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The Story I no longer have this car. We sold it in November of 2009 to help pay for a VW MicroBus, but here is a brief history about it anyway. This ' 68 bug started out as a car to borrow parts from to build another car in 1978! When I decided to make a car out of it there were no fenders, hood, trunk, seats or engine. A Baja kit was the cheapest way to obtain all the body parts I needed, so it really is a street car that looks like an off-roader.
Everything was stripped down and sandblasted to the bare metal. Most of the assembly was done during 1984-1985, but it is an ongoing project with many changes over the years. My brother (architect TAE inc. who has done a lot of buggy and vw engine building) did the original bodywork (grafting in fiberglass parts) and painting. He also does the major engine work. It now needs to be painted again. I will add pictures from time to time as it is updated. I hope you find it interesting!
To Page 2, Old Pictures

Note I recently (2005) changed the exhaust system, moved the
license plate and put on new bumpers painted light green. The
engine has 1641cc, mild cam, electronic ignitor module, dual port
heads, dual Kadron carbs (updated by AJ Sims with enlarged throats,
jets and new bushings) and, of couse, the exhaust extractor system.
Not the most potent engine on the streets, but with the lighter body
parts it moves the car with authority.

This view shows the Beard suspension seats.

I installed a new dash panel. It looks similar to the one it replaced
with the exception of the LED instrument panel (see below). It works
quite well and looks really cool at night. I also replaced the old cassette
radio unit with a new CD unit that has 50 watts x 4 channels without
external amplifiers. That's enough power for me and it makes for a
cleaner installation.

I replaced the old speaker boxes with a new combinded
ported box. This one has much better bass response.

I reworked under the hood and have yet to finish a carpeted wire cover.

When I installed the new LED dash panel, I rewired the previous
speghetti-like layout to the much more sano one shown above.

I decided to replace the ailing 8-fuse box with a 12-fuse one and put
most of the accessories on a relay to reduce the current through the
ignition swich.

Here you can see more detail on the wiring. Note the electronic
speedometer cable rotation sensor.

I designed a heater system which uses the oil cooler within a box. The box with the blower motors are shown above, the power switches and duct controls are shown below. During the summer, outside air is routed through the heat exchanger and back out. During the winter inside air is routed through the exchanger and then returned to the cabin area. I am not sure how effective it would be in extremely cold areas, but it works fine in the San Joaquin valley where it stays between 30 and 60 degrees (f) during the winter.

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