Monster Beetle — Hard Shell

A re-release shell that was never going to survive being driven, rebuilt so that it could be.

The kit body is lexan-thin in the places it needs to be strongest. The first season answered that question quickly — one hard landing on tarmac and the front arch split along a moulding line.

The conversion is a hard shell laid up over the original profile, so the car still reads as a Monster Beetle from ten feet away and stops flexing at the mounts. Everything underneath was rebuilt at the same time: gearbox stripped, shimmed and re-greased, and the electronics moved into a sealed tray.

The finish took three attempts. Two varnish coats went milky in cold weather before the third — laid down warm, then hand-sanded back through four grades — finally sat flat.