After watching The Love Bug as a child, I thought there was nothing cooler than a “hopped up” VW Beetle! One of the ways to modify Beetles in the late 60’s and 70’s was to replace the fenders and sometimes the hood with fiberglass components that allowed a lot more wheel and tire clearance. This car has had that done at some point, and is available here on craigslist in Raleigh, NC for $600.

This similar vehicle highlights the fiberglass components in black, and also shows the commonly used white “spoker” wheels. The term “Baja Bug” came into use as the modified VW’s were used on the Baja peninsula and in off-road applications. While it might seem sacrilege to those originality fans out there, remember that over 25 million Beetles were built and they were very inexpensive platforms to modify at the time.

The seller states that this Bug has a full roll cage, although looking at the rectangular structural tubing across the back bar it wouldn’t pass tech at any races I’ve been to. There’s also a fuel cell, which may or may not be what’s visible under that structural tubing. I don’t know exactly why one would want to change the weight distribution of a Beetle to be even more on the rear by moving the fuel storage from front to rear, but someone thought it was a good idea.

Although there aren’t many pictures, the ad does state that the car has a tow bar for easy transport once you pick it up, and lists a right side floor pan as needing attention. Most of the glass is included, as are two seats, although since they aren’t shown it’s unclear what type of seats they are and what condition they are in.

Above all, I’m struck by how inexpensive this is for a relatively solid shell with the Baja Bug components. A quick search found that the components alone are around $550, so if this is the type of vehicle you want, you’re only paying around $50 for the rest of the shell, including a 1600cc dual-port engine that turns over and “ok” brakes. Do you feel like a run down the Baja? Let us know in the comments!