Squash or Save: This Odd-Looking VW Beetle Pickup for Sale Is Something Else
With a fully custom bed conversion, this 1963 Volkswagen Beetle is completely unique and completely weird.
The depths of the handy, fabrication-capable brain knows no depths. Of the variety of strange creations I’ve covered here, like the 24-cylinder motorcycle made by a German cartoonist, or the semi-truck cab dropped on a heavy-duty pickup truck frame, they all have a common theme: single-minded absurdity. The latest? A 1963 VW Beetle chopped up into an almost unrecognizable pickup truck. And it’s for sale.
As is usual for these oddities, the sale listing is light on detail but heavy on photos. We only know three facts about this Beetle: it has a freshly rebuilt VW 1600 engine, “everything works as it should,” and that it is a one-of-a-kind truck conversion. Whether it’s a true 1963 is up for debate, and since most of the original bodywork is hacked away, I couldn’t confirm for sure. It is registered as a 1963 Kansas truck according to the license plate. As it was almost surely not a truck in 1963, it must have be retroactively registered as such.
Either way, this conversion is clean. Everything looks extremely high quality, looks finished, uses its packaging efficiently, and the bed even has a tipper function with a big storage space underneath the bed. The aesthetic choices around the front of the car do give the impression of a hack job, but the fit and finish is actually top-notch, at least at a glance. Even the interior part of the conversion was upholstered properly, and the Beetle-truck looks as complete as custom builds go. There’s even an aftermarket sunroof.
It’s even something of a bargain at $7,500. As far as Beetles go, it’s in good shape. As far as custom truck conversions go, this is one of the cleaner builds I’ve seen. There’s a vibe about this thing that I enjoy, and I would 100% use this as my around-town runabout. If you see this thing with Civic Type R parts in the bed in a few months, you know who bought it.
Got a tip? Email tips@thedrive.com
