Buick V8-powered 1956 VW Beetle is a Sizzling Wheels Legends Tour finalist

Sizzling Wheels has chosen a 1956 Volkswagen Beetle as a finalist within the 2022 Legends Tour. Whereas that is the second Beetle chosen for the semifinal spherical, it is a one-of-a-kind, heavily-modified automotive that is nicknamed “Berlin Buick” and powered by a mid-mounted V8 engine.

Proprietor Rob Freeman drove from Syracuse, New York, to Southern California to compete within the 2022 Legends Tour’s Los Angeles cease. He advised Sizzling Wheels that he started toying round with the concept of constructing a Beetle with a mid-mounted engine when he was a child. He began the mission a few years later by shopping for a 1956 oval-window mannequin for $1,000 and yanking out the factory-fitted air-cooled flat-four engine.

He selected to energy the Beetle with a Buick-sourced, 215-cubic-inch (3.5-liter) V8 as a result of it is an engine that is comparatively compact and light-weight ⁠— these attributes additionally clarify why evolutions of this eight powered a protracted listing of European automobiles for many years, although Volkswagen by no means used it. The V8 is mounted behind the entrance seats, within the area previously occupied by the rear bench, and it sends 300 horsepower to the large rear wheels through a handbook transmission. The listing of modifications additionally features a custom-made unbiased rear suspension system.

With the powertrain sorted, Freeman turned his consideration to the physique. He lowered the roof by about 4 inches, eliminated the operating boards, and went so far as becoming chrome aspect trim sourced from a 1957 Buick. The exhaust system is likely one of the coolest modifications made to this Beetle: The V8 exhales via eight shops (4 per aspect) formed just like the portholes that Buick fitted to a few of its automobiles within the early Fifties.

Open the suicide doorways, peek inside, and you will spot a steering wheel and dashboard elements donated by a 1949 Buick. Customized upholstery traces the seats, the door panels, and the flooring, and the engine is put in simply a few inches away from the passengers.

Freeman’s Beetle will compete in one of many semifinal rounds scheduled for later in 2022 for the possibility to affix the Sizzling Wheels catalog of 1/64-scale diecast fashions, that means it might discover its strategy to your native toy retailer (and finally to your desk) within the not-too-distant future. To win, it might want to fend off competitors from a rising listing of rivals together with a Porsche 928-based, 3,000-plus-horsepower dragster, a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle powered by a Volvo-sourced engine, and a turbodiesel-powered 1931 Dodge Rat Rod constructed as a household mission.

A few of the Berlin Buick’s competitors will come from overseas. Whereas this heavily-modified Beetle was basking below the California solar, a panel of judges that features former Jaguar Land Rover designer Ian Callum selected a 1963 Ford Anglia-based scorching rod (proven above) to characterize the UK within the 2022 Legends Tour. Referred to as “The Misfit” and constructed by Michael Charalambous, it is powered by a supercharged BMW 3 Sequence-sourced engine and constructed on a custom-made chassis that includes Ford and Hillman Imp elements.