VW Hormigas?

The pictures of the Tempo Matador in the Off-Topic thread got me to thinking about weirdo trucks. This VW is a 1600cc boxer Beetle engine under the seat. Front wheel dfrive. They're old enough to be imported as "Classics".

Mexican ebay has them for ~$50,000 pesos or $3900 USD.

Granted it's not the place to be in a head-on, but boot scooting around town. why not?

God dammit, I just added another vehicle to my want list.

God dammit indeed! I was just looking at those pictures and trying to figure out how I could bend up a body and then you go and basically show me an instruction manual! The $3900 question is whether I could do it for less than I could import it for. You are a bad person.

That thing makes the Thing palatable.....

$3900 for that? My riding mower is nicer than that. What can it do that vehicles more easily available for the same price can't?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGjwIEYtyhc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krIiqswFfDw

bravenrace wrote: $3900 for that? My riding mower is nicer than that. What can it do that vehicles more easily available for the same price can't?

Be awesome.

In reply to mazdeuce:

I guess it is to you.

How much does it cost to import something from Mexico?

Mexico is only four hours away from me! Gah!

I really am not sure I can understand the appeal of this thing in any way. I have to imagine that it would be fairly frightening to drive (and not in a good way), too slow to move out of its own way, anemic enough to make it nearly worthless to haul anything except possibly on a farm... and for how much?

Now, if you could get one in the condition shown above for $1500, then I might be more curious. But right now the only thing it has going for it is that it is cool/different looking. Oh, and I suppose that it is fairly reliable and cheap to maintain.

Wiki claims they're pretty rare....as in under 4,000 produced. I've got to think that not many would have survived (as a work vehicle that was only sold in developing nations). Pretty cool though.

Actually, you could probably make one for cheaper than you could import it. Talk about the perfect shape for using washing machines.

914Driver wrote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krIiqswFfDw

The surfwagon one is neat as all get up.

I would rock one of these oddball contraptions any day of the week.

Would you go $2500?

http://www.autoclasico.com.mx/site/?p=15&id_fol_auto=9775

BTW the name of this vehicle translates to "VW Ants"

So cool. Needs a Subie swap for more power.

the real question i have is how do they handle the engine running rotation. do they change its direction or make it up in the transaxle

Hormiga

cutter67 wrote: the real question i have is how do they handle the engine running rotation. do they change its direction or make it up in the transaxle

It in the same orientation as the beetle. Its just at the front of the vehicle. The change is to make the driving wheels turn.

you can easily (too easily as some rebuilders have found) flip the ring gear in a ACVW transaxle.

I think that thing (hah!) needs a Type4 with a 5 speed out of a 914.. or maybe a 6 out of a 911?

Even with the 1600.. I would drive it. I think it would be a lot of fun for around town and back and forth to work

spitfirebill wrote:

cutter67 wrote: the real question i have is how do they handle the engine running rotation. do they change its direction or make it up in the transaxle

It in the same orientation as the beetle. Its just at the front of the vehicle. The change is to make the driving wheels turn.

no its not.... its pulling not pushing its reversed

Local vw dealer has one out front. They put a Xmas tree in the bed at holiday time. It's awesome

Edit. Here is a link. http://www.langanvwclassics.com/classic-vw-near-hartford/1978-vw-hormiga/

cutter67 wrote:

spitfirebill wrote:

cutter67 wrote: the real question i have is how do they handle the engine running rotation. do they change its direction or make it up in the transaxle

It in the same orientation as the beetle. Its just at the front of the vehicle. The change is to make the driving wheels turn.

no its not.... its pulling not pushing its reversed

The engine sits behind the drive wheels, same as a beetle. Its the same.

http://juarez.es.craigslist.com.mx/cto/3492354838.html