{"id":769,"date":"2015-10-21T12:25:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T12:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/?p=769"},"modified":"2025-01-21T18:00:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T18:00:15","slug":"the-peoples-champ-taylord-customs-59-beetle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/2015\/10\/21\/the-peoples-champ-taylord-customs-59-beetle\/","title":{"rendered":"The People\u2019s Champ: Taylor\u2019d Customs \u201959 Beetle"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been two years since both the last time a Volkswagen Beetle<\/a> was featured on the Stance Is Everything, and the last time a Taylor\u2019d Customs build<\/a> was featured,\u00a0which is far too long for either.<\/p>\n

The \u201cPeople\u2019s Car\u201d is no stranger to the Taylor stable with at least two \u2014and sometimes three<\/a>\u2014\u00a0kicking around the shop at any one time. Near constant exposure to bugs is what birthed\u00a0the idea for this particular car which Blair admits he has been wanting to build for a while.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-sun\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This German model was found in Colorado by Blair\u2019s dad and originally the plan was a quick refresh and a mild drop.<\/p>\n

However with the car being as clean as it was things snowballed slightly\u00a0to the point where \u2018mild drop\u2019 is perhaps the most inappropriate combination of words that can be\u00a0used to describe the ride height of this car.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-sun-side\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To bring the rust free pan closer to the ground first an adjustable 4\u2033 narrowed beam was installed and set at its lowest position. In the rear new notched spring plates were used, again set to be the lowest possible.<\/p>\n

Riding low is nothing new to Blair, but riding low static was a bit of an adjustment and ironically the only place he\u2019s high sided the car is\u00a0his own driveway.<\/p>\n

Since that day air shocks have been installed and a hand pump has come along for the ride just in case.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-rear-bridge-2\"<\/a> \"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-side\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The unique, pea soup reminiscent color on the car was actually chosen by the previous owner\u00a0and instead of sanding it down and getting it sprayed something more traditional Blair had the guys at Royalty Auto Spa<\/a> polish it out to its current luster.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-front-end\"<\/a> \"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-rear-middle\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first time I saw the car under the shop lights I wasn\u2019t quite sure about the color myself, but Blair always had faith so he had the trunk and hood painted to match\u00a0before choosing the white and green\u00a0color palate for the interior.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-interior-2\"<\/a> \"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-interior-1\"<\/a> \"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-brochure\"<\/a> \"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-stickers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Along with the\u00a0fresh\u00a0Wolfsburg West interior the \u201959 received\u00a0a new headliner and exterior brightwork.<\/p>\n

New window seals and highly coveted pop out windows where also added and the car also features working semaphore signals. Rare items that die-hard Beetle fans are sure to be jealous about.<\/p>\n

The front bumper was retained but in the rear\u00a0Blair left the bumper in the shop. The smooth rear end helps emphasize perhaps the major\u00a0talking point of this build, the rear camber.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-front-road-4\"<\/a>\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-rear-road-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The -9.5 degrees per wheel is\u00a0necessary to tuck the 8\u2033 wide steel wheels bolted to the back of the car. These wheels are a combination of factory centers and aftermarket hoops welded together by Blair with the help of Stony at Oddball Kustoms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The front wheels are currently stock width but plans to widen them are set for the not too distant future.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-tree-frame-1\"<\/a> \"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-tree-frame-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

With so much rear camber the toe is, as you would expect, quite a bit out of factory spec but with tires being a very moderate\u00a0$50 a piece Blair isn\u2019t too fussed about tread-ware.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-trunk\"<\/a> \"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-rear-middle-motor\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Besides with the factory 36 horsepower 1100cc motor urging the car along from the rear\u00a0it isn\u2019t exactly a tire roaster.<\/p>\n

Still\u00a0despite the sub 40 horsepower rating the car is still very drive-able and does manage to get up to and maintain highway speed just fine, it just takes a bit of time to get there.<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-vw-cap\"<\/a>\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-motor-34\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s the newest build in\u00a0the Taylor\u2019d Customs fleet this Beetle has\u00a0already become quite the favorite.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s said that everything is for sale, and the \u201957s recent trip overseas<\/a> proves that, I don\u2019t see this car\u00a0going anywhere few a few years.\u00a0Or at least not until a few more of his ideas roll out of the shop\u2026<\/p>\n

\"stance-is-everything-taylord-customs-slammed-beetle-rear-road-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been two years since both the last time a Volkswagen Beetle was featured on the Stance Is Everything, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-ride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":791,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions\/791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/howtokauai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}