The “ Berlin Buick “ 1956 Volkswagen VW Beetle Custom on My Car Story with Lou Costabile

I am sad with another episode of my car's hi

story

and today we are in the world of Milwaukee wheels and with that I met Rob Rob. I'm glad to see you. I'm glad to see you. I would say let me chime in for a second. your last name Gary Gary and you are the caretaker of this car, yes, and who is the owner Rob Freeman from Watertown, New York Rob Freeman now Rob has this may be one of the unique cars in this show, what do we have here? Original

1956

Volkswagen car with a slightly modified engine which is a Buick 215 v8 where the back seat used to be slightly modified.

You call this something. No, what is the name of this car? The name of the car is Berlin Buick Berlin Buick. What a creative idea first. Your whole screen looks fantastic, thanks, let's start with the obvious, the back, so come next to me, the microphones right there, what's going on back here, well, you'll see the top has been cut off about four inches and a half against the yellow silhouette. the bumpers are all hand made with bug tail lights come up to the latest news are these senate

buick

tail lights i think they are and you still kept all these people y'all the vw is here now this girl works for here yes, everything has been modified in the idea to let the air flow.

Does it get hot in this car? it can get hot if yes, yes, if you are sitting and idling, it can get quite hot, okay, let's look at this from the side, now we will show you a book with some of the details of what happened, but you are looking at the end result, how much how long it took and how many people, Browns metal mods at a port set up in New York built the car, it's a shot before guys, it took them two years Wow, now the owner again is Rob yeah, now this is his idea yeah , it was an idea of ​​his since high school or sometime in his youth to put a v8 engine in a Volkswagen and not just hang it off the back.

I wanted something different, tell me what's going on with these pipes, the exhaust pipes right under the side window, our straight pipes coming out of the engine, four on each side, straight pipes, straight pipes, no size mufflers for a second, We have already configured it. I can't start with this one, yes I know you want to hear it, but if you couldn't hear it, I at least want to show it to you, so go ahead, I want to level some expectations because people will say you'll court, you didn't. Start, believe me, I wanted to hear it, go ahead, yeah, I'll tell you if you'll see it running well, there's a lot of videos out there, some of the other features as far as the exhaust goes under the Berlin Buick name.

Berlin is obviously Volkswagen Buick and many of the components besides the engine, the engine is an all aluminum Buick 61 to 63 215 v8 that keeps the weight down around 300 horsepower. The abuse that keeps the weight down because it is an all-aluminum engine. so it's not a steel engine ok the exhaust comes out in 1914 it's usually only 300 horsepower yeah I don't think more than that no it's a 215 when you start ok come with me while we talk because I want to keep going showing this. Sure, go ahead, so if you say if we're going to talk about the engine, let's show that there is Omaha.

This door opens. Suicide doors could also add embellishment. This is a 1957 Buick. What happens if you do it with your foot? There is a remote button on. The underside of the car is fine, there is a sleek design here, this molding has been inserted into the bodywork to help it sit flush and it is much more aerodynamic again with the burek. These orifice type openings are from the 1953 Buick. They are on the side of the hood like The air vents on this car run the exhaust and the last component is a 1949 Buick, so let me just before we get to... me I mean the pedals, everything in this look at the shifter, yes, the shift knob is actually the Wolfsburg.

The rusty Volkswagen logo is actually made in 3D and then has a crown on it. Is this car a real driver, as anyone is resinous on the street. He's driven it about a hundred miles. It was only finished in mid-summer, but it's really for the good guys. Columbus shows this ran on the autocross track, it wasn't the fastest but it ran very respectable times and look at the ventilation, yes the radiators, there are twin radiators on each side and the answer, there is no glass, I can grab the engine if I feel like it. so yeah, right there, oh, look at even the raw interior, this is, this is right there as far as the most creative vehicles I've ever seen in my life and then how this is done, let me, let me, let me show you there. , IM not going to do it. hurry up, hmm, because there is too much, the transmission is based on an aftermarket Mendiola for off-road racing, the entire rear suspension is handmade, it was tapered, the tires are 12 inches wide, some people, some of your viewers , the tires, the tires are about 12 inches wide people here Sara Lee White, the time you show this you are wider than you expect and just do me a favor put your leg right next to the tire I want to show what a looks like leg, okay, yes, now some of this car is in the air, some of your viewers will notice the strange angles of the half straps that hold the steering wheel.

This is in the air, so this car will rise to the right height, everything is level, all the geometry works. This car was built. being driven and even having creativity, okay, it's mind-blowing, so let's go back inside for a moment because we're not done yet, sure I can move those things, sure, you edit this, no, we're. I just go and have fun. Can i sit? Yeah, so let me show you what I'm seeing. Rob, do you want to share with me what we're seeing here? Because everything here is very personalized. The dashboard is the 49 Buick, the Volkswagen.

The steering wheel was modified to work with the Buick horn ring which is cool, some of the extra features on this dash were

custom

built it wraps, go ahead, it has a door extension, everything is built from scratch, this wasn't a Buick thing back in '49. The dash would have just been rounded and finished here. Can we close it so we can show people how it moves? Even the exhaust wrap matches a 49 Buick. The level of creativity. I mean, what awards does this car win? The most creative design. It seems like everyone knows exactly what a Volkswagen looks like and people can probably remember what an old Buick looks like, yeah, and the combination of these two is like I don't know peanut butter mustard, I mean it's totally crazy. , so out of your Note that is a good comparison, one of the awards we are very proud of is Hot August Nights, last August was a great show in Reno, Nevada, many high-end cars, this car it took fourth place, which is a huge honor for a car that was, you know? this wasn't really built as a show car it was built like a droid there is a driver let's take a look underneath I won't call him the man in the hood usually the trunk and I want to show that book that shows how all this together look headlights.

I need to show you that fender, so what's going on here? We have a gas tank. I guess we have the gas tank up here. Yes, I have a special compound or not, that's just an aftermarket aluminum feel. Alright. What is this cover here? It was actually a handmade cover. Well, what it does is it covers the entire air right assembly, even the compressors, the air tanks, the master cylinders, the slave cylinders for the clutch and brakes, the fuse panel. There's a lot going on underneath and Is this the mass? This is the battery like an Optima battery.

All this has been smoothed out. Only one battery for this entire car. Yeah, everything is very well. Well, let's take a look at that book so we can show it to people. I'd sit here singing and let me show people there's two, one, I'm here, yeah, it's got the standard front beam, it's actually been lowered six inches so we can use more of a regular offset wheel instead of a Volkswagen traditional. It looks like a drag car, so here we are, that's how the car started when it showed up in the store. I like a horse, it sure looks like a people and then just a lot of the details of how it was cut. there's a lot of work when this top goes down the rear window and the rear deck opening stays the same and it just slides between the fenders these guys are wizards yeah he's a fantastic builder probably one of the best builders in New York. on the chrome parts nothing is missing on this this is what these bumpers are these Buick bumpers these are all handmade bumper bits and pieces I couldn't tell you, this section here is Volkswagen I couldn't really tell you if you like Bullitt and it sank , it's a bullet of something, yeah, okay, starting to come together here yeah, I mean, obviously we've seen the end result, but for those people who like all the engineering, I didn't want you to miss this either, yeah, here it is. some of the manufacturing details when they built the doors and how they wrap all the corners of the doors which is kind of old school

custom

card the running boards have been removed yes the running boards have been removed and the bottoms of the rockers have rolled up under the car.

There's a lot of detail here about how, in terms of the whole construction of the suspension system, how all the exhaust pipes fit together, yeah, a lot of things that are hard to see once it's all there. They fit together and this was the total construction, did you say three years? Two years, years for the boys for a four-man team. Whatever they were doing, they were doing some other jobs, but there was always one or two guys. I think they were real. knee deep in this show, the intake here is a good picture of the engine, the intake is actually an old Hilborn mechanical fuel injection unit they found somewhere in Tennessee or Georgia, it was new and old, came out of a rack that had never been installed, they took it, made some modifications to it and modified it to electronic fuel injection, their work of art, so yes, it has the old school look, but it starts right up, runs fine , it's kind of a self-tune as far as the electronics go, it's just a really cool smiling car, here's some details on how they built all the bushings for the rear suspension, all that tight suspension, all the bushings are hand made, they're of several pieces, they are absolutely bulletproof.

The way everything is built was designed and built at Browns Metal Mods. It actually has the original tray that has been modified. A lot of guys think we went through and built a completely separate chassis. No, this uses the original tray that has just been reinforced. you know he doesn't have any weird flexes, he seems to handle right corners well. I'm surprised it turns well with big fatties behind both of them, someone says yeah you know you get a little bit of body roll obviously. Isn't it a road course card? But is not. You're far away with the big fat ones in the back.

It probably sticks to the ground. Really. They are very sticky. always to say this today, okay, that's amazing what we say, it ate and that must have been fantastic when I started walking, yeah guys, it's always a fun day when you see color and bright paint on a project, isn't it So? Here's some of the fuel injection how that was all set up and this is where we start putting the body and the chassis and all that stuff together again and there we are at the other end of the

story

now if we come here yeah right show me , come here, here it is.

Here's a video playing, this actually shows the car. I know we can't turn it on while on the screen. Okay, what's up with the sound here? No, this is the entire soundtrack of the music we now have. Yes, don't turn up the volume. because it will say that's right, it's at the end of our tape loop, it's about a three minute video, but it'll show up here in the next 20 seconds or so, they'll show it running, you'll show it running, I'll show You'll show smoked rims, smoke the tires on small simulators if I can't start them, smoked tires are good, yes by the way, wonderful display, thank you, it comes a little here, yes, that's later, there it goes.

Wow, if I couldn't see. start, this is good, wonderful natural colors, look, we're off natural, yeah, they filmed this last fall, this was in upstate New York, so there's no doubt that would close the door. I want to show the car again, no doubt you'll want to have the full memory of what it looks like, no doubt you won't forget Rob there he goes again, we had a good time thanks for taking a look at the car, no problem If people liked this, please subscribe. La Campana, it was a pleasure meeting you and thanks for sharing the car.

I know we couldn't get a late start, plus the rug was a thank you for being in my auto shop. Hey, no problem, we appreciate it.