Cool Cars: Queens Street Edition

Many times have I shown you Cool Cars, Queensicans.

There was the Zombie Response Jeep in Astoria/Woodside, the Cool Cars of Astoria and Industrial Maspeth, that 1949 Plymouth on the Woodside/Maspeth border over by Mt. Zion cemetery, and that nearly perfect 1957 Pontiac Star Chief encountered on 38th avenue in Astoria. Cool Cars, but all production model automobiles.

What I saw the other day on Jackson Avenue at the corner of Queens Street was some sort of bizarre chimera, however.

From the front, it was a Volkswagen Beetle. That’s kind of unusual in itself.  The Beetles were produced in Mexico as late as 2003, however, and there were more than 21 million of the things manufactured. Thing is, despite what this Cool Car looks like from the front, somebody has turned this Beetle into a flatbed pickup truck.

A bit of searching has revealed that there are “kit mods” available that allow one to customize the Beetle into a pickup, marketed towards those among us that display an inclination toward welding and engine repair. Over at volksrods.com, one such handy individual has posted several photos — along with descriptive captions — detailing the process.

Who knew there was such a thing to be found on Queens Street? What a country.

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.