1967 Custom Beetle

• Sunday, 6 April 2008
• Jon Gilbert
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Billet wheels may be dirty words in hot rod circles these days, but in the reinvigorated custom VW scene they're just starting to come into their own

It was early in 2006 that we first laid eyes on Pete Skiba of Arizona-based Airkewld's custom '58 Bug. It wasn't so much the custom elements of the car that did it for us, it was the stance. Hot damn, it was low! The front valance was barely an inch off the tarmac and the big billet wheels were stuffed up into the arches in such a way as to evoke comments like 'look at that Beetle, its suspension must've collapsed' from the uninitiated. It wasn't the first Beetle we'd seen to use air bags to full effect, but it was certainly one of the best all round detailed and finished ones we'd seen up to that point. Needless to say, we got on it right away and the full feature appeared in our Summer issue that year, along with the comment that custom Beetles were making a comeback and that this style of car was going to make a big impact on the VW scene around the world. And, even if we do say it ourselves, we reckon we were right. Take Las Vegas resident Lester Graciolett, for example. Lester's a long-time VW guy who's been reading VW magazines for years and, like all good VW nuts, he thought that buying his daughters a Bug as their first car would be a top idea. And, as is often the case, the ideal car presented itself when they were least expecting it - when they were on a surfing trip in Dana Point, California. It was a European spec '67 (hence the licence plate on the car now) but back then it was a totally stock car in Zenith Blue. "We decided to get it running and put some cute wheels on it, along with a quick paintjob," said Marlies, Lester's wife. But, in a tale that's familiar to all of us, what started out as a simple, quick plan soon turned into a mammoth operation, and when Lester saw Pete Skiba's bagged 'n' rimmed ride he was knocked out and knew that was the way he wanted to go with this car.
As it goes, the first idea of just getting the car running and keeping it close to stock went straight out the window anyway, as Marlies explained: "We bought the Bug for $2,600 and trailered it back to Las Vegas where it ran for approximately one hundred yards before dying!"

For the full story check out the April 2008 issue of VolksWorld magazine. On sale on 21 March and then available through back issues.

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