Hi. My name is

Kirk, and this web page

is dedicated to Baja Bug Benny, my 1969

VW Baja Bug.

This site was created using hand typed HTML code.

I started building Benny in May of 1997. I had gone to Sand Lake, OR. with my friend Al and his family. He had a beat up 4X4 Ford pickup that he stripped down to play with there. It was a lot of fun so I decided that I would build a Baja Bug that I could take to Sand Lake. 

Al recycles and buys & sells cars for a living, and got me the"2" 1969 Bugs used to make Benny for free. The first one had been sitting under a tree in SW Portland for about 19 years. (Remember, Portland has some really wet weather at times.) Al and I dragged it up a muddy slope. Other people who had been interested in the car had said there was no way to get it out. We did! 

Once I had it home and started working on it I determined that the body was worthless and it needed a new motor. Al got a call on the other Bug shortly there after. We drove to the foothills of  Mt. Hood outside of Sandy OR. The Bug was sitting in a horse pasture. The body was in good shape but it was an auto-stick and had no motor. An auto-stick pan won't easily work with a standard transmission because it doesn't have a clutch cable tube, and I had heard that an auto-stick would not work for off road use.  It made sense to me. Now I had 2 Bugs: One in the driveway and one parked on the side of the street. I'm sure my neighbors were  pleased about that. 

Al picked up a 1971 Bus with a 1600 DP motor that had new heads installed. The motor had never been reinstalled. He sold it to me for $100.00 and scrapped the Bus.

 I had a few friends help me remove the bodies from the pans and install the good body on the good pan. It's amazing what grown men will do for beer and a barbeque! 

While the bodies were off I installed the 1600 dual port in the good pan .I cut the back part of the body off to accommodate a stinger type exhaust and a bumper cage. I then put on an exhaust that Al found at a yard sale and a bumper cage that I picked up at a local V.W. parts store.

 At this point I realized that without a Baja front end kit Benny would scoop sand like a cow catcher on a train. I picked up a used one at a local sand sport store for $50.00 and installed it on Benny.

Five cans of primer, a couple of cans of black paint, a new exhaust, a pair of Weber 34 ICT carbs, and different tires and wheel slater I ended up with benny the way he was until until recently.

Benny now has an 1835 c.c. motor with dual 40mm Weber carbs, off road seats with play straps, aluminum wheels and paddle tires on the back, and turning brakes. As you can see, I've also cut the top off and installed a roll cage. Needless to say, Benny is no longer a low budget Baja Bug, but he still isn't a show room beauty I'd be afraid to take out and play hard with. He is still strictly for off road use and is not street legal.