The re-imagined “New” Beetle was released for the 1998 model year on the Mark IV Golf platform. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much more than a less useable Golf, although it did sell well due to the goofy styling. Performance was meh at best and the rear-engine handing of the old Beetle was gone, but today’s New […]
The baja/safari thing has gotten so big that even OEMs are picking up on the thread — Porsche had some brand new Baja styled 911 Dakar, which had some impressive and meaty 19/20inch wheels/tire combo sitting under raised wheel arches. With only 2500 examples being planned and a monstrous price tag, don’t expect one in […]
This next kit car was the design handiwork of former Shelby American employee John Chun when he was employed by Bradley Automotive. The GTII debuted in 1976 was a upmarket move for Bradley as the second gen cars featured true gull wing doors with frames, lower door sills, steel reinforced roof, improved bumpers, 67 Corvette […]
The Volkswagen Jetta is the perfect car to customize into a Ute or El Camino. Firstly, from a mechanical perspective, it has front wheel drive, which means all of the important stuff happens in the front half of the car, so the back is just there hanging around like half of a giant skateboard. Next, […]
We’ve featured a lot of cars with engines that didn’t fit over the years. There are many ways to deal with the engine that doesn’t fit, but I think we’ve found a new top dog. The Beetle was never designed to fit a small block Chevy up front, particularly not when that engine is equipped […]
Do you know what is better than a Bugatti kit car built on a VW chassis offered for fair price at an estate sale? Do ya? Yeah. Two Bugatti replicars offered for a reasonable price. According to the seller there is a large collection of other memorabilia and junk from someone named Mark Behar, who […]
The 5th generation of Volkswagen’s Jetta platform is known by Dub-fans as the Mark V and was only sold for the 2006 through 2010 model years. It used more CAN connectors throughout the chassis in an attempt to reduce the number of wires running throughout the chassis and fight some of the reputation VW had […]
I’ve never owned a Beetle, but if I did, it would look something like this next one. I know, the front end is a bit cross-eyed, and the interior is skuzzy, but there is something about the Star Wars themed two-tone paint and the big wheels/tires that makes this thing pop. It probably makes some […]
The Puma Spyder was a convertible version of the Puma GTE, which was a low volume oddball built first on the Brazilian Volkswagen Kharmann-Ghia chassis and later the Volkswagen Brasilia chassis. It was the brainchild of Brazilian racer and businessman Genaro “Rino” Malzoni and sold in limited numbers in its home market, but a few […]
The Type 181 Volkswagen Thing is not a pretty car…but it is pretty useful. The thing started life in the 1960s as an off-road capable light vehicle designed for West German military use, but VW built a civilian version a few years later. Today we’ve got an example that looks like it’s ready for the […]