Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you: that’s an ’80s Subaru with a Beetle back-end welded onto it! Although it may not be four-wheel drive, it does sport two engines, one driving each end. It’s hard to reckon what might drive someone to build a creation like this, but at least each end has the correct hubcaps. Find it here on craigslist in Florida with a $7,000(!) asking price.
Custom creations are always a chance to look into someone’s brain besides your own, and I wonder what this individual was thinking. It looks like some level of care was taken, as the details are pretty good (see hubcaps). But the proportions aren’t great, as the angular Subaru clashes with the jellybean persona of the Beetle. Plus, the windows don’t line up at all, seeming to tilt away from each other.
Now, the dual engines are neat. It’s sort of like a precursor to a modern hybrid system, just without any of the efficiency. I wonder which engines he chose for the two cars, or if the builder just kept the motors the cars themselves originally came with. At least they’re both flat-fours, so the warble-warble-warble will be deafening! Weird factor aside, this is one the cleaner Subarus of this generation that I’ve seen.
While I applaud creativity in most any form, I am genuinely curious as to “why” this car exists. If you had two donors, such as a Subaru wrecked from behind and a Beetle suffering from front-end impact damage, I could see it. But the listing price indicates the seller invested more than simply some time with hacksaw in the backyard after a few beers. If it’s truly a labor of love, then what’s it worth?
Great car for a bank robbery. Ma’am what did you see leave the scene? “I am sure it was a VW.” Sir, what did you see? I am sure it was a Subaru. Finally, the last witness proclaims, it was both cars grafted together and the Police just roll their eyes. I just love to see car folks turned loose, you can’t even imagine what will happen.
I am sure he owned the best suburu and VW repair shop.
Uh….. no. Not for me. But A for execution, creativity, and originality
Guaranteed to be the only one in your town.
“Only one in your town”?
Only one, end stop.
Good car for my daughter , if one engine dont start…..she can still get home without calling me!
Wonder what the plug out back is for, i thought maybe for a trailer , but that not a hitch, its the exaust for the front engine.
Interesting creation, good questons.
Could you run both engines at the same time? Would each one trying to run at different speeds be a problem? Seems like it would be…
How is this not a fourwheeldrive?
It sure leaves a lot of questions, two engines, two trannies? An interior photo or two would be nice to see, not a fan, but it sure is a curiosity. Maybe call Volo.
Is nothing not sacred anymore? I’d have to dive case deep in beer to even try to understand what the hell they were thinking.
I have read many reports that drugs are a big problem in Orlando. This vehicle confirms all of those articles.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
True, but sometimes ya just gotta find out if it’s possible.
4 cylinders up front and 4 cylinders out back, would you class this as a 8 cylinder car to the DMV ???
That has to be a licensing nightmare!
I kind of wish he also fused the leftover Beetle front with the Subaru rear. No, nevermind, I just pictured it and got nauseous. One Subeetle is more than enough.
Well if he did you’d have to cut a hole in the floor pans ala Flinstones to make it go.
If you put one motor in reverse and the other in forward what would happen?
Push me pull you!
Dr. Seuss..
I imagine we’d find out how good the builder’s welding skills are LOL.
Well, under the “If you can’t find something nice to say…” thing, I’ll just say that it is a well executed as a bug and Subaru combination could possibly be.
Once again we must queue the Styx song “Too much time on my hands…”
What were they thinking. Thanks BF for making my day :-)
Volkaru. Subeetle. How many other names could you come up with for this.
At least it should have head room!
My dad had a body shop in Huntington Park, CA in the 1970’s and he used to buy 2 wrecked Cadillac’s and overlap the bodies by 18 inches, weld the bodies together to make one good car. He worked on a lot of different projects for customers and was not a fan of VW or Subaru, but he painted and repaired plenty of them in his 45 years in the business. He never would of performed this abomination, but he had the skills to do it.
I like Bettlearu. Someone lost a bet or won a bet, I can’t decide which guy ended up better off. ROFLMAO.
After having issues of similarly repaired cars suffer catastrophic structural failures during severe impacts, sectioning has been all but abandoned by the auto repair industry…
I just hope the VW was wrecked hard in the front and the Subaru was wrecked hard in the rear. Otherwise, it doesn’t make much sense.
Hmmm that implies that this would then make sense…I’m not convinced :)
This one does raise more than a few questions in my head. Two gear-shifts? Given that the Beetle has the fuel tank in the front and the Subaru has the fuel tank in the rear, where’s the fuel tank in this? It’s different….I’m just not sure if that’s a good thing!
This is why you should always wear a respirator when painting…
You know I’m just old enough to not give a damn if people laugh at me in this, but I’m also old enough to know better than to spend 7k on it.
I think the builder having heard so often about the Suburu to VW swap charged ahead without doing all his research.
MAN LOL?LOL?LOL?LOL. Look at all the comments. I don’t know what to think or say. I think I will just sit back and read the next comment.
Best laugh I had in at least a week or so!
I remember back in the day my buddy had one of these. We used to cruise downtown and blow the doors off all the muscle cars and pick up chicks. The only problem with these was they seemed to have a problem with u-joints always twisting. Never the less, it was great to take to the drive inn and do hallucinatory vitamins. That’s how I remember it anyway.
The perfect clown car. :D
Imagine having the skills that this guy has and employing them in this manner.
That’s like Einstein working at Taco Bell.
OK, I give up! Where the hell is the gas tank??????????
I would guess its a cell under the VW back seat; where the battery of the Bug was located – maybe a simple expansion of the area? Also remember that year Subaru had the spare tire under the hood…So???? (but too close to engine?)
I own the Car & Driver – Racing Beat built, 1984 Honda CRX with 2 stock 1800+cc Accord 4 cyl. engines and 2 automatics. 2,700 lbs. I can run on either engine separately but why would I? It storms off the line and will pull 147 mph. It would do that all day if it had room. No wheelspin – even on wet pavement. Yes, the automatics cannot be perfectly sych’d to shift right together but the car doesn’t care. It sounds like a freight train inside at high speed and gets 11 mpg with your foot well into it. I plan on some head & exhaust work in hopes that I can pull another 25 or more HP out of each engine. One oddity: The speedometer needle can’t go past 122 mph as it hits the odometer shaft. You have to calculate gearing, rpm and tire diameter to see that you are doing 147……. I consider myself to be a very lucky guy to have found this car at the Zephyrhills, Fl. auction about 15 yrs. ago. It is a HUGE riot to drive. I would like to hear what this VWru is capable of.
Running two like engines (same power output,shift points gearing) is one thing…But running the two very disimilar engines would be inefficient I’d imagine. I’d say the backup feature is best. When the VW motor blows (inevitable) you can still get home.
Funny, I was just thinking about your two-engined CRX and was going to mention it. So cool that it’s still on the road after 33 years!
I was wondering if anyone would bring up the C/D CRX! Amazed it was someone on here that owns it! Awesome!
As for the featured vehicle – I think it’s a classic case of 2 rights make a wrong.
Well, my C & D CRX is not running at present. It’s foam fuel cell disintegrated some time ago. That has to be replaced, and it’s lost it’s brakes due to sitting too long. The car only has 50,000 miles on it and no rust or wrecks. Engines were rolling dyno’d and running perfectly when last driven, and I have Marvel Mystery Oil in all 8 cylinders. Grassroots Motorsports did a “Dyno Day” article – with the CRX shown in the lead picture – spinning up the BACK wheels. :-) I owned a Pantera 23 yrs, a Tiger and a Renault R5 Turbo II (flames blower), TR8, and the CRX – is by far, the most fun ride I have ever driven. You simply can’t drive it w/o experiencing side-splitting laughter. I’ll be getting on it’s resurrection soon, but I am well along with a HIGHLY modified 4 carb (3 liter) ’69 Corvair at present. Call it a Yenko Stinger on steroids or an American ’73 911S. Street/track day driver, and a real hooligan. I hope to get it in a sports car magazine within about a year. (the magazines have long lead times) I live north of Orlando.
I LOVE IT. I too make odd combinations – that’s how I found out about this post (a friend knew I would appreciate), and have also personally heard some of the criticisms said in the posts. I give zero criticism at all because “Imagination Counts as 2/3 your Grade”, and this guy has Imagination no different than an artist that slaps paint on a canvas (that make no sense) and then sells it for a hundred grand. Way more effort and art is combined in this BugAru!
Farfegnしない
A Squareback wagon rear would have looked better.
This is clearly a Photoshop job. What’s wrong with you people? I guess it’s fun to believe it. Check the inconsistencies in the enblems from photo to photo.
Are you serious? Multiple shots with multiple angles, in the same location. That’s some serious photoshopping, to what end?
was just there today looking a few 57 chevys wish I looked earlier I would have loved to looked at it up close interesting if nothing else ben
I haven’t laughed that hard at a comment in ages!
All I can say is WOW, and after looking this over, I think BF maybe ought to have a Ugly car contest each year, you know like the yearly Ugly sweater contest at Christmas time, at the end of each year bring them all out and do a vote.
Best Ugly car for the year gets a picture in a BF special album.
I agree with the contest!
@PaulG- I think that we have to queue up a Styx song, but I was thinking more of ” Light up everybody “.
Wonder which end they check emissions from?
Subureetle. Beetaru.
Where do you insure it under, like factory name?
I also find it a waste of a BRAT over a waste of a VW.
While I admit it’s an interesting engineering experiment – its also incredibly stupid thing to create. Two sucky cars with two sucky engines but you can only use 1 at a time so still 2 wheel drive – and then of course you now have no trunk space at all either! Hardly seems worthy of $7,000 for what is nothing other than an oddball novelty that is for all practical purposes a sucky car. Nope nope nope.
Can you say Tommy Ivo?
We met him in the 70s at Fremont raceway in Northern California.
I was racing brackets and he had his rocket car. He said he missed bracket racing, that it was more fun because when you go pro you have to win. Super nice man.Of course I have a picture of us in an album. I’ll try to dig it up and post it.
Of course, it would be four wheel drive, and it’s been done, by Citroen. They took a Deux Chevaux, and put two (identical) engines in it, one at each end. It could be driven in four-wheel drive or two, by shutting off one engine. It was designed and built for desert use.
Push me pull you