4 Baja Builds and Counting at Just 22 Years Old!
If you think of hot spots of Baja Bug activity, you'd likely think about somewhere in Southwestern USA - think desert trails and beaches. South Wales, in the UK, isn't somewhere that would immediately come to mind. But 22-year-old Todd Clarke is single-handedly trying to change that and he's doing pretty well so far.
Todd's dad is Graham Clarke, owner of FBI VW and I'd say he's done a pretty great job of getting Todd hooked on VWs. Not only has Graham inspired Todd's air-cooled VW addiction, but he's also shown him a solid work ethic when it comes to building cars, as well as teaching him the skills to restore cars the right way.
At the age of 16, before Todd was legally allowed to drive, the father-and-son team plucked a Swedish-imported '68 Beetle from the FBI VW stock. The car had good bones, but still needed some rust repair to make it safe for the road. Speaking of safety, they also converted it to RHD, so Todd could cut his teeth driving it on UK roads.
The off-road tyres on the finished car hinted at something in the future - think Class 11 style and you'd be somewhere close. But no one could know what lay ahead for Todd. Building his '68 and working with his dad had given him some skills, so he threw himself into the hobby and build one VW after another, despite keeping hold of his first car.
"I've always been drawn to Bajas for some reason. It probably started through seeing old pictures in magazines and photos shared online. I especially liked the homemade-looking Bajas from the early days" says Todd.
The photo below shows Todd marking out where to cut on the original VW decklid and fenders, emulating this inspiration.
He started his Baja journey with a '59 Ragtop Sunroof Baja Bug project, which is still in the works. I've had many chats with his dad Graham over the years and, like me, he's of the mind that the perfect vintage Baja should be based on a pre-65 Body. This has clearly passed down from father to son! The '59 - pictured below - will be completed as a keeper in due time. But in the meantime, he's having fun building other cars.
Next came a Bahama Blue '65 Baja Bug. The car was a typical UK car with lots of body rust. In many ways, it was perfect for a Baja build as the front-end metal was so rough. Todd worked through it, carrying out extremely high-quality metal finished repairs. He decided to keep many elements of the car like a stock restoration, such as the colour, original dashboard and body trim but he bucked a trend and turned it into a Baja Bug.
The Baja styling was based around a Bugeye nose section, but Todd decided to build the rest of it out of steel, cutting down original VW panels until he was happy.
The Build of the Bahama car took just over a year. It wasn't just a simple Baja build, but a full restoration too. You can see the high standard of Todd's work in this picture, after he let a new piece of steel into the front quarter panel:
Once the body was finished, it was painted underneath with Raptor, which was tinted to the original L519 VW Bahama Blue. The body was then set back on top of the fully restored floorpan.
Todd sourced some cool early Mustang seats and modified them for VW seat runners - as he says, the only limit with these Baja Bug builds is how creative you can get.
He only enjoyed the finished build for a few weeks, before advertising it and selling in the space of 24 hours. Although a few high quality Baja Bugs have been recently built in the UK, it was Todd's Bahama Blue car that, I feel, embodied the original Baja Bug spirit the most through its simplicity and out of the box thinking in terms of body style.
While he was building the Bahama car, another VW - a Niagara Blue '71 Bay Window Bus - came into Todd's hands and he's still building it in the background with (you guessed it) off-road tyres.
But, it wasn't long before another Baja project arrived at the workshop. This one was a '71 and already a Baja Bug when purchased - converted in the UK decades ago. It needed a load of work too, including taking the body off the 'pan to do rust repair, more tinted Raptor and matching the paint inside and out on the repaired areas and rust-free doors.
It was a 6-month build - he's getting faster! The final touch to the project was adding some retro stripes to the sides of the car to finish it off.
This build was more focused on making the car appear as a survivor, whilst preserving and matching the patina, something which can be much harder to do than applying new paint - I think he did an excellent job.
Again, he enjoyed it for only a short time before selling. The car sold and was delivered to the new owner within a week, which is a testament to the build quality and style of his builds. While many 'regular' Bugs have sat unsold for months in this current strange selling market, Todd's Baja Bugs are selling like hot cakes. Maybe he's onto something!
It came as no surprise, when a post popped up on Todd's Instagram one morning recently, showing another tired old Baja Bug on his trailer, heading home through the Welsh countryside. This is his current build (as well as a couple of others in the background) and I for one can't wait to see the result.
"I like Bajas because they're fun - just as much fun to build as they are to drive. There are less "Rules" to stick to when building a Baja Bug compared to a standard Bug, meaning you can be more creative and put your own twist on them" adds Todd, before admitting that he's taken inspiration from a couple of other people in the Baja scene:
"I think the people who I take the most inspiration from are Michael Squier with his 'Sunrise One' car, which I think is super-cool and has a great look:
Also, Douglas Parks (Vintage Bugee) always has some proper cool Bajas! And, of course, my dad for getting me into VWs in the first place".
Not only is Todd carrying the torch for the younger generation, but he's also one of a tiny few who are currently building Baja Bugs in the UK. Let's hope he inspires a ton more people to get into the Baja Bug hobby. You can catch his builds on Instagram Here
