WORK OF ART

Leanard Catungal Cruz in his customized Volkswagen Beetle.

Cebuano saves a VW Beetle from the junk shop, turns it into a rolling masterpiece 

The classic Volkswagen Beetle has been known to be one of the most loved vehicles ever.

For car enthusiasts, keeping a Beetle — which started production in 1938 — to this day could be challenging but really satisfying.
We’ve seen a lot of enthusiasts customize their Beetles in different ways, keeping us in love with this undying breed.

But just when we thought we’ve seen everything, Leanard Catangal Cruz came up with an idea that took the Beetle customization fever to the next level.

His is a 1967 model that was modified to give it a unique wooden look. And Cruz’s creation is classified as a rat rod — a style of a custom vehicle made from scrap parts from multiple cars.

What makes it more special is that Cruz actually saved this Beetle from the junk shop. He decided to spruce it up and since then, the car has been a head-turner and has won many awards too.

“My friend was supposed to sell it in a junk shop where it will be chopped and its parts will be sold. I bought it for P5,000 after I came up with an idea of customizing it. I came up with a design that is not common,” said Cruz, a resident of Barangay Talamban, Cebu City. “I had my own ideas but I also searched the Internet for more techniques in customizing a car.”

To infuse his own ideas, Cruz used native materials for the car’s interior design.

“I used mats to cover the flooring and walls. Some accessories were wrapped with ropes,” said Cruz, a Computer Science graduate.

The car’s roof was chopped off and its back portion is made of ply board and designed to make it look like a pickup truck. The engine cover can hold up a bottle of wine and two glasses. The front design still looks like a Beetle, but the hood now has two large holes, exposing the parts under it.

The fuel tank under the hood was transferred to the back beside the engine. And Cruz now uses a compressor tank as the fuel tank so it would fit in the rear area.

The rear end looks like a perfect place to put the awards the car won in a recent auto show.
cdn photo/lito tecson

Apart from decorating the car with mats and ropes, Cruz used crackle paint to achieve his goal of making the vehicle appear like a wooden car.

Fog lamps from a Mitsubishi Pajero were used as the car’s headlights. Side mirrors and signal lights for motorcycles were installed in the car.

Metal kitchen plates were used as hubcaps. The hubcaps look really cool after adding Volkswagen logos made out of Abaca. The doors’ locks are bronze barrel bolt locks that are usually used at home.

The “wooden” Beetle runs on a Volkswagen 1200cc engine. And yes, it’s engine is still in the rear compartment.

Cruz said he spent a total of P50,000 to customize this Beetle.

“It took us three months to finish since the work was not continuous. The work stops when I don’t have the budget for the materials needed. The job was done in our home, not in a car shop and I had my father and painter to assist me,” Cruz said.

Cruz’s hard work and creative ideas paid off when the car won two awards in the B2B Car Show last Jan. 13-14 at SM Seaside City. The car bagged the Best Car Presentation and Best Classic Ride awards.

Cruz, who said he is actually selling his prized possession, also revealed that the car is usually being rented for special events such as weddings and prenuptial photo shoots. For those who want to catch a glimpse of this cool modified Beetle, Cruz said he usually parks the car in front of the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus.

“My purpose is to show that we Filipinos are capable of doing this. This is not just about earning, I want to share my ideas, I want to inspire others,” Cruz said.

More photos here: