A CALIFORNIAN father and son have teamed up to supersize the classic Volkswagen Beetle. The VW enthusiasts upscaled the car by 40%, making it bigger than a Hummer. Scott Tupper, the younger generation of the duo, told Truly how the idea developed. “My dad and I thought it would be nice if we had a Volkswagen that was comfortable and not feel like you're going to get run over in traffic.” Once the idea was hatched, they went about making the dream into a reality. “We had a 59 Volkswagen convertible, we digitized it, scanned it everywhere, took it apart, and made each part 40% bigger on the computer.” Unsurprisingly, the vehicle has caused a lot of buzz on the roads. “People chase you to try to get up next to it, they almost run you off the road because they're not looking where they're going."
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MotorTranscript
00:00 We decided we liked the Volkswagen and we wanted it to be 50% bigger.
00:08 The funnest thing for this is being on the freeway.
00:12 People just chase you to try to get up next to it and then they almost run you off the
00:16 road because they're not looking where they're going.
00:26 Some vehicles dominate the street with sheer size alone.
00:30 The Volkswagen Beetle isn't one of them.
00:33 The bug is the great car but it's very small.
00:37 Being dwarfed by other vehicles on the California roads led two generations of this family to
00:43 the only logical solution.
00:46 They were going to need a bigger bug.
00:49 My dad and I just thought it would be nice if we had a Volkswagen that was comfortable
00:53 and not feel like you're going to get run over in traffic.
01:02 It's a big vehicle.
01:04 It's bigger than a Hummer.
01:13 We decided we liked the Volkswagen and we wanted it to be 50% bigger, which is a huge
01:19 amount, but it was a little bit too big to actually drive on the street legally.
01:23 So we scaled it back to 40%.
01:27 And supersizing such a classic is no mean feat.
01:32 We had a '59 Volkswagen convertible.
01:35 We basically digitized it.
01:36 We scanned it everywhere, got that computer file built and then took it apart and made
01:42 each part 40% bigger on the computer.
01:46 Use that information to build templates and get all of our dimensions and things and then
01:52 started fabricating from there.
01:54 The platform that we started with for the huge bug is a Dodge truck, so it could handle
02:01 all the weight and the size and the scale that we needed to go.
02:04 And then everything's built on top of that.
02:06 And while it's based on a 60-year-old car, this big beast has a good few mod cons.
02:13 It's got all the creature comforts that you'd want in a new car.
02:17 Power steering and heated and air-conditioned seats and a Volkswagen with air conditioning
02:21 is kind of nice.
02:23 We did a lot of work in here to hide the power window controls and the power door locks and
02:29 all of the modern stuff and still make it look like a Volkswagen.
02:32 All of the controls from the Dodge truck and the gauges are on a gauge pod that comes down
02:39 from under the dash so that while you're driving it, you get all of the information that you
02:43 were getting from the Dodge truck.
02:45 But when you park it and get out and it goes back up inside and you can't see it, so it
02:49 still looks like a Volkswagen.
02:54 The Dodge is an automatic transmission and the Volkswagens are manual transmissions.
02:59 It has a simulated brake pedal in there and a clutch pedal, but they're actually both
03:04 brake pedals.
03:05 It looks like you'd push the clutch in and do the manual shift, but it's an automatic,
03:09 so it's nice and comfortable to drive.
03:12 My favorite thing is that it's not a prop.
03:15 You can get in it and jump in it.
03:16 It runs, it drives, it does all the stuff it's supposed to do.
03:19 It's not just something that's big and shiny and sitting in the background like it is right
03:25 now.
03:27 The funnest thing for this is being on the freeway.
03:31 People just chase you to try to get up next to it and then they almost run you off the
03:35 road because they're not looking where they're going.
03:37 And it will come as no surprise.
03:39 This big bug attracts big bugs.
03:43 There's quite a few offers on it that are standing that are humbling that people want
03:48 to pay the kind of dollars they want to pay for something that we built and we love.
03:51 But the Volkswagen's not going anywhere right now.
03:54 Just when I see it, it just makes me smile.
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