The Classic VW Beetle | The travails of an amatuer Classic VW Beetle enthusiast.

While in Mexico, I wandered around the downtown area of a nice resort town and stumbled upon one of the coolest VW mods I’ve ever seen. It was labeled the “HumBug.” It was a Super Beetle chassis and a modified Hummer shell, along with 15″ tires to complete the look. It had all of the typical Hummer attachments, spare tire, tool rack, hummer grill, but the engine was still mounted in the rear, and it was standard shift. The seats are molded as part of the fiberglass shell.

Apparently, Hummer took umbrage with the name as it was close enough to claim a trademark violation (seriously!?! Because I’m not confused between the two). So, in Mexico, it can be called the HumBug. In the good ‘ol US, they changed the name to the Wombat.

Thw Wombat is headquartered out of Vancouver, Washington. About as far northwest as you can get, so shipping is a major concern should you decide to go this route. The website is www.WombatCar.com, and has multiple features and galleries of the Wombat mod. These guys are serious in their construction of the Wombat. There is a steel sub-frame under the fiberglass, making a very sturdy vehicle.

If you have a chassis with rusted out floorpans, don;t worry! Knock those things out and recondition the chassis – the Wombat comes with it’s own floor panels in the frame! The kit comes with a wiring harness (with towing plugs) lighting and reflectors. You supply: Running VW Bug Chassis (including engine, transmission, etc.), tires & wheels, fuel tank, interior, seats, windshield glass, wiper motors & wipers, mirrors, paint, bulbs, battery tray & holddowns and (of course) assembly and labor.

Is this cool or what? I think I found my next summer project…