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El Beetle: Custom 1962 VW Beetle Pickup

Like the El Camino, this Beetle combines a fun-loving front half with hindquarters that can handle your dirty work. OK – your dirty work would have to be limited to picking up some potted plants, but it will easily be the coolest rig at Home Depot on a Saturday. This Beetle has been modified in multiple ways, not the least of which is its custom bed. Find it here on craigslist for $4,897 with a no-start issue at the moment.

The seller claims this pickup Bug is the beneficiary of lots of love in recent years, including a full paint job and professionally re-done interior. Tires are new and he claims it was mechanic maintained until he parked it for unknown reasons. Now, the seller doesn’t tell us much about the history of the Bug or when the conversion was done, but it’s clear someone had a sense of humor about how limited a Beetle’s utility is – and how little this custom bed does to improve it.

The highlight is definitely the interior, which looks like a fairly high-grade upholstery job. The description of the ad makes it seem like some money was spent on the Beetle pickup before the seller either got bored or found a new project, as the need for carburetor work and a new battery are fairly typical symptoms of long-term sitting to me. The asking price, with that in mind, seems somewhat ambitious to me, but not terribly so.

The nose of the Beetle is where some other problems lie and another possible avenue for seeking a discounted price. That crudely installed Mercedes grill is all kinds of wrong, and the bumper is an afterthought. Why some clearly incorrect headlights were installed in the fenders is another mystery, and I’d love to know why a conventional Beetle nose wasn’t retained. This is cool piece that could be a good buy with a slight price reduction. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Matt R. for the find.

Comments

  1. Avatar jcs

    If this ran so well and was so well maintained, why was it parked for a long period of time? The value of this conversion is dubious at best. You could probably carry more in the back seat if it hadn’t been cut off than you could in that “bed”!

    Like 4
  2. Avatar Dustin Lisner

    Gotta love the Mercedes grill lol

    Like 1
  3. Avatar TimM

    POS
    Cut the rust out and make it look ugly then tell a good story!!

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Brakeservo

    Looks like the wheelbase was shortened also. Perhaps this is just the result of expedient repairs to accident damage. It’s ok if you don’t take it too seriously, but it’s also overpriced.

    Like 1
  5. Avatar Speedy Gonzalez

    This is why I love beetles because they are so simple you can do so many things with them! You can’t turn a Prius into a truck this easily, even though I have seen a Prius truck!

    Like 1
  6. Avatar bobk

    They also cut out a section of the floor plan, a la dune buggy. I’ve seen a Domus Flatback VW pickup conversion and there is considerably more space between the rear of the “cab” and the rear wheel.

    Like 2
  7. Avatar Howard A Member

    I never cared for the Type 2 pickup, I think this is really cool and might give them Jeepers a run for their money on some back Colorado road,,,to a certain elevation, that is. I like VW’s anyway, someone did a nice job and I’d sure like to have it. I think the price is ok for a Bug as is, considering some might pay $30 THOUSAND dollars for an old travel trailer,,,that still irks me.

    Like 3
  8. Avatar ATL_Jeff

    Weird. I can’t think of anything more to say. Just weird.

    Like 1
  9. Avatar DNC

    There are so many things wrong here, I don’t know where to begin.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar rod444

    This was for sale only a few months ago for considerably less, $3500 if I recall correctly. Same pics. Maybe he’s hoping for ‘spring fever’ to justify the price bump?

    Like 1
  11. Avatar CanuckCarGuy

    Without the shortened wheelbase and tacked on adornments, and at half the price, this would be a cool car for running errands around town.

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Mike

    Nice Empi steering wheel. Had one in our old ’66 bug.

    Like 0
  13. Avatar Tony T

    … plus that wheelie bar/trailer hitch … unsupported out there in the breeze

    Like 0

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