I've really wanted a double cab pickup for many years and was able to get a nice project one back in February from Bellingham, WA. Drove 30 hours straight from Beatrice, NE in a friend's Dodge dually with gooseneck trailer. Got the DC for 2g and then went over to Sandpoint and Ponderay, ID where I picked up the back half of a DC that had been in a wreck. Got it for $800 so not bad considering what people are asking for them on the Samba. I learned from the guy that he had located a Binz in North Dakota but wouldn't tell me where it was. That's okay but if I found it, I'd go buy it first. LOL!
Anyway, I've seen beetle pickups and it makes sense to be that with there being so many beetles around (seems I can find them all over out here with little effort though there are fewer than ever before), that making one into a pickup would make a nice light duty vehicle that one could use for hauling stuff. So I've collected a bunch of beetle pickup photos for ideas and wanted to share them with everyone. Feel free to email me more photos of beetle trucks if you don't see it listed. Currently I'm uploading them to: http://incolor.inebraska.com/elassley_bie//temp/bugtruck/ I've been eyeballing the beetle to truck conversions and done some measurements on Li'l Red. I'm not going to cut him up but I have a field of VWs at our farm place that I can choose from. I'd take a rusted hulk before I'd cut up anything of notable vintage for such a project. Now what disturbs me is that the beetle trucks look unbalanced in that once you factor in the seating and the hood area, a stock beetle has noticeably less "stuff" behind the door pillars than in front. It makes pickup conversions look anemic and stupid IMHO. If you take a standard Ford 150 - no fancies and look at the balance of the box area, there is 2/3 ahead of the axle and 1/3 behind. So in measuring my beetle, there is 7 feet from the door pillar to the front bumper but only 6 feet from the same area to the back bumper. So I'm thinking that in order to strike a proper visual balance as well make a box that could hold a useable amount of cargo, you'd need to extend the pan another 8" to 12" to make the visual balance come out. I've been trying to find some primitive VW clip art that I could photoshop around with but so far, no dice. Grafting my DC rear to the front of beetle is doable but it puts the bed up higher than I'd like. I'd like it level with the top of the luggage tray behind the rear seat. Taking a look at: http://incolor.inebraska.com/elassley_bie//temp/bugtruck/tn_1940s_military_pickup.jpe you can see the rear of the box is extended so that the axle is about centered under the total box area. However, if the pan was extended, and reinforcement rails welded on either side (aka convertible support) under the heater channels, then you'd have a nice proportioned looking machine. One last step would be to use a pancake T4 engine to really get the bed low and then you'd have sweet looking and useable machine. If a person was going to go to the trouble to hack up a beetle, then why not go all the way? One the nicest looking trucks is: http://incolor.inebraska.com/elassley_bie//temp/bugtruck/005%5b1%5d.jpg and it's because the box is tapered at the back and forward towards the fender. This helps the visuals as you see the space between the front of the rear fender and the door is the same as a stock beetle. The stepside design and round corners makes it nice to look at although it still is just a little bit anemic as far as the front to rear visual balance. I'm just daydreaming and mulling - a project that more than likely won't happen but it's still fun to figure out the logistics. With the price of DCs being so rediculous anymore, it's just one way to imagine having fun with the dubs and putting them to work. And speaking of working with our dubs....... Do you know how you haul home 2 - 20' pieces of the metal tubing home with a beetle? Check this out - Li'l Red last February: http://incolor.inebraska.com/elassley_bie//temp/Feb20Pix/ (The 1st 2 pictures. The last 2 are a receiver hitch I made for the 3 point on my 8n Ford Tractor. Erin _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
