It’s easy to get jaded, to have the feeling that you’ve seen it all before, and there’s really nothing new under the sun, moon, or constellations of Starlink satellites. Sometimes, I even feel this way about the greater air-cooled Volkswagen world! It’s true! There’s times I feel like I’ve encountered every strange Brazilian variation, every weird South African Beetle special edition, every weirdly-specific regional customization trend, every kit car, every turn indicator and taillight variation, and, yes, every bonkers home-built special.
But I’m very wrong. As usual. I haven’t even come close.
I was reminded of this reassuring fact of the universe the other day when my friend Jonee sent me this astounding Marketplace ad for a modified 1974 Volkswagen Beetle that sports a strange wooden truck bed. Sort of. I’ve really never seen anything quite like this.
Now, Beetle-based pickups I’ve seen plenty of, don’t get me wrong. In fact, those were some of the earliest Beetle variations to be tried, even way back in the KdF-Wagen days of 1940s Germany, along with other truck and van-type of body styles:
…and there have been plenty of kits to turn Beetles into trucks over the years, as well as home-built solutions:
…but almost all of these Beetle-to-truck kits required some actual changes to the Beetle’s body rear of the B-pillar. Which I think is why I find this particular Beetle sorta-truck so fascinating. Instead of doing any major body modifications, the owner seems to have just grafted on this sort of wheelbarrow-shaped bin onto the rear of the car.
There are other modifications, too, like cutting out the whole roof and removing the rear window, adding that custom wood-supported roof rack for surfboards, and adding a tow ball on the front bumper.
The truck bed seems to rely on the rear bumper of the Beetle for support, which makes me think that this really only works well on a ’74-’79 US-market Beetle, which had really robust and beefy Federally-mandated 5 mph bumpers that can support such a load.
Really, this kind of tacked-on trunk bed isn’t unheard of; a similar thing used to be available for Jeeps back in the day:
It also kind of reminds me of the trunk extenders that were sold for Citroën 2CVs as well:
The difference here is that both of these cars were front-engined. Doing this on a rear-engined car is, um, a choice. It looks like there’s access to the engine lid in there, and I bet some basic maintenance, like checking and adding oil or checking oil, adjusting and probably changing the alternator/fan belt. But I’d think any more complex work would require the removal of that bed.
Plus, I’d imagine the engine lid itself would take quite a beating? Though looking at this $2,200 wonder, I’m thinking that no one was losing sleep over that.
Honestly, I think this thing is clever as hell, given the use case this machine seems to have: carry a surfboard, a few people, and a bunch of awkward and maybe wet equipment and gear to and from some body of water with waves.
The entirety of the seller’s description is “Runs good!” which feels like it says all you need to hear if you’re in the market for something like this. I have to hand it to this guy: he did something original. Original, and, I bet, useful. Well, as long as you don’t mind adding even more rear weight bias to a Beetle.
It’s the perfect pairing with the Mach-e frunk shrimp- you can now have truck bed fondue!
I wonder how long you’d have to drive to properly melt the cheese though, and the exhaust fumes would get annoying.
Clearly that box on the back is there to catch the head of the motorcyclist who followed to closely and got decapitated.
Now THIS is a beach vehicle! Sure, you could buy a golf cart or an E-bike to haul yourself and a friend down to the ocean like an ordinary dweeb. Or you could get this beauty. They probably don’t put a whole lot of miles on this car – just change the oil once a year. My guess is that they removed the engine lid hinges, so you can just lift the lid off for maintenance. It probably CAN drive at highway speeds, but that’s not how they actually use it. It’s not gonna overheat, because it rarely exceeds 85 degrees in its native habitat. If I lived in a $3 million beach-adjacent house I would use this as my run-around car.
At $2200, if it runs, would be a far better shibox showdown contestant than most of the others I’ve seen posted up here.
Heck, even the “I gotta have a pickup” folks would be turning to look.
Jason you are misunderstanding this brilliant contraption. It’s a laundry bin for warming up your towel for when you’re done surfing. Or arriving at the function with still hot casserole.
Ever so slowly steaming your seafood.
That’s the rare VW Bin Laden.
I’d be more worried about overheating, with the bed enclosing the decklid like that. VW put those louvers on for a reason! Put much of anything in the bed and now you’re actively blocking the cooling air. Plus whatever you put there is gonna get HOT.
I also don’t see any considerations for maintenance. How the hell do you add oil or change the fan belt? Spark plugs? Hire a contortionist? Picture that decklid lifted up, now figure out how you’re gonna get under it to add some oil, or adjust the carb. If you’ve owned an air-cooled Beetle you’re probably wondering just how the hell you’d even give this thing a basic tune up. Maybe the bed comes off easily? That would be ideal, because it’s that much easier to toss in a dumpster.
Hooptie
FUSCK UP, now that is a company name you can count on!
I think someone should reach out to the owner/seller. For reasons of understanding at the very least.
I was wondering if you saw this already.
What is that bed FOR, though? Owing to shape, over half of the volume is above the level of the lower engine vents. So why have the sides go higher? You’ll end up at best blocking your cooling and at worst dumping dirt, stones, etc into the engine bay…
I’d think holding wet/bulky equipment like life preservers or stuff like that? I don’t think this was a gravel hauler.
What’s the floor made of? I’d use expanded metal grate if it was something wet and the goal was to keep it from rusting out the car.
You’d have to be very flexible indeed to do almost any engine work with the box in place.