If we told you about another rear-engined icon receiving the restomod treatment, you’d quite rightly assume it was one more Porsche 911 of some description. Not this time around, however – it’s the VW Beetle. (Make your own jokes about how related they are.) Specifically, it’s the Baja Bug, that icon of ’60s surf culture still adored the world over, that’s now been given a Yorkshire overhaul courtesy of Twisted Automotive.
What you’re looking at here is a TBug, proof that it’s not just Defenders that come out of Thirsk these days. It’s one of the company’s Special Projects, the range of cars ‘where obsession meets innovation, where we push beyond the expected to create vehicles that redefine what’s possible.’ That being said, the TBug isn’t a bespoke commission – Twisted will make them for as many folk as want ‘em. You suspect there might be a few, looking at it. ‘Some icons deserve a second chapter’, the firm reckons – amen to that. It’s a surprise, come to think of it, that a Baja Beetle hasn’t been modernised before now.
Exact details are a little thin on the ground for the moment – the official unveiling is promised for May 29th – Twisted confident (probably quite rightly) that seeing an air-cooled VW like this, with chunky off-road tyre hoisting up the ride height and a surfboard lent on the side, will do most of the convincing. At any rate, it promises twice the power of the original Baja – so somewhere around 80hp – ‘with reliability built in’; we’d therefore assume it’s a thoroughly reengineered, original flat four. If cleverer people than us can tell anything from the rear shot, please say. Containing the power (if that is indeed the right word for 80hp) will be what Twisted says is a totally rebuilt chassis, ‘strengthened for improved rigidity and durability’; though these will probably end up being city runarounds, the TBug is being assembled with proper usage in mind, right down to modern LED lighting for that slightly funny face.
To that end, ‘long-travel suspension’ will be included in the package, so it ought to be more than capable enough away from the beaten track. Twisted goes as far as to say that it’s building something ‘raw, honest, and meant to be driven’, so best not disappoint. Especially as they won’t be anything like the ’60s-80s donor cars that TBugs will be built from. As with Jimnys that cost £50k and Defenders that retail for twice that, customisation will be a big part of the TBug appeal as well; these are nothing less than ‘ground-up custom builds’, with every detail unique to the customer. They will be able to choose colours, materials, options, the works. Don’t bank on seeing two the same, and expect additional upgrades to follow as Twisted experiments with new features.
The TBug is said to have come about thanks to founder Charles Fawcett’s fondness of the original since childhood. Back when posters were important and stayed on walls for years, those in his sister’s bedroom made SoCal look like another planet; a cooler one with Baja Bugs on the beach. Now the opportunity to make good on his own interpretation is being grasped with both hands.
While there isn’t a TBug price yet, the fact that the preview suggests that Twisted ‘can now put a piece of it [California] in your garage or on the deck of your yacht’ suggests that they aren’t courting the average enthusiast here. Still, it’s a cool-looking thing, and quite the concept, too. After all, when did you last get excited about a car with 80hp?