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 Ridiculous Rides 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.
00:07 The funnest thing for this is being on the freeway.
00:11 People just chase you to try to get up next to it
00:15 and then they almost run you off the 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.
00:36 Being dwarfed by other vehicles on the California roads
00:40 led two generations of this family to the only logical solution.
00:45 They were gonna need a bigger bug.
00:48 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 gonna get run over in traffic.
00:56 It's a big vehicle. It's bigger than a Hummer.
01:05 We decided we liked the Volkswagen and we wanted it to be 50% bigger,
01:18 which is a huge amount, but it was a little bit too big to actually drive on the street legally.
01:24 So we scaled it back to 40%.
01:27 And supersizing such a classic is no mean feat.
01:31 We had a '59 Volkswagen convertible.
01:35 We basically digitized it, we scanned it everywhere,
01:38 got that computer file built and then took it apart
01:42 and made each part 40% bigger on the computer,
01:46 used that information to build templates and get all of our dimensions and things
01:52 and then started fabricating from there.
01:55 The platform that we started with for the huge bug's a Dodge truck,
02:00 so it could handle 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.
02:07 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,
02:20 and a Volkswagen with air conditioning is kind of nice.
02:23 We did a lot of work in here to hide the power window controls
02:28 and the power door locks and all of the modern stuff
02:31 and still make it look like a Volkswagen.
02:33 All of the controls from the Dodge truck and the gauges
02:37 are on a gauge pod that comes down from under the dash,
02:40 so that while you're driving it, you get all the information
02:43 that you were getting from the Dodge truck.
02:45 But when you park it and get out, it goes back up inside and you can't see it,
02:49 so it still looks like a Volkswagen.
02:51 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,
03:03 but they're actually both brake pedals.
03:05 It looks like you'd push the clutch in and do the manual shift,
03:08 but it's an automatic, so it's nice and comfortable to drive.
03:11 My favorite thing is that it's not a prop.
03:15 You can get in it and jump in it. It runs, it drives,
03:17 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
03:22 like it is right now.
03:24 The funnest thing for this is being on the freeway.
03:30 People just chase you to try to get up next to it,
03:34 and then they almost run you off the 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
03:46 humbling that people want to pay the kind of dollars they want to pay
03:50 for something that we built and we love,
03:52 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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