SLEEPER BUG: 517 WHP Subaru-powered 1973 VW Super Beetle | Nicole Johnson's Detour EP1 

Great bug! but if that woman dosnt know how to drive a stick, I wouldnt let her near that car!

Ugh that guy is a tool. Next time romp that throttle.

That look on her face butterfly.

Can this be duplicated in a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia?

He's a great dude, I wouldn't ever let her mess with that ride ...

Nice Job. But. The real job today would be: One e-motor for each wheel. 4 Wheel Drive. There you have it. Your 5oohp Beetle wouldn't even have heard that one coming and see it only passing it by. Think about it. GEE S. from Germany

Is the one from the build thread on Pirate4x4?

Lol Currently being rebuilt after this interview.

I am a Subaru fan boy, and I want that bug.. that is just awesome...😍😍😍

that's the fucked up transmission I've ever seen. put a normal trans in that thing.

Thanks Nicole, great video. Thanks for giving my 11yro daughter a real hero to look up to.

This is a very irritating man. He is always one-upping her in conversation and he's often wrong. He assumes she is a moron and he is a genius. He's wrong on both counts. I'm not saying he is stupid but he is not as smart as he thinks he is. He IS the type of man I would punch after a few minutes if I were forced to listen to him speak. She is both patient and forgiving.

It's not parasitic drag. It's frictional loss. Parasitic drag is a type aerodynamic drag.

mp i saw his immpresion. LMFAO

I love a woman that can talk cars!🤩

Dog box, like a motorcycle? Guess he hasnt done much bike ridding...if you are on the gas you can pull up on the shifter just as hard as you want, it aint gona come out of gear until you back of the gas a little....Bad ass little car....got to love sleepers....although the E 85 is kind of a bite...half the fuel mileage for 100 hp

It's always scary when someone else is driving😱 I love this woman😍😜💖

It may look like a sleeper, but NOBODY that knows anything is going to mistake that for a VW motor as soon as you start it up. Tis a beast! I had a friend that, way back, swapped a slightly built Porsche motor and welded a full parallelogram suspension up under a bug. Obviously not the beast this this is, straight line, but it WAS fast (maybe 5 seconds to 60) and he would destroy this thing on a road course. He used to autocross it all the time, and it was competitive with all but the purpose built really high performance esoteric stuff (this was local autocross, not something pro level). This is one bad ass bug, and I like the mini stock looking pipes on the waste gate. I suspect that might even quiet it down a bit in operation, sounded like it on the video. Looks like a heap o fun, and looks like it needs a WHOLE lot more 'hook up' if you are going to race. If he drags it, I assume they are drag slicks then. I'd like to see a run with it, if so. I'll take a look 'round. Sounds just plain awesome! One fine toy. Beautiful build. Looking at the axle drive angles gave me a little chill, though, but I don't remember what the original angles looked like, vertically, so maybe not a issue. Might go through joints fairly often if it is excessive. It would have required some pretty major work arounds to 'fix' it though, so I certainly understand why you didn't. Really stock appearing, just not remotely stock sounding. Would have been funny (and silly) to quiet it a lot and put a speaker underneath putting out stock VW motor sounds (kidding).

He should of painted white with a blue and red stripe and stuck 53 on the doors

His face when he was getting on it. An then when she drove was funny. He didn’t like it. Can’t blame him. She could had just been happy riding in it.

The ultimate spy car.

E85 takes more diesel fuel to plow, plant harvest and turn into ethanol and thus is WORSE than pure fossil fuel gasoline. All E85 does is drive up the cost of food made from corn.

13:29 13:54 almost kills them twice

Let the man talk...

LMAO! Dude is scared to death of her driving! I don't blame him though...lol

What a cool chick! And what a cool car :-)

That was great. Such nice work on the car. I wish I would have learned how to work on them when I was younger.

Did he really just let a Standard Transmission driver virgin drive his baby WTF dudes crazylol!! Also Someone plz find his 1/4mi. Timeslip plz!

Maybe he should've used a synchronized transmission.

Gotta love this guy

Truly a sleeper. Nice job

Love the glasses. Great video

You're a very trusting person! She looked like she had 2 "O's" between 2nd and 3rd, the last time you drove it before she started grinding gears!

I see that ls4...

his face when he drives (kills me) haha

Realmente el video lo veo porque me gusto la chica, gracias buenas tardes...

Unbelievable... People can't drive manual and doing a car review...

I think he’s scared of is car

Amazing car and looks fun to drive. Would love to have it and drive up to a muscle car and smoke him to the next stoplight. haha

She is my sweet spot. 😍😍😍

When you said sleeper bug, I thought you meant it has a place to sleep inside.

Wow...driving way too fast (110+) on a public road in a vehicle that can "get squirrely ". Stunningly irresponsible. Take it to the track.

TOOOOO MUCH FUUUUN!!!

Herbie Goes Bananas

I find her really attractive

That fella was a good sport. You did a good job 👍

Drive it like a tractor, pick a gear and use it, or like the old mini start in second change to fourth. The only difference is if you hit the gas and it does not break loose then you will need a glass floor to see where you are going.

Love this!

Vw bugs were death traps. My dad had the 1.6l double carburettor version of it and he said, with the engine in the rear and the low weight front, its road grip sucked, especially in wet conditions.

F A N T A S T I C ! ! !

That’s now an early 911, a widow maker lol.

Hes not happy at the end😡

No better racecar/monster truck driver on the planet to test drive the "Sleeper Bug" !! GREAT video !

Please mention all the experts that actually build these cars its lovely you can afford these projects but please appreciate the engineers.

you know it's fast..... when the owner looks panicked in the pull.

When a woman man handles a full blown rock crawler for 6 hrs at a time but a 73 vw beetle gives her a giant wet spot! Lmao

18:32 😱👀 when panic attacks

super beetles sux

Cool car, shite viddy.

Wow the work underneath is top notch

Not a car where you would want to sit in the passenger seat with an amateur driving

His face when he drives is funny as hell. He is white knuckling the steering wheel.

I like sleepers, especially ones that appear this stock. Now about that E85, it may be clean burning but the energy to convert grain to ethanol pollutes as much as gasoline when it's all said and done.

i like her!! petrol girl

Is a Sleeper Bug like a Bed Bug?

That’s about the stupidest thing that you would ever do to a race engine is to put a dog box in there so you could grind the gears and potentially ruin the whole thing

Mighty car mods did it first with miss daisy

Make sure you get a guy to drive you around in it.. Lord you will be dead in that..

So she is ignorant, but at least she is interested which most gals are not. She's also nice to look at.

wow nice guy

That would be a great triple take bug!:)

For such a light car, that's a lot of power!

It's so naked in John's eyes that the bug is his precious!!

Did she allow him to even finish one sentence?

My dad had a baby blue super beetle back in the day.

The VW is pretty cool, but I was alot more interested in the Hot Female showing it off, and she knows her stuff too. 😁

is that a 66 corvair

I like that!

I like the girl's expressions...

I had a 73 super beetle, built just enough to enter and exit freeway traffic, could buy every piece but new struts....good memories

He looked stressed when he hit it

everyone herd of herbie the love bug....so with that being said my dream car would be a 73' beetle and all painted up the same fashion as herbie the love bug BUT remove 53 and put 73 THIS 73 beetle as seen here would be the ultimate dream beetle for me BUT painted as i said like herbie the love bug BUT 73 of course :)

Damn shes constantly interrupting him

Around 1975 a friend of mine was looking to buy a new car. She was considering a Subaru so we went to the dealer. When I saw the water-cooled horizontally opposed engine in the Subaru, it blew me away! I had been driving a wimpy Volkswagon Beetles (1962, 1200cc ragtop) for a few years and was totally surprised by how Subaru had essentially taken a Volkswagon engine and re-engineered it. John Reynolds has taken it to another plateau!

I had a 72’ super Beatle. It was $7 to fill, fit a 1/4 keg in the spare tire and run tap through Glove box. I never drink alcohol so I drove and it was fun. My Beatle had about as much power as a basic John Deere rider. The super Beatle was a superior bug and I think with the better suspension and round windshield was much better than a standard.

Shes cute

You should race the dung beetle in OKC with the street outlaws

*miss daisy has entered the chat*

Pobre auto!!! Qué lo maneje alguien que sepa

Nunca manejo con embrague???? Jajajajajaja 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣, se acostumbran a la caja automática y con 3 pedales se quieren matar!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Love the car. Where can I get one?

Lots of anxiety seeing that even he didn't seem to know what's gonna happen every time he floored it - definitely too much power for that little VW 😅

The look in his eye as he did that booty bump.

Why is she learning how to drive manual in this car🤦🏻‍♂️

How tf is this his car and he accidentally popped the front trunk looking for the engine 🤦🏻‍♂️

"People like that... whatever... whatever dude". HAHA I love her.

hot cars always showing off they hot girls!

The flame thrower at the end.👍🏻

Reminds me of a fellow racer. 500+ ponies to the rear of his 240z. Yank that datsun inline 6 and drop in a Supra twin turbo inline 6. He had no problem over taking a Viper V10 any place on the track.

I had to stop watching this video. It felt like "since I think I'm hot, let me strip out your gear box on your very expensive modded Super Beetle". She should have quit asking as soon as he said, "no syncros".