There are occasions in this hobby when I don’t know whether to be impressed by the work done or wish the seller had invested his time and money elsewhere. This 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle has been converted to a Woody wagon and is listed here on eBay with the reserve unmet. I do have to give the seller credit: he had a dream, and he worked it to reality with his own bare hands. That’s more than I can say for any of my project cars, which I’ve been fairly conservative with in terms of what I want them to be. This is certainly more creative than the bulk of the Beetle conversions on the road today, but there are some touches that need finessing (such as the bulkhead-mounted air conditioning unit). Overall, I still see potential here and the active bidding seems to reinforce that others do as well. I just hope the reserve is no higher than $5K, as this is clearly a case of finding a very particular buyer for a very peculiar car.
7 people are bidding on this. i know a lot of work went into this but if it was mine i would be returning this to a stock super beetle. interesting find.
Umm No and No
I agree with Jim needs to go back to being a super beetle.
Don’t see it lasting to long with the hot exhaust from the home A/C dumping into the engine bay of an aircooled engine with all the chrome that doesn’t help cool anything.
Wow,… nice looking conversion. After owning 4 of the Beetles, I guess you could say I have a kind of soft spot for them…My first one was the first car I bought myself, a 62, in 1968, for which, I immediately bought a set of wheel adapters, 14×6 Chevy Rally wheels and new larger tires…an exhaust header and shifter from ‘EMPI’ completed my transformation. I had the koolest Bug around.
The second was a 64, fairly similarly configured like the 62 I had modified… The exception was that his had Cragar s/s chrome mags… It was bought from a friend that needed some money and I needed a car after Blowing the engine in my L79 Nova SS… My 3rd one was a New from the VW dealer 74 Super Beetle, with factory Air and a sunroof. It was a great ‘Little’ car, but lacked any real get up and go with the air on it…
The last one I owned was a ‘ backyard garage shed find’ while riding thru a neighborhood to get to see a girl I met. It was a 75 Karmann bodied Convertible, with all the Wolfsburg crest and in great shape. It had been put under a tarp, in storage with only brake problems as the reason. It was an easy fix and had many people stopping at my shop daily asking about it…It was Gold with a Brown canvas top and brown interior…It also had Factory Air and the Blauplunkt Am/FM radio..and the Wolfsburg wheels… I sold it after about 3 weeks… Needless to say I made all these very fun and dependable cars to drive, and enjoyed each until someone wanted them worse than I did.
I had even considered doing the ‘cute’ 40 Ford front conversion on the second one, …with out the ugly fake spare tire engine cover though… but never really got around to it.
There are some modifications that just should never be done. Good luck to the seller and buyer.
No thanks. I hope the seller has luck finding a sucker.
Holy Cow! I went and looked at the photos the owner posted on EBAY. The A/C is a window A/C out of his house I suppose. I would not want this thing if it was free.
Well, he had a plan and he finished it. That’s more than a lot of people can do. I don’t get the A/C unit but it could be removed pretty easily.
After looking at his pictures again with all that weight of the engine / Home A/C unit and the wood I would think this thing pops wheelies real easy. Steering has to be crazy unpredictable.
it’s kind of cool, but i say run away, i see nothing but problems down the road after you buy it.
Why didn’t he just buy a Morris Minor Traveller ?? Weird conversion…….
In the late 60s early 70s Popular Mechanics featured one in their magazine and sold plans for it. My son was 14 bought a ’67 bug in rough shape with good running gear, I bought the plan and I enjoyed the quality time we spent together. No way he could have afforded a real 40 Ford woody. When the woodwork was nearly completed no interior, just a bucket to sit on, I came home from work and noticed bugs on the windshield… So don’t make fun of someones project, it may be loaded with fond memories. He and his 12 year old just completed a go kart! The VW helped with college expenses.
Impressive concept, especially that the owner carried it through that far but there are enough flaws that I would not want it. For any price.
Well, coulda been worse. He could have butchered a mid-to-late 50’s or an early 60’s model but used a “stupor beetle” instead. Yes, I know they handled better than the older ones but they just don’t seem to have the appeal-nor the value-of the older ones around here. Out of 17 different Beetles I’ve owned only one Stupor. After replacing I dunno how may parts trying to fix the front end ‘wobble’ I finally gave up and parted it out.
I don’t see a huge power converter to run that A/C unit, if it has one, there goes 30% of the power needed to run the car. That means the car comes with a loooooong power cord, or you cool the inside down first before unplugging & driving away! Look at the shot of the A/C & notice the “touch n foam” sealant oozing out from under the wood at the door opening.