Oh Shit! Rolling a Baja Bug in Colorado
Back in early 2018, I was invited out to Grand Junction, Colorado by John Jones (JJ) of Kustom Coach Werks (KCW). I’d been putting together my first book – Patina Volkswagens – and had contacted John for some pictures of his old Patina builds. I’d been a member of the KCW forum for over 15 years at that point and a lot of their early builds, as well as the Hoodride era (invented by Derrick Pacheco while he worked at KCW) inspired me a lot to build patina cars.
Mark (Left) stands with JJ after surviving the ordeal:
As I’d been following the forum for a long time, I’d been aware (and inspired by) their recent Baja Bug craze – JJ had restored a ’62 Ragtop Sunroof Beetle as a Tamiya Sand Scorcher replica and the 3 guys who worked for him (Franz Muhr, Pat Kendall and Patrick Peet) had bought cheap Baja Bugs and fixed them up. They’d called their little group the Tabagauche Trailblazers, due to tearing it up every Sunday on the Tabagauche Trail (20 miles outside Grand Junction) in the Bugs.
We (myself and Girlfriend Jo) arrived in ‘Junction on the Friday and immediately settled into the KCW Hotel (John and Gretchen Jones’ spare room), which is right inside the KCW compound. The first 24 hours were a bit of a whirlwind, and I woke up on Sunday morning feeling rough, due to the altitude and the cocktail I’d been given on Saturday evening at the local Roosters Chicken Wings restaurant.
Dropping off our rental car with John's Baja Bug, with the help of Rusty Willey:
Immediately, Gretchen told me the guys were waiting for me to go out in the Baja Bugs, so I pulled on some clothes and headed into the workshop to meet a waiting JJ, Pat Peet, Derrick Pacheco and Dario Urrutia (RIP). We headed out of town via a gas station to stock up on fuel and cold drinks for the cooler. After 20 miles, we hit the Tabagauche trailhead, and it was a bit of a shock how fast the guys were driving right off the bat.
Stopping for gas and supplies on the way out of Grand Junction:
The trail is pretty serious – at times, you’d crest a large boulder and drop several feet. Other times, we’d be blinded by dust from the car in front and almost hit them. After a couple of miles, the first casualty was Pat Peet’s muffler – he’d just fitted a new ceramic-coated exhaust system, and the muffler had shaken loose – it fell off right in front of us, and we had to swerve to miss running over it.
Dario Urrutia drinks a beer and looks on at the first stop - a great dude who was taken too soon:
The first hour, there were several stops – Pat Peet knew a lot about the history of the area and would tell us stories as we rested, and some of the guys had a smoke. JJ kept urging me to have a go driving the ‘Scorcher, but I was still feeling rough after one of the worst sleeps of my life.
Stunning scenery is all around on the Tabeguache Trail:
After about the 4th stop, though, I went to answer a call over the side of a cliff and came back to find JJ sitting in the passenger seat – it was my turn, whether I liked it or not! I was the middle car as we headed off, and the pace didn’t slow down one bit, considering the fact I was a complete novice off-road driver. I didn’t want to slow the rear car down, so I tried to keep up with the pace of the front car. This was my first mistake.
After just a few minutes behind the wheel, we hit an area of soft sand. It was tough not spinning out on the corners, and when the back end started to go on one corner, I steered into it and saw the front driver’s side wheel was heading straight towards a cactus.
I couldn’t avoid hitting it and when we did, we were immediately airborne. The first roll seemed to take a loooong time. I remember pulling in my arms and legs and trying to brace against the lap belt. We rolled 3 times and only stopped rolling because JJ’s door had popped open and kickstanded the car from going over again.
JJ's Baja after we landed - the body was trashed:
I had to reach across and pull JJ back upright, as he was hanging out of the car, his knuckles bloody from his arm being out of the window. The other guys came running over to check us over. JJ had also hit his head and I had a big bulge on my forearm and shin.
The roof of the car was a mess and the glass had popped out of the vent windows and rear window. Pat Peet found our hats and sunglasses 60ft from the car. The long tie rod was bent like a banana, so the front wheels were pointing outwards. Pat grabbed a big boulder and beat it straight enough to carry on.
Patrick Peet straightening the long tie rod with a large boulder:
We gathered all the parts and figured out the car was working well enough to carry on. After a few more miles, the throttle cable gave out, and JJ and Franz made another one with bailing wire. Having already had an accident, I assumed we’d now take it easy, but I was wrong! It was still like being in an off-road race.
JJ & Franz making a new throttle cable out of bailing wire:
Eventually, Franz managed to crack the deep sump on his car on a rock and it was losing a lot of oil. The decision was made to hide the car in the bushes and return for it the next day.
Franz Muhr's Baja with a cracked deep sump:
Dario jumped in the back of JJ’s car with us, and Franz was in the back of Pat Peet’s car. The final part of the trail was a long gravel downhill stretch and then several gravel switchbacks – this was all taken at speed and I lost count of the times I thought we were going to die, either due to surprise oncoming trucks, or skidding to the edge of a cliff on a switchback.
Dario in the back of JJ's car - no seat, seat belt or rear window!:
Call me a lightweight, but I was relieved to reach the paved road again – it was 21 miles back to Grand Junction and we arrived back at the compound with a story to tell the ladies and plenty of cuts and bruises. I was sad for JJ that I’d rolled his car and still am.
The whole crew back at KCW at the end of our day out - L-R Dario, Mark, Franz, Derrick, John & Pat P:
JJ took it very well and was the generous host for the rest of our 12-day trip, during which we were loaned a cool 1970 Bay Window Bus with off-road tyres by Daniel Sterner, so we could go off-road in the Canyonland National Park around Moab, as well as join the Lin Ottinger off-road tour to Onion Creek.
A rest stop on the Ottinger caravan to Onion Creek shows Pat Kendall's Baja (foreground) and Pat Peet's Baja (background):
