Volkswagen Funny Cars

The Volkswagen Type 2 is one of the German automaker’s most enduring designs and was even kept in production in Brazil until 2013. Volkswagen sold countless numbers around the world and, while the T2 generation isn’t as cute as the original T1, it has its place in history. At the F.re.e Leisure and Travel Fair in Munich, Germany, the T2 made an unexpected appearance in Lego form, proving that making full-scale recreations of cars out of thousands of Lego bricks is now a thing.

The second generation of Volkswagen’s world-renown compact multi-purpose van debuted in the Summer of 1967 and was kept in production until 1979 for the American and European markets. The Argentinian market enjoyed the T2 as late as 1986 while over in Mexico you could buy a new T2 up until 1994. However, the T2 was most popular in Brazil where Volkswagen built it at the São Bernardo do Campo plant until 2013 when the production officially ended with a run of 600 Last Edition vehicles.

One of the great things about car renderings is the ability to let your imagination go crazy. You can use an existing car model and re-imagine it without a roof, or you can get really creative and redesign it in a different body type altogether. There’s something to be said, then, for renderings that take two models from two different automakers and combine them to create an entirely new model. It’s the kind of Transformers-like job that we should be seeing more often in the real world. Or should we? The truth is, BudgetsDirect undertook this very exercise, and the results are all “interesting,” to say the least. As an added bonus, we’re doing our own part and renaming these creations in the best way we can.

We knew it was coming sooner than later. Now that the women of Saudi Arabia are all set to be allowed to drive, automakers from all over the world have been quick to react to the ground-breaking news, celebrating the development on the social media with hashtags #SaudiWomenMove and #SaudiWomenCanDrive.

Ford, Volkswagen, and Nissan were the first automakers to post their congratulations and promote themselves to the women of Saudi Arabia, getting the word out early that they’re ready to welcome women drivers into the driver’s seat for the first time in the history of the Middle Eastern country. The quick response to the living of the driving ban was a smart move, particularly because of the business potential that it offers for a lot of these companies. Data gathered by The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association revealed that Saudi Arabia is the largest importer of vehicles and parts in the entire Middle East region. At the same time, data from LMC Automotive pointed to Saudi Arabia as the 21st biggest automotive market in the world, a figure that could go up with the potential of having more customers by virtue of lifting the ban. In total, Merrill Lynch estimates that as many as nine million potential new drivers could be in the hunt for new cars in Saudi Arabia, including 2.7 million resident non-Saudi women. With all these numbers being thrown out, it’s no wonder that companies like Ford, Volkswagen, and Nissan were quick to roll out the carpet for Saudi women. It’s going to be great for business!

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The Badaling Wildlife World animal park in Beijing, China has earned a notorious reputation in recent days over the spate of incidents that have happened within its premises. Just last week, the zoo made global headlines when a woman was mauled to death by a Siberian tiger after the woman got out of her car in the middle of the safari-style tour. Then a few days ago, another group of tourists found themselves in close contact with another Siberian tiger that tore the front bumper clean off of their Volkswagen Jetta. No injuries were reported in this encounter.

Thanks to footage taken from the dash cam inside the Jetta, we get a close look at the moment the tiger decided to give the Jetta its own version of a facelift by biting the bumper before pulling the whole thing off of the rest of the car. Thinking that it may have found an afternoon snack, the tiger retreats back into the woods and starts going to town on the front bumper.

The owners of the VW Jetta managed to have the bumper returned to them when they finished up on the tour. A quick examination of the panel revealed huge holes just beside the license plate where the tiger took a bite out of it. Fortunately, the bumper was the only casualty in this incident, a far happier outcome than the poor lady who that was mauled and the park employee that was killed by an elephant back in March 2016.

Not that it’s obvious at this point, but if somebody wants to keep their car in good and working condition, the Badaling Wildlife World animal park in Beijing, China is one of the last places you should go to.

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Fred Williams, 4Wheel & Off Road editor and host of Dirt Every Day, pairs up two unlikely vehicles for an informal (and rather fun) race around a grassy and dirt-filled track in the middle of nowhere. The vehicles: a 1967 Ford F-100 and a 1989 Volkswagen Van. Yep, this is a race for the ages.

Williams employs the help of his friends to get the event going, and his ole buddy Frank supplied the F-100. The truck had been sitting up for seven years, set aside after Frank broke his neck in an accident. Now with hand controls, he’s able to pilot the truck once more. Well, that is after Frank and Williams get the truck running again.

The VW van is in a similar state of disrepair. New progressive-rate coil springs and Fox Racing shocks bring the van’s suspension into the current century, while a slight engine tune and Super Swamper rear tires motivate the mess. It’s pretty impressive how the Van morphs from a heap of crap into something that looks fun.

I won’t spoil all the video’s fun, so enter full-screen mode, crank the volume, and enjoy the pilot episode of season five of Dirt Every Day.

In a world that has more supercars and sports cars than you can keep track of, it’s pretty easy for those that don’t go mainstream to get lost. It’s sad when you think about it. Over the years, there have been some interesting concept and production cars that never got the attention they deserved. Take the Tushek Renovatio T500, for instance. Have you ever heard of it? I’m guessing you probably haven’t, but it was a remarkably beautiful car with distinct styling that should have made it a favorite among collectors.

These days, we’re blessed with every supercar manufacturer dropping a new model on a regular basis. In fact, we’re spoiled, when you think about it. And like any group of spoiled children, as soon as we get what we want, we immediately start asking for more. It’s not that the supercars we all know and love, like the Koenigsegg One:1, Bugatti Chiron, or the Pagani Huayra BC aren’t special, because they certainly are. They’re just well known, and even if you haven’t seen one in person, you’ve seen one on TV or Youtube.

So, in light of Easter this year, we’ve decided to look back at a few cars that are very much “Easter eggs” of the automotive world, and that’s if you can even find them at all. I’m talking about cars like the aforementioned Tushek Renovatio T500, or the Tramontana XTR. Some of these car’s never made it into production, while others were produced and fizzled away into automotive history. Either way, let’s take a look at a few of my favorites.

Continue reading to discover a few automotive Easter eggs.

Halloween is right around the corner, and I’m sure a lot of you are already gearing up on what costume you plan on wearing for the occasion. I understand the feeling because I’m in the same boat as most of you are. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a low-cost, do-it-yourself costume that will not only highlight your creativity, but also your dry sense of humor.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the DIY Volkswagen Diesel Scandal Costume and it’s completely brilliant! For one thing, there’s no need to go to a costume store and rent out a garish wardrobe that’s probably been worn one too many times already. You also won’t need to have your costumes tailored because all you need is to buy some of the accessories that are needed to make this costume and use household items for the rest.

The deluxe smoke mask, for example, only costs $34.99. Then there’s the video game car costume that only costs $19.99 and the glow in the dark spider webs that sell for just $4.99. Add all that up and you’re still below $60. Some of the items on this DIY list should be easier to find too. Unless I’m mistaken, a toilet paper tube, a gas can, black spray paint, and a box shouldn’t be too hard to find, right?

Once you have all of them, making the actual costume can be done in as easy as three steps. Rest assured, showing up at a Halloween party dressed in this costume will surely invite a lot of conversations. Volkswagen owners may not find it funny, but for the rest of us, it’s definitely worth working, just for the sake of getting a few laughs out of it.

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Lucas Danehnl, art student at the University of Braunschweig made ​​a real piece of art. For 1 year, he placed corn on the body of a compact Golf 2 then he used a blower to pop them !
Why a 1983 Golf ? The student explains that "it is a vehicle from my generation" and the popcorn refers to" joy and great memories with family and friends."
No doubt his teachers have licked their lips after seeing this work.

We are anxiously awaiting the release of the 2013 VW Beetle Convertible and those at Vee-Dub-Ya are being really stingy with the images and information. Well our friends over at Jalopnik managed to get a hold of some images of the new VW convertible rocking a killer disguise [dripping with sarcasm].

VW thought it could fool everyone by taking stickers, in the same shape as the previous generation VW Beetle convertible, and slapping them over the revised taillights on the 2013 Beetle convertible mule. Anyone that has ever frequented a “Gentleman’s Club” in a conservative city, county, or state knows, sticking pasties over the goodies does not really eliminate your ability to imagine what’s under them.

This is doubly true when you make the stickers so thin that the goodies show through – a trick often undertaken at said gentleman’s clubs and obviously at VW too. Someone behind this new Beetle caught it just as the taillights came on and snapped a shot of the new lights shining through in all of their glory.

What makes matters worse is in order to mimic the old New Beetle convertible’s backside a little more, Vee-Dub added in some extra tasteful stickers on the bottom of the rear fascia. One happens to have a gigantic air bubble in it and the other one is pretty crooked. By the way, VW, the last-gen Beetle convertible didn’t have dual exhaust.

Are we sure these are the same people that duped the German government out of its tax money and discreetly slid Ducati under Lamborghini’s ownership? Not too slick there, fellas.

Thanks for the “LOLs” VW, we needed that one.

The Dark Knight Rises has been heating up cinemas for the past few days, so it seems only fitting that with the last part of the trilogy in cinemas today, we take a look at one of the most enduring stars of the famed DC super hero movie franchise. No, we’re not talking about Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl character from Batman and Robin. What we’re referring to is the Batmobile, the Dark Knight’s very own ride-of-choice.

In this section though, we’re going to pay tribute - we use that word loosely - to the five worst Batmobile replicas we’ve ever seen. Some are more eye-cringing than the others, but rest assured, none of them would pass the standards of Bruce Wayne.

Heck, we don’t even think the Joker would be caught dead riding in one of these so-called Batmobiles.

So here it is, folks. Prepare to cringe, laugh, or whatever emotion these pictures will do to you.

Find out TopSpeed’s five worst Batmobile replicas after the jump

We have seen many automotive pranks in our time, but the following one definitely tops the list for ingenuity, skill, and creativity. It is unlikely to be topped in the near future, just because it is so impressive.

Volkswagen is unquestionably one of the world’s biggest companies with it owning a fairly large selection of other brands including Bugatti, Bentley, Seat, and even Lamborghini, so it obviously takes some creativity to get an upper hand over the competition. Fiat definitely did just that the other day, when they took the opportunity to take advantage of one of the numerous Google Street View vans driving across the globe, and capture something completely unique.

Both Volkswagen and Fiat have headquarters in Sweden and when workers at the Fiat HQ noticed the Google Street View car driving past, they rushed over to their competitor’s major branch in a brand new Fiat 500, 45 minutes away to capture the perfectly executed images you see in the gallery below.

The bright red Fiat 500 can be seen following the Street View car from a distance just seconds away from Volkswagen headquarters before speeding up Volkswagen’s driveway, pulling up in directly below the Volkswagen sign just in time for the images to be captured and then uploaded to Google Street View for the world to see.

And all of this happened in just a matter a seconds without VW having any idea about the stunt, meaning the German marque will have to accept having one of its competitors cars parked outside its showroom for at least a year.

Don’t however, expect VW to take this lightly. We suspect they’re already planning an ingenious way to get back at Fiat.

Anybody that bothered watching last year’s Super Bowl will surely remember Volkswagen’s "Little Vader" commercial, arguably the most popular TVC to be shown during the Big Game.

This year, Volkswagen is returning to the Super Bowl and they’re bringing back the Star Wars theme, with one minor caveat. Instead of Little Vader, VW’s new Super Bowl ad will center around a pack of dogs all barking the Star Wars’ official theme music. Some of the dogs even got to wear Star Wars costumes, including Hans Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and yes, even an Ewok.

The 60-second teaser is only a sample of what Volkswagen has in store for the Super Bowl. Considering that they stole the show with last year’s "Little Vader" commercial, they’ve got some pretty high standards to live up to if they have any intentions of capturing the audience the way Lil’ Vader did.

We rarely see two teammates in Formula One – and two former world champions at that – have a good time around each other and make it all seem so genuine. We learned that firsthand from the failed Lewis Hamilton-Fernando Alonso fiasco a few years back that pretty much divided McLaren Mercedes in half.

But now that the team has two chaps that have an unabashed chemistry, McLaren’s principal sponsor, Vodafone, isn’t wasting the opportunity to put both Hamilton and teammate Jenson Button in front of a camera for a number of short documentaries to highlight their growing number of escapades.

The latest mini-documentary to be released by McLaren takes the antics of Lewis and Jenson out on the road on-board a 1966 Volkswagen Camper. The new spot featuring both drivers takes the two on a nice little drive to Silverstone where they do, among other things, stop over at a gas station to get their tanks filled, buy as many chocolate candies they could get their hands on, sign as many autographs as they can, and even give away free tickets for the Silverstone Grand Prix.

Check out these two fellas as they make their way over to Silverstone in an unconventional way.

As viral and guerrilla marketing goes, the whole concept is to think outside of the box. Way out of the box. That’s why few brands have success with these types of ads because they’re either afraid that what they’re doing is not in tune with their brand’s image or they’re simply worried that what they do won’t go over well with the public.

But there are some brands that don’t really do much in the way of worrying about what people will do when they do something completely out of character. And this is precisely what makes them stand out from the rest. Take this new viral campaign from Volkswagen for instance.

Bringing back those people from VW’s Fun Theory responsible for those viral videos that made the Web last year, Volkswagen’s at it again, doing a little subway slide experiment at the Alexanderplatz subway station where they built a slide to entice people to try living - or, in this case, sliding - in the fast lane once in a while. And as is the case when you slide on the stairs going down to a subway station, you’re going to have to give it a go for yourself, as did a lot of people in the video ranging from young little tykes to even senior citizens, proving that everybody’s entitled to a little fun in the fast lane once in a while.

We’re guessing the owner of this Volkswagen Jetta lives for tailgating. I mean, he probably looks forward to tailgating with his buddies more than he does waking up in the morning.

You see that piece of bar that seems to be sticking out of his car’s trunk? If you can actually believe it, that piece of bar is a beer tap. And the best part is, it works! That’s about the coolest thing we’ve ever seen. Hey buddy, fill us up a cold one, will ya?

The art of performing a burnout is a relatively easy thing to do, that is if one knows what they’re doing. Any sign of indecision stemming from not knowing what to do is a recipe for disaster and as we’ve seen from countless videos of hooners trying in vain to perform burnouts, that ’recipe for disaster’ often leads to busted clutches.

So it goes without saying that anytime we can spread the gospel of how NOT to perform a burnout, well, we consider it a matter of utmost importance. After all, cars aren’t supposed to be treated in such a way. Now, like we said, if the driver knew exactly the trick to perform a burnout without having the clutch of his car explode, then that’s all well and good, but the reality is, a majority of people who do perform the stunt have no idea what they’re getting into. Example # 4,532 is this dude behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf GTI, who learned the hard way that performing burnouts are the fastest way to destroy your clutch.