1999 Mexican VW Beetle
VW continued production of
the original air-cooled beetle in Mexico all the way up to the 2004 model year,
ending production with a special "Ultima
Edicion" (Final Edition) of which only 3000 were made. This particular
beetle is a 1999 Mexican production beetle installed on a 1974 pan. The
only legal way to posses a Mexican production beetle in the USA is to use an
early VW beetle pan and wholly restore it with the body/engine/interior/etc. of
a Mexican vehicle. There were a few companies that made a business out of
"restoring" older beetles with Mexican cars throughout the years.
Beetlmex, a company out of
Nogales, Arizona was in the business of bringing Mexican beetles to the US.
This is one of those cars.
It's neat to see what changes were made as these cars were still being produced in Mexico. This is one of the last years that the Mexican cars had chrome trim and side moldings, chrome dual mirrors, and the crescent vent behind the rear window, chrome headlight rings, but color matched bumpers (with integrated turn signals)- not to mention a more updated modern interior. It has a 1600cc fuel injected engine with swing axle transmission. This car was part of a 4 car collection I acquired in 2013 from the original owner. The car has only about 10K original miles.
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Cool picture of new Mexican Beeltes in 1999, taken in Mexico:
