By Chris Tropea
Feb 16, 2024
|
Porsche,
VW,
beetle,
Engine swap
Think you know a hot rod when you see one?
This 1963 VW Beetle looks inconspicuous, but those old-school lines hide a mid-mounted Porsche engine, a custom tube-frame chassis and a fully independent suspension.
Check out the build thread for even more information: Purple Frog's VW Build.
Presented by CRC Industries.
11/2/22 4:45 p.m.
Saw this at the Challenge Cars and Coffee. This is super nice. It's really well done, glad to see a feature on it.
11/2/22 4:49 p.m.
The car could really use some widened stock VW rims and half moon caps!
Since it's a 4 bolt, at least some later flattened caps.
11/2/22 6:43 p.m.
Fantastic little car! Thank you for sharing it with us!
11/2/22 7:12 p.m.
AWESOME!!!!!!!
11/3/22 4:35 p.m.
That is so cool! I bet that thing is an absolute blast to drive.
2/6/23 10:55 p.m.
How did they overcome the fact that the bug goes airborn at 112 mph?
2/7/23 10:52 a.m.
The simple answer is don't drive it over 112.
The "feeling" is the steering getting light. Unsettling.
With the bumpers off and a good splitter down to near the pavement, and a "whale tail" on the rear you can counter most the lift. Even with that said, with that upright windshield it is not a streamliner. In theory it should hit about 140 as geared, but i doubt with only 200 hp it will push it that fast. Leaving the sunroof open upsets the airfoil "lift" effect. (I worry how smart that is because the sunroof is the original 60 year old unit. Hate to see it rip.)
At this point this is used as street car and it only finds occasional opportunity to pass 100. When I get in the triple digit range, even I question the sanity of the effort.
(Notice no full cage)
2/7/23 12:25 p.m.
What a cool car. I'm sad that I missed it at the Challenge last year and hope you bring it again this May. One of my "wish list" builds has always been a replica of Bill Rutan's Porsche hillclimb special "The Bathtub."
Your beetle shares a lot of DNA with this car. I look forward to digging through your build thread as it has escaped my previous browsing.
2/7/23 12:31 p.m.
It was super cool seeing this car in person at the Challenge. Maybe see it there again in May?
2/7/23 1:13 p.m.
Years ago, at the Rev's Institute in Naples, I saw a Beetle that belongs to one of the Collier grandkids that sits down in the garage. It's been acid dipped, and has a 2.0L Porsche 4 cylinder sitting in the back. It probably sees the sun less than some of the museum cars, which is a shame.
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