Saved 1966 Baja Beetle Gets Fixed Tree-Shade-Style, Runs, Drives Like Nothing Happened

Yes, technically, the Baja Beetle came around in the late sixties (1968-1969), but that didn’t stop enthusiasts from retrofitting their previous model-year examples to the famous off-road looks and specs. The most famous VW automobile sold a hefty 21 million copies in 56 years but didn’t reach astronomical sales figures for nothing.

The car was cheap, reliable, easy on the wallet for maintenance, and didn’t require a degree in rocket science to fix. It was a prewar design that focused on simplicity as its core value. With such an abundant production, it’s surprising there aren’t more of them around. And those who still are don’t all enjoy a happy retirement.

Take the car in the video as an example: it’s a Baja Beetle from 1966 but hasn’t run in many years. However, the owner didn’t just leave it outside to rust without taking minimum precautions – if removing the engine and placing it in the cabin can be called ‘minimum.’ This abandoned Beetle is brought back to life through the combined and silent efforts of Wyatt and Lance Bush, the father and son duo from Kravened Kustoms, and the Restored YouTube channel.

The video not only shows what it takes to fix an old VW with minimal tools and with a very laid-back tree-shade attitude (literally, the vlogging mechanics assemble the car in the backyard where it sat) but also why classic cars have such a vast pool of loyalists today. We can see that the only spare part that had to be bought new was the ignition switch. And, of course, new tires – although the brakes don’t work, but that’s an issue for another day.

Think about it like this: in 2050, what would it take to repair a 2020 automobile that has its powerplant extirped and loosely stored in cardboard boxes inside the car? Good luck starting up today's computers, screens, and whatnot. On the other hand, the purely mechanical VW is an absolute wrenching pleasure precisely because the mechanics don’t have to bother repairing something invisible.

Yes, the four-cylinder boxer motor is in pieces, but all the pieces are there, so it’s just a matter of skill and elbow grease to put it back together again. Ferdinand Porsche designed its most famous automobile so that it could be serviced by almost any owner, with what little tools came in the bag with the car. The Bush mechanics don’t waste any time and are set to work immediately after moving the Baja Beetle to a more manageable position.

We don’t know the story behind this rally car. Still, its overall shape is promising – the body is in one piece (and pretty solid), the interior is all there, and the underside is encouraging. The usual playground for the restoring duo is North-East Texas, and all we know about this half-century-young Beetle is that the previous owner had every bit of intention to restore it.

Then life happened, and the car got shelved for a while, patiently waiting for the project that never came (how familiar does that sound?), so the Beetle found itself at the mercy of the elements. Fortunately, it was built to last (if an EMP were to wipe out every trace of modernity within our civilization suddenly, old cars would be in very high demand).

In 1966, a regular Beetle sold in the United States of Automobile would have had a 1.3-liter, 50-hp flat-four-cylinder engine and a simple four-speed manual gearbox. The tiny motor cleverly used the advantages provided free by the surrounding environment. Cooling didn’t require heavy radiators, pumps, liquids, hoses, or lines – it was all handled by thin air. Never froze, never overheated.

Having the engine mounted directly over the driven wheels solved two issues: it put an extra grip on the tires and eliminated the driveshaft complications. Granted, that didn’t leave much room for luggage upfront, but that wasn’t a big sales point of the Beetle, especially in Baja trim, where the lightweight vehicles performed exceptionally well.

1966 was the second year when the Beetle scored more than one million units in sales (the threshold was surpassed in 1965 and then again every year from 1968 to 1973). In fact, between 1960 and 1974, VW sold over 13.6 million Beetles – a performance no other car has matched since. During its civilian production run from 1947 to 2003, the iconic Beetle knew only minor styling and mechanical changes, keeping the same basic profile penned in 1933 by its inventor.