The Story of Ocho

When I was a child my father worked at the local VW dealership as a parts guy. He did that for 25 years, so naturally I became very close to the VW world. What really kicked it in high gear was at 5 my father and I built my first ever model kit, the 2005 polar lights Herbie model, every year I got another Herbie movie for Christmas or my birthday I was hooked! When I turned 13 he bought a 67 beetle that he drove daily to work, we called him buddy and that solidified him as a part of our family. At 15 I was diagnosed with high functioning autism. VWs became a big interest and hobby for me. By 22 I finally got my first bug, a 2003 1.8t 5 speed in cyber green metallic I called Jasmine.

As I got older I noticed the lack of support for adult autistics. So, in 2023 I took my love for cars and VWs especially I started a group called Wheels Of Awareness to start bringing more knowledge and spread the voices of those who can’t speak. When I met my soon to be wife in 2024 we bought another new, red beetle. We then went to our first ever VW Funfest but it just didn’t feel right staying red. We spent time repainting it ourselves and striping it to be a new beetle Herbie. He went through a lot of variants as a Herbie, but one day my wife hands me my signed sun visor by Joaquin Garay III!! We also felt that a plain white Herbie was too common for us and wanted to be different, I then reached out to him and another very close Herbie friend and decided that the world needed its very first and only new beetle Herbie goes bananas Ocho??

The steering wheel is the only one in America that has the retro air-cooled look that bolts right to the new beetle steering column, it was sent to me by a company called hanchungclassics, who specialize in retro new beetle pieces. I removed the junky plastic center console and had some custom carpet pieces made to cover the bare metal spots to give it the more retro feel. I had found a retro flat style shift knob to thread on the shifter knob for the retro look and feel. By ourselves, my fiancé and I spent an entire weekend refurbishing the front door cards and kick panels with autism fabric. We put on the retro beetle horn grilles and painted the dash grab handle to appear as the air-cooled style dash grab handle. Since removing the console, I put in an air-cooled bug tunnel cup holder basket to have a place to put our drinks and phones. We painted the Ocho taxi patina and my fiancé and I hand painted the taxi logos and flowers. We are working on putting new lights on all corners. I installed the retro side mount antenna and the false side trim and hood trim. He will soon be getting white seats for a more movie accurate look. Ocho has been a project that we’ve worked consistently on all year long, I daily drive him and he still proves to be tried and true. Peace Love and VW Dubs!!