Awesome pro-built Baja Bug with all the upgrades. 2007 cc engine, Benco 4-speed, custom long-travel suspension, 4-wheel disc brakes. Full interior with heater, stereo, and gauges. Documented. A cost-no-object build of the nicest Baja Beetle we’ve ever seen!

The dream for this awesome Baja Beetle started decades ago when a young man bought the fiberglass components to build his own back in the 1970s. Over the past 50 years, he’s built dozens of cool Beetles of various types, but he was waiting for just the right car to build his dream Baja. This is that car. We have a stack of receipts two inches thick and a massive album of build photos that tell the full story, and the result is just spectacular. The color is a special mix we’re calling Baja Green, and it’s a cool turquoise that suits the cheerful Beetle just fine. Add in a white racing stripe framed by black pinstripes, and you get one of the best-looking VWs we’ve had in a long while. Finish quality of both the steel and fiberglass parts is exemplary—the doors close with a solid THUNK, the decklid fits flush, and the custom nose has even gaps all around, which is none too easy when working with ancient fiberglass. Obviously there are plenty of lights up front, a custom tubular bumper with matching steps, and traditional VW taillights out back. All the exposed tubular framework is custom-made and powdercoated. New glass, fresh lenses, and fresh brightwork accentuate what is already a beautifully built Bug.

Inside you’ll find familiar Beetle fare, including stock bucket seats, door panels, and a factory steering wheel. You wouldn’t expect a Baja Beetle to be this nicely finished inside, but all the factory equipment is intact and operational, including the heater system, and the additions enhance what was already a solid package. Obviously there are numerous auxiliary gauges to monitor the warmed-over flat-4 out back, but you also get a decent-sounding Pioneer AM/FM/satellite/Bluetooth stereo system, a bank of switches for the auxiliary lighting, and even a grab handle for the passenger. The custom cage hugs the contours of the bodywork and mostly stays out of your way, and remarkably enough, the body can be removed without touching it—nice engineering. There’s also a full back seat that’s actually usable, as well as a correct headliner with courtesy lights. Nice, right? The forward trunk is a little abbreviated thanks to the Baja nose job, but it’s nicely finished and will hold a few overnight bags and service access is unaffected.

The engine is a 2007 cc air-cooled flat-4 that’s freshly rebuilt with only a few hundred miles on it. It starts with that traditional VW snarl and settles into an anxious idle that means this Bug wants to play. There’s a single carburetor up top that makes it easy to tune and maintain, and the exhaust header takes a unique 180-degree bend to keep it from getting too annoying at speed. The entire engine is surrounded by a custom-built steel cage for both protection and easy maintenance—a few bolts and the whole thing just lifts right out. There’s also a remote oil cooler and filter, heavy-duty filter units for the carb, and custom aluminum valve covers for a little flash. Tha transmission is a Benco 4-speed unit that snaps through the gears unlike anything you’ve experienced in a VW before, and the short-shift shifter is far more precise than you’d expect. There’s lots of torque on hand from the beefy engine, so it pulls hard in any gear and cruises on the highway at 65 MPH without much effort at all. The floor pan is brand new, so no worries about rot, and there’s extensive reinforcement in all the critical areas. The front suspension and subframe are custom-fabricated with long-travel coil-over shocks, and there’s a disc brake at all four corners. There are even skid plates protecting the vital parts. Remarkably, the wheels are from an early Ford Bronco with custom hubs machined to match, and it wears 225/75/15 front and 235/75/15 rear off-road radials that are ready to get to work.

Documentation is extensive, including hundreds of receipts and build photos.

We hesitate to add up the numbers on the build, but it’s easily twice the asking price. Baja Beetles are often junkyard dogs, but this one was built as a lifelong dream and the extra care is evident in every detail. It runs and drives extremely well, it’s remarkably civilized for an off-road creature, and the build quality is outstanding. If you’ve wanted one of these, this one is superior in every way and the asking price is less than the cost of duplicating it yourself. We’d call that a win-win. Call today!

Harwood Motors always recommends and welcomes personal or professional inspections of any vehicle in our inventory prior to purchase.