A 1972 Volkswagen Beetle with a 14-inch roof chop, truck wheels at the rear, Porsche space-savers up front, and a kitchen utensil serving as its radio antenna sounds like something dreamed up for a toy box. Builder Ray Ramsey actually made it, and his creation has now taken a major step toward becoming a Hot Wheels car for real.
Known as a “Volksrod,” the radically altered Beetle won the UK round of the 2026 Hot Wheels Legends Tour at CarFest, held at Silverstone Circuit on August 29. Judges Richard Hammond, Hot Wheels designer Dwayne Vance, and host Nicola Hume unanimously selected Ramsey’s creation from three UK finalists.
According to Racecar, the judges felt the Volkswagen best captured the authenticity, creativity, and “garage spirit” Hot Wheels looks for in Legends Tour entries. Victory in Britain sends the Beetle forward to face other regional finalists on the road toward the Global Finale.
There is also a serious purpose behind a car deliberately built to make people smile. Ramsey is battling prostate cancer, and the Beetle is due to be sold with proceeds going toward efforts to fight the disease.
This Beetle Was Built With No Rules
Ramsey has completed more than 150 custom-car builds, yet this Beetle gave him an opportunity to push convention aside. Inspired by hot-rodding figures such as Ed Roth, he approached the Volkswagen with what’s best described as a “no rules, no limits” philosophy.
The body has been chopped by a remarkable 14 inches, while the engine was raised six inches and the front axle moved 10 inches forward. That combination dramatically alters the familiar Beetle proportions, transforming the compact Volkswagen into something resembling a full-scale Hot Wheels casting.
Despite all that visual theater, the engine is surprisingly ordinary. The car retains a stock 1300 Twin Port rather than hiding a giant horsepower figure beneath its outrageous bodywork, making creativity rather than outright performance the centerpiece.
Almost Everything Has Been Reimagined
The longer you look at Ramsey’s creation, the stranger its details become. Its rear wheels came from a 1951 truck, while the mismatched front wheels are Porsche space-savers, and Ramsey devised his own hydraulic suspension system to give the car its pavement-hugging stance.
Repurposed objects appear throughout the build. A champagne cooler bucket houses the cyclops-style lamp and speedometer, a vintage cinecamera purchased for £1 became another design element, and inverted Corvette bumpers found an entirely different purpose on the Volkswagen.
There is even part of a chip-fryer spider strainer incorporated into the seat. Ramsey fabricated a steering wheel from chain links and turned an egg whisk into the radio aerial, proving that almost anything could become automotive hardware if it suited the theme.
Getting inside isn’t exactly conventional either. Occupants can enter through an opening clamshell roof or use a passenger door designed to fold flat.
It Beat A Panda And A Potato Truck
Hot Wheels’ Los Angeles design team narrowed the UK field to three finalists before the judging at Silverstone. Alongside the Beetle were a 1989 Fiat Panda called “The Flying Washing Machine” and a 1951 Tempo Matador truck that once delivered potatoes in Australia.
Each vehicle was evaluated using the Legends Tour’s authenticity, creativity, and garage-spirit criteria. Hot Wheels design manager Dwayne Vance praised the quality of all three builds, though he said the Volkswagen ultimately stood out for its creativity and connection to traditional hot-rod culture.
Ramsey originally kept the project secret before unveiling it to an unsuspecting audience at VolksWorld in 2025. He says the goal behind the unusual build was straightforward: create something that made people smile.
It Could Become An Actual Hot Wheels Car
Winning at Silverstone isn’t the end of the competition. The Beetle now advances to a European regional final as part of a Legends Tour that includes entries from a record 19 countries in 2026.
Successful regional finalists will eventually head toward the Global Finale in the United States in November. The ultimate prize is particularly appropriate for Ramsey’s Volkswagen, because the overall winning vehicle will be recreated as an official 1:64-scale Hot Wheels model.
That would complete an unusual circle for a car heavily influenced by the exaggerated shapes and imagination associated with hot-rodding and Hot Wheels. Ramsey said people already tell him the Beetle looks like a Hot Wheels car, and after its Silverstone victory, there is now a genuine possibility that collectors could eventually pull a miniature version of it from a blister pack.