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Best of 2019: 1976 Camaro, Meet VW Beetle. We Don’t Know Where To Go From Here.


Best of 2019: 1976 Camaro, Meet VW Beetle. We Don’t Know Where To Go From Here.

My first automotive love was the 1975-77 Chevrolet Camaro. I loved having the bigger back window on the Camaro that I first fell in love with when my uncle brought home a ’76 Type LT. I’ve owned one, it was my first car back in 1995. My dream build would be to cross the 1974 Z28’s graphics package onto a phantom Z28/LT build, put it on 1970s perfect slot mags or Z28 turbine wheels, and add a six-speed to a big-block powertrain. Hate on the big-bumper Camaro all you want, but I love them, looks and all. 

Which makes the car that Adam Wiskow sent us the link to that much more of a “WTF?!” than normal. To credit, grafting a one-piece fiberglass shell of a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro onto a shortened VW Type 1 pan is a hell of an undertaking and unlike some of the strange split-bumper Camaro forms we’ve seen, the appearances are spot-on for a scaled-down example. The blue, a Maserati color, is gorgeous, and the graphics are well-done…even if they are for a later, rubber-nosed Camaro. We can even appreciate the powertrain, a 2332cc unit that’s good for 230 horsepower. In Beetle terms, this should be one mean little bastard, and with disc brakes at all four wheels, it’ll stop just as quick. There’s goodies, like the overloaded sound system, and the trailer hitch that’s used to haul a matched jet boat around with.

The build is good, the car is good, the presentation is good…but there is that nagging feeling that something just ain’t right here. I can’t shake it. What’s your call?

eBay Link: VW Type 1/1976 Chevrolet Camaro one-off custom build


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16 thoughts on “Best of 2019: 1976 Camaro, Meet VW Beetle. We Don’t Know Where To Go From Here.

  1. john

    Besides the obvious. ..why would you spend so much time and $$ on a project that will go nowhere and then build a high hp VW engine to tow a boat? “Can’t fix stupid”. ( Ron White)

  2. jerry z

    WTF is right! Another fake Camaro where you need to play Dukes of Hazzard to get in! $25K, would rather buy a real ’76 Camaro for that amount of money.

  3. THE BUG: A-LOSE

    This is what \”Sparky\” from the Sid and Marty Krofft show \’The Bugaloos\’ cruised in to get chicks.

  4. 75Duster

    With all the time and money spent on this Camaro clone, why didn’t he just buy a real one?

  5. geo815

    Too much dough in order to piss off both the Chebbie and the kraurocket crowd with one car, but homeboy gets A’s for dffort, application and implementation.

  6. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    You don’t know where to go from here?

    A crusher for this pile of shit and an insane asylum for the nutter who built it….

  7. RK - no relation

    Spent money and effort, went “What have I done?!”

    Wants to get some money back, might not break even…

  8. Chevy Hatin' Mad Geordie

    Where to go from here? A lobotomy and a crusher to make sure that hideous abortions like this are never to be seen again!

  9. Gary

    All you guys miss the point here. The company that made these actually had three bodies to choose from, The Camaro you see here, a Corvette, and I forget which the third one was. Obviously, the marketplace agree with you on the taste/cost equation. But this was just another take on the myriad of Manx dune buggy take offs during the halcion era of fiberglass dune buggies on VW chassis. It was different, it was fun. Any of you haters remember doing stuff just for fun, just to be a little wierd? Lighten up, Francis!

  10. Bill

    I find that I am spending more and more time in my garage and less time at car shows for the simple fact all this constant bitchin about other peoples builds, like it or not there was alot of time put into it. Most of the people giving you their opinion don’t own or drive anything worthy of hitting the street or car show. I say build what interests you and be damned with this constant negative culture we seem to be growing. All of us old folks will be gone soon enough and all that will be left are internet hacks giving you their opinion and the hobby will die. SHUT UP AND GET THE KIDS INVOLVED AND KEEP THE BUILDING CULTURE ALIVE. Turn off the reality TV show and internet and go out to the garage or carport and make something better. !#@*^

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