Forget your Freelander, ditch the Discovery and jettison you Jeep because this hard-as-nails looking Baja trumps the lot as far as we’re concerned…

This tough, go anywhere Beetle-based off-roader is for sale here – the seller’s in Georgia, USA and it’s yours for just $15,000 – or approximately £12,000.

It’s based, albeit very loosely, on a 1963 Beetle and the current owner replaced the floorpans and spent thousands of hours removing, cleaning and either replacing or upgrading every component before taking it off the beaten track for a bit of mud-slinging off-road action.

It scoots along courtesy of a freshly built 2180cc engine which features an all new Empi case, a 92mm Mahle piston/cylinder kit, 82mm balanced crank, Engle 110 cam, CB Performance cylinder heads and a whole host of other high end tuning modifications.

As you would expect, the suspension’s also had a fair bit of work done to it, including an independent rear suspension conversion with Bilstein struts to allow it to negotiate the most rutted terrain and accommodate those mahoosive Goodyear Wrangler tyres.

The bodywork itself is painted in satin metallic silver and that front end is a one-piece fibreglass section with a custom bullbars and removable alloy skidplates. There’s even a winch to pull it out in the frankly unlikely event that it gets stuck in the mud.

Meanwhile, inside there’s bucket seats fitted with four-point harnesses to keep you pinned in your seat while driving those bumpy forest trails. Otherwise, the owner’s chosen to keep it reasonably stock looking. There’s even an authentic ’60s Hurst gear shifter.

It’s all pretty impressive and you can see more details on the build and the Baja in action here. We have to say, if we were looking for some off-road action over the wet winter months, we’d be sorely tempted…

Ian

The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage