Customized VW Super Beetle Gleams with Blue Wrap

Jamie Vondruska, the owner of Vortex Media Group and publisher of www.vwvortex.com, which touts itself as “the Volkswagen enthusiast website,” spearheaded the development of the VW Super Beetle, a project
car that began as a blue-sky concept of what would constitute an ideal “Bug” for display at the SEMA automotive-aftermarket show.

Creating the concept with Rainier Michael, product-planning director for Volkswagen of America, and Tim Mahoney, VW America’s chief product and marketing officer, Vondruska concocted a powerful car with a 500-hp engine; an all-wheel-drive system transplanted from VW’s Golf R model; a custom suspension system from H & R Springs; high-performance brakes from Volkswagen Racing; and custom bumpers from Alpil Newing that, according to Vondruska, “have a Porsche-[style] design that would fit well with our performance theme.”

Of course, all of this power and style requires a vibrant color that yields appropriate curb appeal. Based on feedback from vwvortex.com users, Vondruska selected Rising Blue, which he noted was the signature color of Golf R and Scirocco racecars. Rather than painting the car, Vondruska opted for a vehicle wrap – installers decorated the wrap with Oracal’s 970RA wrapping cast film, which features the company’s RapidAir air-release technology.

According to Vondruska, the company’s 197M azure-blue-metallic, matte-finish material was a nearly identical match to Volkswagen’s classic Rising Blue. The crew only had a day and a half from its shipment to the Speciality Equipment Mktg. Assn. (SEMA) show in Las Vegas to having it fully decorated and prepped. Thus, a wrap provided a far more time-saving and cost-effective solution than painting. Vondruska said, “The first thing that grabs you is the color. There is some satin sheen, so it’s not a completely matte finish, and the film’s metallic surface gives off different hues, depending on the light reflection.”

He wasn’t the only one who noticed. At SEMA, the Super Beetle won the Gran Turismo Best European Import Award.