Car Tuning and Modified Cars News

No one could have predicted the rise of the Volkswagen Beetle.
The car needed to be powerful, nearly indestructible but most of all, affordable.
The result was unlike anything that had ever been produced before. If you had two spanners, an adjustable wrench and two screwdrivers, most of the car could be taken apart and stacked away within a day. Powerful enough to climb large hills with a full luggage load, yet efficient enough to cruise the autobahns for hours without a pause, the Beetle soon became the mode of transport in 1940s Germany. The Beetle as we know it nearly disappeared after the war due to the destruction of the factory by Allied bombers, but English Army Major Ivan Hurst kept the production lines rolling and kept the dream alive.

Volkswagen Beetle

The 1960s saw the biggest explosion of Beetles in this country. Immortalized by Walt Disney’s ‘Herbie’, the Beetle was driven by everyone from hip students to families with four children and a dog who appreciated the deceptive size of the car and the durability of the rear-mounted, flat-four air-cooled engine.

Volkswagen Beetle

The mechanical brakes disappeared in the 1940s to be replaced by a more modern hydraulic system, and the split window became an oval at the end of the decade. The Splits and Ovals, as they have become known, are among the most highly sought after cars on the market. The wings became upright in 1964 just after the rear window became rectangular and the wiring doubled in voltage - meaning that driving by night was less like holding a candle. Most Beetles on the road are from this period and later - only a relatively small number are in daily use from before 1964.

Volkswagen Beetle

In the early 1970s, VW decided to produce a sporting Beetle and hence the 1302/3 series was born. Equipped with McPherson front suspension, reshaped bonnet and front end and a curved front windscreen, the 1302/3 series proved very popular especially on the off-road racing circuit - the rear wheel drive powered the vehicles across the most testing terrain while the up rated suspension coped with the worst that dirt tracks could throw at it. Today, not many 1302/3s survive, due to their heavy predilection for rust and the fact that many Beetle ‘purists’ prefer the older shape with its un-aerodynamic front windscreen and longer bonnet.

Volkswagen Beetle

Many of the Beetles that still survive are customized. Some sport only mild lowering jobs, giving them a little more road poise. Others have been completely transformed from the original shape, and the most distinctive of these is the Baja conversion. Beefed up suspension, massive rear tires and no rear valance - which leaves the engine surrounded by a shining steel cage - give the Bajas an unmistakable profile and sound.
Rev a Baja hard enough and you’ll shake your neighbors’ windows. If power is your thing, then even mild modifications to the basic engine block will produce enough power to regularly spew gravel from the rear tires. And if a standard VW engine just won’t do, put in a bit of work, run some cooling pipes through the body to a front grille and drop a V8 or Porsche 924 unit in the back.

Tags: cars, car review, Volkswagen, Beetle