VW's Type 1 may no longer be the People's Car, but today's Beetle is a car for people who like Subaru motors. It's up to you to determine if its price is people friendly as well.

It's little known that before its WWII's military invasion of neighboring countries Germany attempted a less orthodox expansionary policy. This attempt involved building miles of neighbor-bordering Autobahn that encouraged drivers to get their schnell on, and then engineering a ubiquitous mode of transportation with really poor brakes meaning that entire families would slide into Poland, Austria or Czechoslovakia with tires screeching.

Sadly for the Darth Vader helmet hipsters it didn't work out, but the crappy brakes on Volkswagen's Type 1 did live on. Fortunately, the early Beetle was never provided with an engine that really taxed those tiny and ineffectual drums. However, the engine in today's doesn't just tax its brakes, it raids their Cayman Island bank accounts.

In 1969 the Beetle managed to get by with only 54-bhp from its 1500-ccs. Bugs underwent significant updates two years prior, including a switch from a 6 to a 12-volt electrical system, and that probably made for an easier time adapting the 2,212-cc Subaru EJ22 that currently resides under this one's hunched haunch.

The EJ22 - here in naturally aspirated form - is good for around 140 ponies, or damn-near three times what the original motor put out. The ad says it's turbo-ready which potentially could add around 25 more, should you happen to like getting blown. Ahead of the Subie is a Wright Freeway Flyer transaxle. Of course in '69 the Bug had the trailing arm IRS.

Making the move from air to water for cooling means giving the Beetle something it was never intended to have, a radiator, and this one gets it shoved up front. The seller says it's a Volvo unit, but doesn't go into detail as to how the whole cobbled together system works. He does claim to have all his receipts incase you want to glean the professionalism of the work done, or audit him for tax purposes.

The ad also claims a bunch of other parts pertinent to the engine conversion, along with their price tags, I guess to impress with the overall budget. Less impressive is the overall which appears to be striking a hipster pose. The '69 Beetle featured the larger, bulkier bumpers rather than the graceful blades of earlier cars, and this one adds insult to injury by fixing bumperettes in front. There's also apparent fender scrapes under the wannabe rat rod flat primer paint job, and the seller gets points off for including an engine compartment shot from what looks to be an entirely different car. He gets two more off for the asstacular Craigslist keywords on his ad.

Still, if you like the look of the Bug but want something with a little more poop and a lot more Subaru than VW ever could offer then this does seem to provide a reasonably solid base for future tomfoolery. Not only that, but according to the ad the seller has dropped his asking price from eight grand to its present $6,800 position.

But is that low enough? What do you think about this Beetle with a STi in its eye. . . er, ass? Is $6,800 a price that - like the engine - make this Vee-Dub really move? Or, does that much make you want to Bug out?

You decide!

or go if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.