(Photos from the BangShift archives) – Air cooled VWs will be roaming the Earth for generations to come. As one of the, if not the most produced car in history, the Beetle is the anchor of the air cooled VW world with supporting players being the cool old buses, wagons, Karmann-Ghias, Things, and other creations we don’t even know the names of. At home in the hands of hot rodders and customizers along with off road racers, these machines can be anything from fire breathing drag racers to desert flogging Baja racers.

In this gallery you’ll see a wide range of approaches to customizing air cooled VWs. These cars were the gateway drug for many hot rodders in the 1970s when they came of age and gas was expensive. There was and seemingly always will be a booming aftermarket surrounding the sheetmetal and mechanicals of these cars and they’re still an awesome platform for kids to learn about wrenching on. Hell, any car that two guys can yank the motor on in about 15 minutes is neat in our book. The photos in the gallery range from 2008 to just a couple weeks ago and from coast to coast and north to south. There are literally a thousand more where these came from so at some point in the future we’ll be back with more VW love!