Miguel Sánchez
PHOTOS VOLKSWAGEN GIANT CABRIO BEETLE: BARCROFT CARS
There are many theories about rock art. A world of speculation to unravel the motivation of those paintings. However, among all of them one especially stands out. The one that plays with the idea that, for the inhabitants of Prehistory, to represent an animal was as much as to symbolically seize it. Something that makes perfect sense, since there has always been a tendency to deify what your survival depends on. Well, something similar happens with lovers of the classics.
After all, rare is the home of a motoring enthusiast where there are no scale models. In fact, it is the way in which one usually becomes fond of being a child. With them we seize the cars in miniature that we really want to have in our garage. It is a very common story, which happens here just the opposite. And is that Scott Tupper and his son, far from getting a diorama of the Volkswagen Beetle, they have decided to create a 40% larger replica.
A curious work based on a 1959 Beetle convertible. Of course, including a multitude of contemporary comforts based on an American pickup. A bodywork craft work that, on the road, surely looks like an optical illusion. Everything to pay tribute to the popular model, but also "So as not to feel intimidated in traffic". Something that they have surely achieved, since this Volkswagen Beetle is bigger than a Hummer.
VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE CABRIO. GIVING ANOTHER TONE TO THE MODEL
Although the Volkswagen Beetle is one of the most beloved and sympathetic cars of all time, its origin is somewhat obscure. Technologically it is the great creation of Ferdinand Porsche; an irreproachable credential. But politically it is the desire of the Nazi Party, which it sponsored with its KDF Wagen the beginning of this "People's car". A paradox that accompanied the Volkswagen Beetle during its first years of life, especially after the German defeat in 1945.
After the victory of the Allies, the old VW Type1 was a most attractive car for times of economic reconstruction. Hard, practical and easy to manufacture, This utility vehicle was called to motorize the middle classes that would emerge from the rubble of World War II. However, its success in the United States required a good advertising campaign.
It was necessary to resignify the model, a strategy in which the 1949 launch of the convertible Beetle. A nice variant of which more than 300.000 units were sold until 1980. One of them is the one that has been used as the basis for the creation that concerns us today, specifically one from 1959. Of course, although visually the replica is perfect, low the body panels hides something very different from what was devised by Ferdinand Porsche in the forties.
VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE ON DODGE CHASSIS
Put to work, Scott Tupper and his son digitized their Volkswagen Beetle convertible to create the new body panels. At first they thought to make the replica 50% larger than the original, but after running into legal limitations they decided to leave it at 40%. The idea not only affected the exterior, since also all the details of the interior have been imitated with great exactness. A great bodybuilding job that nonetheless stays right there.
And it is that, under the appearance of a replica, a very different chassis hides. In fact, to mount this particular Volkswagen Beetle they decided to use the chassis of a Dodge van. Logical, since it is about replicating the bodywork, not until the last screw and mechanical element. Imagine they had copied the engine at 2: 1 scale! Far from it, this convertible beetle mounts a 8-liter V5 also from the Dodge brand.
Result? A unique piece of the most hesitant, since under that appearance of tribute to the mythical beetle is a huge American vehicle with all the power of its eight cylinders. Equipped with amenities such as central locking or heated seats. In short, something similar to what many of us have done assembling miniatures. But just the other way around. After all, some Americans have done it, and those people do everything in a big way.
