The Classic VW Beetle | 2/16 | The travails of an amatuer Classic VW Beetle enthusiast.The Classic VW Beetle

Whoo-Hoo! Going to the SEMA show in Vegas!

TheClassicBeetle will be reporting from the SEMA Show! Held in Las Vegas on November 2-5, The owner of TheClassicBeetle.com has been invited to speak at the education day for automotive products vendors. Afterward – one can only image the fun to be had at the premiere event for automotive specialty products.

Pictures and Video will be posted as they happen!

World Record VW Beetle Engine Change

This is from a few years back, but still impressive. The previous record for the Engine Change was 1 minute, 37 seconds. The requirements for the Guinness World Record VW Engine Change are:

Car is drivable at the start
Team of 4
Engine has to be pulled and removed at least a meter away
Car has to drive again under power

and in the spirit of VW Beetle engines, here’s a classic Commercial:

The story on the Humbug, err, the Wombat

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…