to prevent sinking in and getting stuck, cut fenders and running boards for clearance and lightness, but not cut too much (don’t want sand flying in your face!), and a tow bar for when it inevitably gets stuck anyway and you need a friendly 4×4 to get you unstuck.
Beach Bug is the most correct name for something like this.
Although without the spare tire mounted way outback, I’d call this a Toad. That’s the nickname for a vehicle you pull behind your RV. Cut fenders on both ends and a shortened engine deck lid means you could pull it from either end without as much risk of scraping them on curbs going around corners.
There also appears to be a roll cage, or at least a roll bar.
I wonder if it’s used for time-trial rallies – the kind where you need to get to a certain checkpoint exactly at a certain time, and you accrue points if you’re late or early.
Those events are sort of rally-adjacent, which could explain the roll and tow bars, but they’re not rally-rallies so there’s no need for elaborate suspension and chunky tires.
Given the lack of vents in the engine lid & presumably also the lack of a properly comprehensive set of cooling tins the engine might suffer some cooling problems unless it’s actually, say, a Subaru engine which might explain the wider rear wheels.
The empty semaphore slot might be from a previous life where someone attempted to make a Hebmüller cabriolet replica using a later Beetle (though Hebmüllers actually had the semaphores up front just ahead of the doors.)
Rather the hodgepodge of a Beetle! At least it’s out there & being driven on the road rather than sitting in a garage or being trailered to car shows.
The colorway and the fact that there’s entirely too much going on with it makes me want to call it a Spectator Bug. https://www.amazon.com/ROYAL-WIND-Geninue-Spectator-Perforated/dp/B01MFERJNC
That’s the steak and potatoes of the Beetle world. That’s the main course that slides across your plate, straight down your throat, blasts across your stomach, does a luge through your colon and blasts its way to freedom, screaming the whole time.
That’s a Meatle.
I’m going to piggyback off this.. it’s been modified to it’s owners taste, it’s pretty cool, neat even, it’s a Neatle.
A Neatle Meatle Beetle.
that folded towing arm makes me think
putting the spare tire on back makes it more accessible while connected to rv.
can’t explain fenders and running boards…perhaps it had a troubled childhood.
So it’s a convertible that kinda looks like it could go off-road but really can’t. It’s a VW Beetle CrossCabriolet.
It looks like it came from a children’s book or comic book, where the illustrator took the general idea of something from the real world and applied some lightly fanciful aesthetic.
All it needs is a VW Rabbit diesel engine shoved in the back, and you could call it a Stink Bug.
You piqued my curiosity so I looked it up. There WAS a factory built air cooled stink bug once upon a time:
https://www.thegoldenbug.com/en/air-cooled_vw_history/d7/diesel_beetle
A few stats about Project 508:
MY: 1951-53
HP: 23-25
Compression 22:1
MPG: 36-40 (vs 29-34 for gas Beetle)
Weight: 45-55 lbs over gasoline equivalent
Top Speeds per gear: 15-30-45-68 (“if the wind is with you”)
0-60: 60s official Porsche time
Fun facts:
“Porsche engineers still wonder what the person thought who stole the world’s only diesel Beetle from a downtown parking slot. Despite a long wait for pre-warming and curious fuel needs, the thief drove it all the way to Switzerland before abandoning his smokey, noisy and obviously odd steed.”
“When some bystander did hear a difference he usually asked if a cylinder had failed.”
“When I drove the car on Nurburgring recently-Porsche put its reincarnated engine into a Beetle of appropriate age from the works collection-both smoke and nose were all too evident, if not overwhelming. Lets just say that few would have been tempted to spend money on a radio with all that air-cooled clatter in the back.”
“Cheered on by spectators for an old-timer event, we may even hold the slow-lap record for the Rings short course-truly, a new nostalgia high”
As scary slow as this thing was I’m sure it was a V2 rocket compared to the project van also equipped with this engine.
I bet if that diesel engine were placed instead into a Volkhart V2 Sagitta, MPG would have been 65+, and a top speed approaching 90 mph(if you adjusted the gearing vs stock, as the stock gearing of the Sagitta was not optimized for its 25 horsepower gas ICE power curve for max top speed, but could do 85 mph), because it had less than half the aero drag of a stock Beetle.
The original wind tunnel the Sagitta was tested at gave a Cd of 0.165. A more modern wind tunnel claimed 0.216. Either way, this was significantly less than the stock Beetle’s 0.48. Frontal areas were about the same.
Very likely. Even a diesel powered Sagitta would have been a V2!
(It does look suspiciously like a Tatra though and Tatras were well known to be German killers)
Because that diesel engine was already power-starved, given the Sagitta’s similar mass to the Beetle, the drag reduction probably would have chopped 20 seconds off the 0-60 mph acceleration time.
So 0-60 in 40s instead of 60.
Definitely a rocket!
“Somebody else’s project I bought cheap and use to beat around town”?
I’d say it’s more of a Haha Bug.
Low Rent Hebmuller?
It’s a beater Beetle! A Beeter! Or a Beetler?