The other day I took a little day trip to Graham, NC, just because it’s a charming town – maybe a city? What’s the line, there, anyway? Graham has about 17,000 people. That’s pretty small for a city, but not really tiny, exactly. Is it offensive to call it a town? Maybe it’s one of those things where towns can call one another towns, but you know, I can’t. Whatever. It’s got a lot of character and a picturesque little downtown and at least one interesting custom Volkswagen Beetle tooling around.
Sadly, I didn’t get to see this Beetle up close; it was driving around the main court square that’s at the center of the town, and I was a bit away. Still, I managed to not pee myself too completely with excitement and was able to fumble for my phone to snap these few pics.
I believe this Beetle is a 1974 Beetle; it could be a 1973, too, but I think I spotted what look like larger bumper bracket cut outs; in 1974, VW changed from the simple Y-shaped brackets used since 1968 to these beefy shock-absorber-like bumper brackets with beefier bumpers to meet the new 5 mph bumper rules. Those things were battering rams.
I mean, I think that’s what I’m seeing there by the bumper bracket:
I could be wrong, and the size of that rear bumper does seem to look more like a ’73. So maybe it’s a ’73? It could be a ’75-’77 Beetle, too, but the clues to that: the FUEL INJECTION script on the engine lid and the new lower apron I either couldn’t see at that distance or was cut away, respectively.
Now that I look at that bumper, I’m leaning more toward this being a ’73. A ’73 standard Beetle, not a Super Beetle.
Oh, by the way, one of the charming old buildings in Graham has these great dragon-form gargoyle/light sconce things:
Dr.Dragon there kind of looks like they’re resting their head on a pilates ball or something. It’s pretty fun.
But back to the 4×4 Beetle! Let’s get to the interesting part, here. What’s interesting is what’s below the body, which I think is a chassis from some 4×4 truck or possibly Jeep. Look, you can see the big differential at the rear axle there, and the hint of one at the front, too:
I don’t think this is still on an actual VW Type I chassis with a rear-mounted air-cooled engine. A VW drivetrain uses a transaxle that would not be as prominent or low as that differential, for example, and the solid axles are not anything like the torsion bar, independent suspension axles a VW chassis used.
So what is this, exactly?
If I had to guess, which I sort of do, I think this is a Beetle body very carefully bolted onto a Jeep CJ/Wrangler chassis. The Beetle had a wheelbase of about 95.3 inches. A Jeep CJ-7 had a wheelbase of 93.5 inches, a Jeep YJ and TJ had a 93.4″ wheelbase, but the closest wheelbase is on the 2007-2018 Wrangler JK, which had a 95.4″ wheelbase. That’s only 1/10 of an inch longer! You could pretty much just drop a Beetle body right on there!
And it looks like that’s what someone did; I saw the front and saw no obvious cutouts for the radiator grille, but perhaps the cooling and intake air is routed in from below.
I think I need to go back at some point and see if I can find this fantastic little beast; someone did a really nice job combining these two cars, which are, ironically, sort of the Spirit Cars of myself (Beetle) and my Autopian pal and co-founder, David (Jeep) combined. I feel like if this thing is half-Beetle, half-Jeep, David and I should do a video with it or something.
Anyway, I’ll keep looking. Until then, great work, unknown Beetle/4×4 cross-pollinator!
“Some genius built the Autopian spirit animal out of an old Jeep and Beetle”
“Is it offensive to call it a town? Maybe it’s one of those things where towns can call one another towns, but you know, I can’t.”
I swear Jason, you had me at the first paragraph. 😀
in New York State you can have a town and within the boundaries of the town you can have a city and a village.
New York City is a whole other thing.
The NY town/village/city thing is a mess, before getting into the unincorporated towns.
I grew up in an unincorporated town, outside of any villages in the town. For school/fire/ambulance, we used one of the villages in the town. For mail, we used a completely different town to, so my mailing address was a town I did not live in.
Until the 1889, an English town could not be a city without a cathedral
Wouldn’t it be something if that Beetle actually used a Syncro system from a Vanagon & thereby kept it all VW all the time? It does seem most likely, however, that it’s indeed on a Jeep platform of some kind, so a Beep.
Apropos of which, that Beetle is a bit reminiscent of how in the late 70s two engineers, one of whom was memorably named Henning Duckstein (first name is memorable because of a popular 70s magician named Doug Henning https://www.quickerthantheeye.com/img/thumbs/500×500/LI0227.jpg & surname is memorable because it’s…just ducky), at VW of Germany tinkered with their own Buses, converting them to 4×4, for their own travels, some of which involved something like a hundred thousand kilometers or even more of driving in the Sahara Desert, and they persuaded VW to carry out R & D, using five baywindow Buses, which eventually led to the development of the Vanagon’s Syncro system.
This is a pretty well-known photo:
https://blog.heritagepartscentre.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/T2-syncro-1-1632×1130.jpg
Looking at this picture one hopes the driver was securely harnessed in a seat with good cushioning:
https://blog.heritagepartscentre.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/prototype-side-1566×1130.jpg
A Synchro-equipped Beetle would have been SO awesome. But it would probably have to been lifted like Jason’s photo example to show off its awesome sauce.
If it doesn’t have the Air Cooled flat 4 engine it’s not a Beetle.
This is no Volkswagen Kommandeurswagen
Adolf turn back in the hell.
If you knew your grammar I might know how to reply.
The next Autopian t-shirt has almost drawn itself
Thats cool – but I would be more impressed if it was a Fusca 4×4 conversion!
In NC, the designation is not a function of population. It is a function of how it was named in the municipality charter at the state level.
Graham is a city.
That just looks…right somehow. Only note would be a cleaner radius on the front arch .
I live in a city of about 15k, but a lot of that has to do with the boundaries of said city being drawn up so long ago that the surrounding town of about 30k is a separate municipality. Out west or south, we’d probably be one city of 45k. But people in the late 1800s couldn’t fathom why people would want to live so far from downtown unless they were farmers. But then cars and suburbia came to be, and there you go.
In general, the premise of a municipality being a city, village, town or whatever is mostly based on the charter for said municipality, and the premise that the municipality is the region’s center of economic activity. Is that always the case? No. So it’s all very confusing.
As the former owner of a ’74 and a ’77 (not Super) I’ll agree with your original assessment that this looks like a ’74 or newer. The openings for the rear bumper brackets on the earlier cars are not only narrower but also don’t extend nearly as high as the one visible on this car.
It also looks like the opening for the bracket is missing its rubber boot so maybe there’s an earlier bracket coming through/below the now oversized hole, particulary since the lower apron is missing entirely. This would be consistent with what looks like an earlier bumper.
As you noted, with the lower apron gone there’s not much left to distinguish between a ’74 and a ’75-77 in these photos.
No, wait, the more I think about it (which is clearly already too much) the more I’m coming around to the idea that it’s a ’73 with the correct bumper and brackets but with a newer right rear fender. Otherwise the newer, higher opening for the bracket on the left side should probably be visible in those shots although they’re not at the greatest angle to be certain about this. Still, bolting on a newer fender is easier than switching the brackets and the bumper and makes more sense in terms of likely repairs.
Ummmm, ACKSHULLY, it’s only a gargoyle if it has a waterspout incorporated into it. Otherwise, it’s a grotesque. Or a lamp fitting of course.
You’re a grotesque! I mean, unless you have a waterspout incorporated into yourself. If you do, you might want to head to the emergency room. 😉
Im not a doctor, but a lot of people have waterspouts.
So they used to unbolt the VW body from the chassis and install a dune buggy body, right? And now the VW body found its way to a Jeep chassis. And the Jeep body? Probably in the back yard of David Tracy’s former rental house in Michigan.
Somewhere in NC is a Beetle chassis with a Jeep body on it.
We could call that one a Jug.
Or a Jeetle?
Here you go: Volkyland “Veep” VW Powered Jeep
I knew someone here would come up with one,this is definitely the right crowd.
There’s a more than 10% chance I would know who had that, should such a mythical beast exist. Hint – it would be one of 2 people I know – one of whom had a Brubaker Box body (I’ve seen it) and the other was our friend who had it stored at his house.
The city/town distinction seems to vary depending on where you are. There’s a city in Vermont (Vergennes) that’s 2 square miles and 2,700 people. Someone who lives there told me it’s related to governance structure and having incorporated boundaries. Apparently in England, it was at some point related to having a bishop, but not any longer. Many references will point to size and importance, without providing a dividing line for either. I think this is one of those instances where it’s easy to go down the rabbit hole if you start trying to figure it out, because there’s no definative definition.
In the UK a city used to be anywhere with a cathedral (and therefore a bishop), that was only changed in 1889. Cities don’t really have a specific administrative meaning in the UK though, instead governance is generally based on population, eg an MP has a constituency of roughly 100,000 people (so the number of MPs has increased along with the population).
Except for the weird bits, like the City of London (aka the Square Mile), which is basically a medieval city state inside the modern city of London.
For us, Graham represents hope. Or at least the light at the end of the tunnel, as we are into the final hour of the 11 hour drive from Connecticut down to just outside Winston-Salem. A drive that doesn’t really drag on your soul until you get on I-85 in Richmond.
As a frequent driver between Upstate NY and Raleigh, I very much feel your pain.
It’s still better than getting out to I-81 and driving across the spine of Virginia down to I-77. Or the trip back. I’ll risk the inevitable jam up around EWR on the way home to not have to deal with I-81.
Absolutely. The truck traffic on I-81 is sort of a nightmare. It has to be the leader for roads where the limit is 65, yet even though I’m in the middle of nowhere, I’m forced to do 55 as one truck doing 55 passes another doing 54.5.
It should be so much better but it’s not. Well, except for the experience of driving through the DC area. Which I find to be the worst driving experience you can find on the entire East Coast. So taking 95 has it’s own risks.
I’ve done this round trip a couple dozen times over the years. I used to avoid I-95 at all costs, and thought that I-81 wasn’t so bad. But, some side trip opportunities that send us down 95, I realized it was fine.
Oh come one, I would be overcome with joy at a .5 mph speed differential, that might get that done after 3 hills. I’ve always stuck behind one going 55.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 and the one next to them going. 54.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999.
If there are more soul-numbing stretches of road than I-85 SW of Richmond, they are on the far side of Hell.
Still, you get to see a town called ‘Squirrel Level’ and get to play that game of ‘Is my odometer matching up to the tenth of a mile signs?’ that I use to keep my sanity.
aww man, I love that stretch! After battling I-95 nonsense all the way from New York to Petersburg, getting on 85 is like sitting on the couch after a long day out. Set the cruise control and vibe out until Durham
THIS. Something about the heavily wooded median and two lanes gives chill vibes.
I used to live in the “largest village in England”.
It was the size of a small town. But you never used the t-word around locals, because it was a ”village”. Like it matters.
In the UK the difference between a town and a city is that the Crown says so. There used to be some bullshit about cathedrals, but that’s just a can of worms labelled “just a big church”.
I always noticed people in the Cotswolds, and to some degree Devon and Cornwall, are especially protective of the distinction.
Plus there’s also the fact that the way towns are laid out in the US makes them more townlike and car-dependent, while a lot of UK towns (or more broadly Europe) might have 200 people, but still behave like a city from an American perspective. Mass transit, centralized shops (high street), things we generally don’t have in most places.
In the US, I arbitrarily put the cutoff at 50,000 and/or “does it have distinct, incorporate suburbs” — then it’s a city.
It’s hard to generalize in the US since each state regulates what is formally a town or city. I live in a city that has less than 5000 people officially within the city limits. Since it is incorporated, Texas considers it a city while I, and most people, consider it a small town.
One other metric that gets bandied about on various sites trying to answer the question, is whether the municipality offers services such as police, fire, hospitals, which my town does not, relying instead on the county sheriff and mostly volunteer firemen.
Both John Cougar Mellencamp and Jon Bon Jovi would agree that your hamlet is, indeed, a small town.
Ah, this reminds me of the place where I grew up, South Orange, NJ. When we moved there, it was the Village of South Orange, one of two or three municipalities in the entire state with that designation. Then someone discovered that with the weirdness of municipal charters in NJ, South Orange could get more state aid just by becoming a township. But being a village and having gas lamps on most residential streets were two defining characteristics of the place (the third being Seton Hall University). Much angst was had. In the end, it officially became the Township of South Orange Village. The charter got a mild refresh, but little else changed. First world problems, NJ style.
I’m from sister town Maplewood. The way our two towns have handled municipal issues & growth over the last 25 years or so is absurd, but SO really did it a whole lot better.
A lot of the Northeast and Midwest also have that fun little “township” thing that you don’t see in most of the US. I lived in one for a while…I think we had our own schools and taxation, but not police/fire. That’s kind of a weird combo, I wonder why it’s such a regionlized thing.
The whole township thing in NJ is very confusing. My step-grandparents lived near Cape May, and I would drive through various Twps where the borders seemed arbitrary borders in farmland.
The thing to remember about New Jersey is, any piece of ground you stand on has a mayor. There is no such thing as an unincorporated area. There are 565 municipalities spread across 21 counties. And those municipalities can be cities, towns, townships or boroughs. (I don’t think there are any villages left.) Anyway, people complain a lot about property taxes, but nobody wants their municipality to go away.
Its only a cathedral if there is a bishop based there. Otherwise it is just a big church.
Two local cathedrals share a Bishop between them. Does that mean that one of the places only gets to be a city on weekends and holidays?
And a bishop is just a big priest.
Seems weird that somewhere can become a city just because one guy gets a promotion at work.
That explains it. The Town of Cary is close to Jason. It has almost 200k population but no cathedral, so it’s a town
Graham is most definitely a city because I deal with financial reporting on the state level and they are listed as City of Graham. As to why it is a city, NC has no laws governing the distinction between a city and town so they are free to make it up based on their own perception.
You came to the same conclusion I did – “What is this thing?” Answer: It’s a Jeep. Never mind what kind of shirt it’s wearing.
A Jeetle, perhaps?
Beep!
Since you can see the fuel tank is located at the rear of the frame, just ahead of the bumper, it is either a YJ or TJ frame. I don’t see leaf spring shackles in the photo so it appears to be coil sprung, further suggesting it is a TJ frame. The rear exhaust hanger is also TJ style. The rear axle appears to be a Dana 35, but the front axle is not a stock Dana 30 but likely a trussed (top and bottom) Dana 44.
This article has brought out the perfect confluence of Beetle Watchers and Jeep Encyclopedists.
I can’t claim to be a Jeep Encyclopedist, but I own a TJ that I just installed a new exhaust on and am in the middle of trussing a Dana 44 to replace the front Dana 30, so it was a happy coincidence to be able to spot things on that Beetle that I am familiar with.
A CJ fuel tank is located at the back of the frame as well.
So it does. Now I’m wondering which Jeep it is that I thought had the tank further inward? The CJ-8?
Well, basically the CJ-8 tank sits in the same place as a CJ-7 tank in relation to the rear axle, but you have a longer overhang in the back, so it sits more forward in relation to the overall vehicle.
Also, looking at the pics more made me realize it has a driver’s side drop for the axle, which would make it Wrangler based if it’s on a Jeep frame.
Good ole boys love putting “different” bodies on 4WD chassis. Google “4WD hearse” for another genre.
Half Beetle, half Jeep: a Beep!
Graham is a city, most probably because it’s the county seat as its population would otherwise suggest a town. Definitions do vary, though, mostly due to political structure. For example, I live in a “city” that has barely 2000 residents. Go figure.
or a Jeetle
Or a Bangler
I’m glad I’m not the only one wondering if it’s a Jeetle or a Beep.
Argh well played, you got to it before me. Cheers!
I have seen more than one Subaru 360’s sitting on wrecked side by side chassis’ https://www.reddit.com/r/subaru/comments/1f6cdby/til_subaru_360_exists/#lightbox
seems like this could be an option to get those dead air cooled on the road and useful as title donors to make a side by side road legal in some states.
I didn’t know these existed and now I kinda want one.
My head absolutely didn’t hit the desk during the model-year/bumper rumination. I, um…dropped my phone, that’s it. You’re a marvel, Jason, and this thing looks like a cartoon lifted off some ’70s t-shirt.
Looks a (little) bit like the Tamiya RC car https://www.tamiyausa.com/media/CACHE/images/products/rc-monster-beetle-2015-4-none-1-537f/103b642089413cf3f317666a783d15b7.jpg
I have seen one of these off roading in Wisconsin. It was on a cj frame and it looked way rougher than this one. This one looks nice and clean. It has been a while since I have seen a car body and a truck/jeep frame at an off road park in the upper midwest. I wonder if the fad is dying.
I used to see these all the time at mud-bogging races in Michigan. The fad is dying because good Beetle bodies are getting hard to find, very few bodies are easily transferable like the Beetle, and so few others have an iconic style that makes them worth the effort.
Graham is mabe 45 minutes away from me, so I might have to keep an eye out next time I am there.
just ♥ !