This vehicle has been considered the most influential of the 20th century. A group of Guayaquileños meets every Thursday in Urdesa because of this hobby.
You can call it whatever you want. beetle, pichirilo, peta (in Bolivia), beetle (Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay), cucaracha (Guatemala and Honduras), poncho (Chile), vocho (Mexico), roll (Puerto Rico), brush (Dominican Republic)… But the more appropriate name would be Volkswagen Type 1, that due to its curious rounded and compact shape caused The New York Times was the first to rename it with the nickname Beetle (beetle in English), in an article published on July 3, 1938 regarding its launch that year.
However, despite so many curious names, Xavier Rivadeneira, 58-year-old merchant, prefers to call it a “limousine” product of the “mischief” of transform your traditional ’57 Volkswagen into an elegant and long vehicle with three rows of seats. A real eye-catcher! “I bought the car to fix it. It was small, normal. When I realized that it required too much work, it occurred to me to go further: cut it and extend it ”. So you could also rent it for weddings and quinceañeras receptions, since it has a room for events.
This transformation has lasted two years – and continues – which has resulted in one of the most unique vehicles within The Beetle Clan Guayaquil, club that brings together owners of that Volkswagen model who have taken their admiration for those vehicles to a level of healthy fanaticism. They call themselves volcheros. “We are fond of the brand, these cars, their shape. When you want to modify them there are so many things you can do to them. It is a very simple mechanic, without much technology, but very good. It is a very versatile car ”.
Rivadeneira is one of the founding partners of that group that was born in 2007 with a group of enthusiastic friends who had the habit of meeting weekly in the parking lot in front of the My Commissariat of the Urdesa citadel to comment on the adjustments that had been made to their cars. And since 2013 it became a legally registered association that today has about 50 members, of which at least twenty meet every Thursday in the Banco Bolivariano parking lot in that same northern neighborhood, adjacent to Jerusalem Park.
Austrian creativity
The meeting gets a lot better every June 22, considered World Beetle Day since 1995. The emergence of this event was at the initiative of the Brazilian Alexander Gromow, a fan of that Volkswagen model, who in consensus with several world clubs of the beetle chose this date, since on June 22, 1934 the contract was signed between the association of the German automobile industry and Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche, automotive design genius who is credited with inventing that model.
His birth evokes a terrifyingly dark character. The story tells that Adolf Hitler, then Chancellor of Germany, asked Porsche to create a car that can meet the transportation needs of the German people. It had to be an economical vehicle, easy to maintain and with a capacity for five passengers, which would make it possible to take advantage of the good road network in that European country.
Thus Porsche developed the first prototype of the Volkswagen Type 1, two-door vehicle with a rear-engine, air-cooled (no water required) and rear-wheel drive, available with a convertible body. It was so successful that the German manufacturer Volkswagen produced it from 1938 to 2003 (until 1978 in Germany and since then in countries such as Brazil and Mexico), being the car with the longest production time in history, adding more than 21 million units sold. .
Loyalty since adolescence
This popularity has also generated the appearance of clubs such as The Beetle Clan Guayaquil. Its current president is Jaime Escudero, 62 year old lawyer, who in 1984 bought his first beetle for 80,000 sucres when he was a college student third year in Jurisprudence, for which that German model from 1955, black color, it has become a faithful companion to this day, making it the oldest model within that group. “I learned to drive in that car. There I walked with my wife when we were in love. My children also learned to drive in that car; it is part of the family. We have so many stories there ”, he points out as an example of a good part of these partners, who acquired their first Pichirilo when they were teenagers. “Today I have two beetles and a combi van. The dumpers generally have more than one Volkswagen ”.
Fausto Contreras, 39-year-old accountant, is also a volchero. His admiration for the brand led him to modify his 1974 Volkswagen, but in style hot rod; that is to say, to turn it into a kind of racing car, but which in this brand is called Volksrod. These generally do not have fenders and offset the front axles for a more aerodynamic appearance. “I bought it in 2018 … I wanted my car to be different, unique, to give it certain look different from the one the classics have ”. A bigger and more powerful engine, sturdy tires, a lower roof, a modern control panel and swing-back doors did what Fausto wanted: to make his car catch the eye wherever it goes, because there is no other like it. “The Volkswagens lend themselves to do whatever you want … I started this process in 2019 and I have been doing it little by little, because it is very expensive.”
Invest for joy
A good intervention can exceed $ 10,000, that is, cost more than the market value of the car itself. But they do it motivated by pure sentimentality, by the proud feeling that they are part of a culture that transcends the whole world, which is why there are similar clubs in a variety of countries. And in Ecuador they also operate in cities such as Cuenca, Loja, Machala and Quito, for which reason twice a year they organize national meetings to which they go to show their vehicles.
This fanaticism also involves women. Andrea Cuevas, 43-year-old internal auditor, has had her beetle for more than fifteen years. “I like the brand, the style. I even recently did a renovation and left everything classic. I completely disassembled it. I left it a skeleton. It was a four and a half month job. Spending time and money on it. I was aware of the whole process, every day ”.
A Volkswagen can function as that canvas on which the fantasies of adult admirers of that culture are fulfilled, which in the 60s was closely linked to the movement hippie, to freedom, as highlighted Luis Sandoval, who two years ago fulfilled his wish to buy a 1973 Pichirilo, to which he immediately repaired the engine and changed all the upholstery. “Now it is like new; I use it daily … I have another new car, but I like this one; it’s a way of life, ”says this partner who also owns a ’67 Volkswagen combi.
The transformation was also complete in the car of Omar Jaramillo Rivas, 62-year-old farm manager, who bought his first Volkswagen in 2013 and has been his favorite car ever since, along with a Hawaiian-style airbrushed combi. In the beetle he repaired the engine, changed the entire electrical system, imported accessories from Los Angeles (California); Anyway, he invested more than $ 10,000 in a car that only cost him $ 3,000. And to keep it looking like new, it is usually covered with a blanket to protect it from the sun, dust and rain. “No one is going to pay me $ 13,000 for my beetle. But the satisfaction I have when handling it, seeing how it catches glances, that is priceless ”. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
