The Fastest VW Beetle…EVER!

April 30, 2006 – 11:22 pm by Matt Radel
Filed under Cool Stuff, Volkswagen New Beetle

Remember the campy Batman TV show? We look back today and laugh at the impossibly bad costumes, acting, one-liners and (snicker) a Lincoln Futura show car with a jet engine stuffed in the back that was dubbed the “Batmobile”(for the record, I am a HUGE Batman fan). As absurd as the idea was, I’m sure most guys at one time in their life have contemplated such a feat. Obviously very few of us had the cash, brains, equipment and cajones do attempt such a thing, and wrote it off as a fantasy that would never be realized or even witnessed. No one would try it. Ever. And if they did, we’d laugh at their horrible failure or be dumbfounded by their success. Enter Ron Patrick.

The 48-year-old engineer has built cars for a long time, and wanted to build “something of the extreme of the extreme of the extreme”. So naturally, he decided to drop a $250,000 Navy surplus General Electric T58-8F into the back of a car. The screening process for the ride involved Ron visiting various car dealerships, cramming a cardboard cutout of the engine into the back of whatever hatchbacks and wagons he could find. The Beetle fit the bill.

Four years later, Ron Patrick is the proud owner of a Beetle with 1,450 horsepower that idles at 13,000 rpm.

*Photo Credit: San Francisco Chronicle

Mad props Ron. The Volksbloggin crew throws a big “VW” your way! Read the original article, photos and video at the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Fastest VW Beetle…EVER!
April 30, 2006 – 11:22 pm by Matt Radel