I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the things I love most about the classic air-cooled Volkswagen Beetle is how that little car’s platform chassis and drivetrain became the basis of so many kit cars, launching an entire industry. Even beyond just the usual fiberglass-bodied kit car, the Type 1 VW chassis was also the choice of customizers and art-car makers all over the world. It was the starting point for so many ill-conceived but ambitious backyard projects fueled by booze and/or hallucinogens, and, thanks to the remarkable robust simplicity of it, these bad ideas often became real.
I’m not saying the machine – I’m not sure I can really say car – I want to show you today is a bad idea, but it is an incredible example of the remarkable flexibility of the VW chassis. It’s one of those things that you can describe pretty simply: what if you had a [something], but you could also drive it?
In this case, that [something] is a meat smoker and barbeque, and, yes, thanks to those legendary VW air-cooled mechanicals, you can drive it. You can own it, too, if you have $10,000 to spare and the sort of life that would be enriched by being able to drive a meat smoker.
Here’s how the ad describes this singular machine:
Custom built Volkswagen Beetle drivable Smoker/ BBQ, one of one, 1600 C.C VW engine that runs, automatic transmission, has 4 burner flat top griddle on the front, removable top, comes with side curtains, 5′ long BBQ Smoker with smoker box, comes with matching sink trailer, runs, drives and stops, located in Miamisburg Oh, asking $10,000 make an offer, no trades pick up only
I’ll admit, when I read “Miamisburg, Oh, asking $10,000” I didn’t process that “Oh” as the abbreviation for Ohio, but rather as a sort of offhanded expression, like, “oh, by the way, it’s $10,000,” which somehow I think fits the tone of all of this better.
This thing is gleefully bonkers: the chassis seems to be a stock Beetle chassis, and I don’t think it’s been lengthened? Looking at the dimensions of a VW pan, I think this is stock, with the body just lifted off. There seems to be plenty of room for a smoker between these axles, right?
The layout is interesting on this drivable meat-cooker:
This is a view from the rear, where we have the VW engine and transaxle. The seller mentions that it has an “automatic transmission” but I suspect they must mean VW’s semi-automatic transmission, which is basically a manual with an automatic clutch. I once made a whole video about these:
Anyway, that has to be what’s in there; I can’t imagine taking the effort to install a “real” automatic in your VW-powered drivable BBQ. There’s seating for a driver and a passenger, tandem-style, and then next to the seats is the big cylinder of the smoker. The driver/passenger side has a no-skid metal running board between the fenders, and the smoker side has a higher wooden cooking/preparing surface.
Up front is a BBQ, as you can see here:
The windshield is right behind the BBQ area, so I guess the wiper can be used to clear away any splashed grease from the meats or whatever is cooking right in front of it. Grille tools seem to be hung on racks connected to the windshield frame.
The engine is in that quonset-hut-shaped enclosure at the rear. Looking at the engine itself, there’s at least one strange detail worth noting, and I think we can guess at the year of the VW that was evolved into this thing:
If we accept the seller’s word that this is a 1600cc engine (which is very likely) and note that it seems to be a single-port engine (it’s hard to see exactly, but I think it is), then I suspect this must have started life as a 1970 Beetle, the only year where 1600cc and single-ports co-existed. There also seems to be no mechanical fuel pump where I’d expect it, so maybe there’s an electric one somewhere?
The fuel tank is right above the engine, so I suppose a gravity feed is possible, but I think kind of unlikely. Still, that would be cool.
Is this worth $10,000? I mean, maybe? Good luck finding another drivable smoker! It seems to be fairly well-built and designed, with a removable roof assembly and everything. I really wonder what it’s like to drive? I bet at low-ish speeds, it’s not that different than a VW-based dune buggy? Or maybe it is, because that smoker could be quite heavy. I’m not really sure. I’m sure it’s a deeply strange thing to drive at highway speeds, though.
That hardly matters, though; this isn’t a road trip car. It’s a way to get brisket and bratwursts to the people who desperately need them, and in that context, I think this is probably worth every penny.
Top graphic images: Facebook Marketplace; DepositPhotos.com
Torch should hve called it a Fleischwagen!
Menu:
Part Number: 199 398 500 A ————————— $6.99
Options: 00010 ZDK-259-101
This is intentional. Volkswagen caused this when they assigned a part number to a sausage and curry ketchup. Which is the only product this should be serving.
It would be totally worth $10,000 if it came with enough spare parts, right?
“Is this worth $10,000?”. Duh! I’m already trying to find someone to sit shotgun (err tandem) to help drive this sucker from Ohio to the west coast.
You’ll start a caravan of Cletus’s and Wanda’s tailing you the whole way home with that sweet BBQ aroma goodness! Call it the “Meatball” (not Cannonball).
That is a smoking deal!
…I’ll show myself out
Further proof that Ohio’s complete and utter lack of automobile inspection is a good thing.
There’s a cookbook called “Manifold Destiny” with recipes intended to be cooked on your car’s engine while road-tripping, which seems like a very Autopian thing to do.
Here’s the blurb on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifold_Destiny_(cookbook)
I have a t-shirt with that schematic of the Beetle, except the top view is the old Bug, and the side view is a Super, which I imagine the t-shirt designer neglected to notice.
I think FEMA may still have the budget for this. Show up at the next natural disaster with hot meats and people will be clamoring for more of these.
If the price were about half I’d happily drive the half hour or so to pick it up. I’ve asked Santa for a smoker but I don’t know that she’ll spend this much money on me.
Guy Fieri came out to provide food for victims of the Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa (he’s from here). He brought this giant BBQ trailer setup to the fairgrounds, where he fed thousands of people.
Of course, the whiny internet commentariat came out to complain that the smoke from cooking the food was somehow traumatizing and shit all over him for helping. It was so goddamn smoky from the fires at the time that you could hardly see two blocks down, so the smoke from the BBQ trailers was inconsequential.
I would think that the smoke from his trailer smelled a lot better than the ambient smoke. Growing up in Davis, when the wind (Delta breeze) was just right in the summer, the emissions from an onion dehydration plant in Vacaville would drive everyone nuts and cause a significant rise in burger purchases around town. Conversely, the fumes from pulp and steel mills in places I’ve lived could be downright nauseating.
People want to hate on Fieri, but everyone I’ve talked to who has met him said he’s really a nice guy.
The smoke from the fires was absolutely brutal, and a little BBQ scent was welcome, if you ask me! I wonder how many years breathing that shit took off my life. And, yeah, I have also heard he’s a solid dude. Haters gonna hate.
I appreciate how much of the sheet metal is obviously scrap from a plasma/laser cutting shop. Reduce, reuse, recycle!
I remember a few decades back there was a team of letter carriers doing BBQ competitions with a smoker made out of a DJ postal truck, but sadly it wasn’t drivable anymore.
Wow isn’t it just peachy keen to be able to read nifty stuff about cars? I hope I can download all of these into my hope chest to pull out later and see whose predictions were right. And then we can all get together for a ” 1978 Spyderfan Fan was right party”
Torch I love you man. But the VW Beetle kit cars were all just an attempt to make a terrible car partially palatable looking but still poorly performing. There is nothing in the lexicon of car design that the Beetle does well. Ugly, uncomfortable, slow, polluting, small, slow. What label on the beetle says I want this?
More like Miasma-burg, amiright??
if only it was a dune buggy too
As far as I can tell this thing burns gasoline, propane, wood and/or coal, and given the VW mechanicals probably quite a lot of oil too.
I think whoever is heroic/crazy enough to spend $10k on this should also invest in a second fire extinguisher.
As a person who has worked in the restaurant field it needs a fire exhaust hood fire suppression system.
BTW God awful to clean up afterwards
Great, now I want a wood fired steam tractor or a choo choo train combination grill and BBQ smoker.
Anyone else on board with this?
Wouldn’t that be a chew chew train?
And yes, yes I am.
I started to call the guy, but I think I want one with a stick.
But will it pass Emissions?
If you drive it past the mechanic’s shop.
“Time to take to the road, for a quiet little drive in the country…or not.”
Based on your earlier ground-breaking research into meat-based data storage, this could be marketed as a drivable meat smoker/BBQ/data center.
That puppy can store so much data in it.
Mobile data storage system
This meat smoker is the bent!
Finally, my two favourite things, cooking and VWs.
I’m trying really hard to understand exactly how you would cook on this thing. The flat top is obviously gas, which makes sense as that almost all of these are (some are electric, but you wouldn’t do that in a mobile application). The smoker looks like it’s actually more of a grill, run on propane, but there is a small offset box (I think), but it’s too small for the size of the main body to do too much smoking. You’d have to constantly tend that box, and it would be ard to keep the temp consistant for any kind of lengthy smoke.
This is my mother’s passion (BBQ) and my father’s (old VWs) in one thing.
You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!
You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!
VW, we have the meats!
It’s almost worth buying just to see the look on the guy’s face when you take it for inspection. I can just imagine roadtripping it from OH to MD. The brisket would be just about perfect upon arrival home if I started it before leaving.
That’s a fresh take the concept of “Roadkill Garage”
Is this the Wonka Mobile of a whimsical butcher?
https://pbfcomics.com/comics/the-golden-ticket/
Of course they would do a comic. That’s excellent