1962 VW bus gutted, filled with giant hot rod engine

Our view has always been, if you aren't doing your best to save on gas for monetary and / or environmentalist purposes, you might as well go the other way and burn as much of the dang stuff as you can. Along those lines, and also adhering to the lines of "holy frick" and "so sweet," is Ken Prather's 1962 Volkswagen Bus, which features a mid-engine 355 small-block and a 7-inch chop job, after serving as a hippie van in a former life. This once mini-RV has been reduced to a two-seat hot rod monstrosity, complete with a steel rollcage, drag seats and a VW flower vase made of billet aluminum. Suicide doors, 10 mpg, drag parachute -- count us in. Eat our dust, Mystery Mobile.

[Via Autoblog]

[iGotNoTime @ Dec 24th 2006 9:53AM]

Agreed! How is this considered the tech content that earned the best tech blog award?? Damn, I even voted for you guys and this is what hits my feed reader just days later! :(

I think quality ranks higher than quanity engadget. If you can't feed us with what we want we can wait honestly, no need to do this. :) We're patient.

[duke @ Dec 24th 2006 10:11AM]

you are reading this for free, guy

what the f* are you complaining about?

[Open Minded @ Dec 24th 2006 10:14AM]

It's comments like this one that make me not read the comments as much any more. Why do people feel the need to bad mouth Engadet. Whether it be posts like this one, grammatical errors, having an opinion on the articles they report on and whatever minuscule problem that people "feel" the need to comment on.

For starters, this is a tech blog. Tech means technology and a lot of that went into this car. I don't know where it is not a "quality" post.

Second, I think instead of bashing engadget every chance people get. I think those same people should scour the net themselves and find the articles and make their own blogs that they can comment on all they want. I am getting sick of the bashing really.

[Gil @ Dec 24th 2006 11:03AM]

Just a little nitpick. We're not reading this for free. The ungodly number of ads is what's paying the blogger salaries.

[iGotNoTime @ Dec 24th 2006 10:22AM]

Sorry we posted at the same time. I am not being critical of Engadget as a whole. I have never said anything negative about them in the past. I voted for them just last week, then I see this so I voiced a thought. My suggestion was merely that rather than trying take some story and make it appealing to a tech crowd we would be happier to wait for a real tech story.

I mean nothing offensive about the article at all, nor the writer. More just comments directed to who ever decided this belonged on the front page. Sorry if I have offended anyone. I didn't mean to. :)

[iGotNoTime @ Dec 24th 2006 10:17AM]

You are asking me that question? That should be very clear what the complaint is.

This is supposed to be a tech blog is it not? Perhaps you are new? If so it's ok, no big deal at all. If I wanted to read about a 1962 VW I would have subscribed to another tech feed and would not have voted this blog under the tech category but the automotive rather. Pretty simple really. ;)

[Bill Hancock @ Dec 24th 2006 10:39AM]

HAHA i have seen that thing in person and it is amazing to see...i love you engadget

[HEADsoldier07 @ Dec 24th 2006 10:44AM]

wow, he sure is open- minded..... but i agree though.

[Mark @ Dec 24th 2006 10:53AM]

Why do people freak out when someone says a concern/comment about this site, that is not considered 'good'. The fact is, this is a Tech blog. Period. I would not expect a car site or blog to review a Sony Cyber Camera. The original poster is being real. You have to admit to yourself, when you saw this post, you wondered what the heck does this VW have to do with technology. I sure did, and have been visiting this site for over 2 years. We all love Engadget, and sometimes sites take a wrong turn....and I will admit, some of the content here has been pretty off topic, but I guess 'filler' is needed on slow news days.

To sum it up, the priginal poster did not say anything negative, just an observation. Engadget did not win best tech blog for reviewing VW vans.

[gt2378b @ Dec 24th 2006 11:14AM]

I prefer balanced performance from my modded VW vans:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-JB6JzzY4Yw

PS lighten up guys - it's x.mas!

[Isaac @ Dec 24th 2006 11:31AM]

As much as this looks neat and I'll definitely follow the link to learn more about it, I do think that computers (or 'technology/gadgets' in general) and cars do fall into separate categories. I love them both, but... I do believe if I wanted to read about something like this, I'd subscribe to the Autoblog (points to the list of Weblogs, Inc Network on the right over there). Unless this thing has a space-time flux capacitor onboard... it's really just... a vehicle. Not really a gadget. And don't give me any crap about, "Well, it still has to do with technology", that's BS, that's not what most people consider "technology" these days. If I were to tell you I was a CTO, would you even remotely consider it might have something to do with cars, hmmm? Be realistic here. It just plain doesn't belong, I'm sorry.

[Charles R Hamilton @ Dec 24th 2006 11:43AM]

How many digital cameras in a row can one man look at? Mixing it up a little every now and then is all right by me.

[AC @ Dec 24th 2006 11:48AM]

They could have made it look so much better... though it will still never be as cool as the VW bus with a Porsche 911 Turbo engine in the back, that was on one of the recent Gumball Rallies.

[Christopher @ Dec 24th 2006 12:14PM]

I personally found this interesting. I agree with Charles. Something different in my feed caused me to check it out.

Engadget features hacks.. and this is a hack my friends.

[Jack @ Dec 24th 2006 12:29PM]

It's actually Mystery Machine, but I forgive you. This thing is just that awesome.

[The Infamous @ Dec 24th 2006 12:45PM]

I also have seen this. It is very cool. It kind of suprised me when i saw it on engadget since it is not really new tech and stuff. But then again im not going to complain about it being here. I like it and its good to mix things up a bit every once in a while. There is certainly worse things they have reported so lay off and take your complaining somewhere else.

[Capagotks @ Dec 24th 2006 1:54PM]

I've been everywhere, man, I've been everywhere..........

[Brian @ Dec 24th 2006 1:56PM]

Hippy Tank

[Propeine @ Dec 24th 2006 3:04PM]

This guy lives about a half hour from me. I've seen this just a few times considering my dad is good friends with Prather

[invictive @ Dec 24th 2006 3:50PM]

yes!!!! I love it. AC is right though, its not nearly as cool as the one that was in the 2005&2006 Gumball rallies.

They took the body of a vw camper van, stretched it, put in panoramic windows, and put the whole thing on a 911 chassis w/engine. Top speed was around 160 MPH I believe.

[John @ Dec 24th 2006 11:09PM]

My only problem with the post is there is a link to a blog in the Weblogs Inc. Network called AutoBlog, at the bottom of my page. That's where I would expect to find such things (which I like to look at also). Here at Engadget I expect, well, gadgets.

[iGotNoTime @ Dec 25th 2006 9:29AM]

That was my only point! :)

I was not saying anything was wrong with the post, the story, the submission. The only problem I had was the location. I got flamed for it though. :(

Usually I am very happy here that is why I have been reading it for so long. It is a great site.

[josh ruppert @ Dec 25th 2006 11:51AM]

A 355 short block has as much "technology" as fred flinstones bunghole.. Get real.. How about a bio-diesel vw bus or something really cutting edge and new.. Another gas guzzling bus is not new technology by a long shot.. Not that i minded seeing the article..Lets just not pretend this is something new.. Meatheads the world over have beeen souping up cars for decades!! How about something original..

[XSportSeeker @ Dec 25th 2006 9:25PM]

It's no use. Every single new article there will always be someone who comes complaining "this is no tech material" or "this is a filler" or "you guys talk about this too much" or "there's not enough info on this" or "shit Engadget, I just soiled my pants and mommy isn't home to change me".

C'mom people. If you don't like it, just SCRAM. And here's a tip: Autos ALSO have technology on them. Customized cars can also be considered technology. The article was not about the car itself, it was about the custom job.

If you don't like cars, just skip the article. Engadget brings us tens (when not more) articles on Gadgets everyday. And we don't pay them to do that. And they can't always please every single reader, can't you get it? They might get money from sponsors, but WE are not paying them, thus they don't have no obligation towards us.

And that is also valid to people complaining about WII news, and other stuff.
Also, each article involves a certain ammount of writing, editing and researching before publishing. So you can be shure as HELL as they are not publishing articles just to make people angry, or to fill spaces.

Just because YOU don't like automobiles, it doesn't mean that automobiles don't have tech stuff on it, or that all readers agree with your opinnion.

And that's it. Sorry about this, but I'm tired or reading emoFAG commentaries.

[Mark @ Jan 1st 2007 4:14PM]

C'mon have a sense of humor! Besides, redesigning and rebuilding a Bus in this manner requires a HUGE amount of technology and know how.

[E71 @ Jan 8th 2007 1:51PM]

What's with all the filler now days? Are we running out of things to report on?

[Ryan Block @ Dec 24th 2006 2:07PM]

I'm not sure what the problem is. I thought this was funny and interesting, so we wrote it up. If you're not interested in this kind of thing, don't read it! Nothing we publish is "filler." We are very selective with what we write about, and just because we leave stuff on the cutting room floor doesn't mean posts like this are pushing out other, better gadget posts. If it's good, we'll write about it.

[Mercedes Parts Blog @ Feb 26th 2007 11:09PM]

pretty interesting! i'm quite sure it has many other
interesting
volkswagen bus parts-
http://www.dubautoparts.com/volkswagen-bus-parts.html features to
offer... Pls include the details...