I came across this while taking the family to dinner on Saturday. It was in the Grove City OH O'Charley's parking lot where there were a bunch of HS kids taking their dates to homecoming. I'm wondering if some lucky girl got to ride in this thing in her frou-frou dress. I quickly grabbed my daughter's cell phone to record the find (Dad's phone is so ancient, it has no camera).
Evidently a VW bunny truck wasn't rare enough for this guy (he obviously had access to one) nor was he content with the all too common Rabbit/Golf to pickup conversion. No, he went the route of a second gen Jetta to pickup conversion. Never see another of those driving around Columbus!
This has all the marks of fine craftsmanship associated with any good car/truck conversion. Note the stylish C pillar extensions (move over Avalanche!), the exquisitely fabricated divider with the large glass opening (not evident in the photos is that it actually had a defroster grid) and the Great Stuff foam sealant for a comfortable, air tight cabin. Also not evident in the photos is the pop riveted body panels that gracefully smooth out the transition between the Jetta body and the VW truck bed extension.
If I had more time and a better camera, I'd have gotten shots of the interior which was mostly stripped if I remember right. The divider is forward of where the rear seat back was, so this is not a 4 or 5 passenger truck in the spirit of a Ridgeline as one might hope, but more like an extended cab. Instead, where the rear seat had been, there was a home made sub woofer box with 2 downward facing 12" subs held down with clear packing tape stretched across their magnets. I'd be a little concerned that were the full power of those subs be unleashed, not only would they break free from their adhesive backed moorings, perhaps the entire bed would be as well. The impressive looking amps were cleverly laid loose in the passenger foot well, resting against the center console, considerately, to make room for the lady's feet.
This, my friends, is why the terrorists hate us. Because only in America can a young man, armed with nothing but a pair of old VWs, a pop rivet gun and a can of Great Stuff foam, can create such a work of art, and then use it to transport his date (and some unknown box of, uh, stuff) to the big dance. God bless America.
What a hoot! Thanks for the pics salguod.. I just couldn't have pictured it :)
-Bob
PS: Your typekey interface doesn't seem to be working.
I fixed the Typekey thing. It was a casualty of my upgrade. I had to go to my Typekey login page and update the path to MT.
God bless America. If we didn't have freedom of expression I'd outlaw that! LOL