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The old air-cooled Beetles have rusted to nothingness in much of the world, but they're still quite common in Alameda. So common, in fact, that I tend to think of them as normal "background cars" and have to remind myself to shoot one for this series when too many Beetle-free weeks go by. Since it's been almost three months since the last Beetle down on the Alameda street, we're due.
The Dirtbag XJ-S pounded the Sepia 1940 Mopars like a Canadian carny pounding a case of Moosehead in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll, which was about what we expected. After all, a V12 Jaguar can beat most any PCH contender, up to (and perhaps including) a Citröen. We'll test that hypothesis later, but today we're going to try our hand at Hell Projects featuring lightweight vehicles with hoon-centric engine power. You see, you need to consider the possibility- however remote- that you might one day crawl out of the crater of boiling sulfur in your garage and actually finish a project. At that point, the hell must continue, as you careen out onto the public roads in a barely controllable deathtrap pawing and snorting at the ravaged pavement with ten times the horsepower its designers intended.
Sometimes months can go by between my photographing of a DOTS car and posting those photographs. Today's car is a good example; I shot the original photos last August, but the island is overflowing with air-cooled Beetles and I have a glut of photos of such cars (yes, Beetle fans, I know I should be posting more of them... and I will, promise). But this particular exposed-engine Beetle, which I'm arbitrarily calling a '69 (though it could be from any year during the 68-72 span), got in some sort of messy collision in the meantime and then moved across town. At first, I thought I was looking at a different car, but checking plate numbers told the whole story.
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And now, for todays moment of Zen...
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Anyone want to take a guess on the year of this thing? The taillights, 4-lug front wheels (rears are using adapters) and what appears to be a swingaxle rear suspension would seem to indicate 1968... but we all know how parts tend to get swapped around on Type 1s, particularly when it's a Baja. Anyway, it's been a while since we've seen an air-cooled VW (unless you count this 914 as a VW), so today will be Beetle Friday.
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