If any one car defines a scene and a way of life, it might just be the VW Beetle. Whether you love them or hate them, there’s no denying the Beetle’s impact on automotive culture and their uncanny ability to win fans from both genders and of all ages. The people’s car in a very real sense.

The recent Essex Veedubbers show at Battlesbridge certainly had its fair share of VW Beetles on display. You might think that a car that has been customised for so many years may leave owners struggling to come up with a fresh take on things…but you’d be wrong. Or, we may just have been blinded by the all-out funkiness, immaculate preparation and awesome stances on display to not notice the fact these Beetles were all old hat! But that’s probably not the case…

Rat-look cars are another Marmite bit of car culture. If any car really suits it though it’s the VW Beetle. Some of them are that old that they’re probably rocking that style naturally too.

Others take a cleaner approach to things. Simple paint, nice splash of chrome…

… awesome exhaust. Job done.

And you can never escape the SoCal/surf culture link when talking about Beetles. This matte grey didn’t over-do it though, which was nice…

Car of the show for us was this stunner though. Again, you could imagine it bombing around SoCal, giving hot rods a run for their money. When you look at it closely the unusual front bumper is one of the sweet touches that help the overall effect

But it’s the safari-style windscreen that is a bit of a treat, normally something preserved for VW campers. As far as we know this was never a factory option, but there are enthusiast companies that have created various systems to give Bug-lovers the look.

The other bonus of the opening windscreen is people can clearly see your awesome aluminum bucket seats!

From every angle this car just looks right, presumably the popped engine cover suggests it also has the brawn to back up the beauty.

Against other Beetles the colour really stood out too. Anyone else think it looks like the Laguna Seca blue used by BMW on the E46 M3?

Cream, on the otherhand, is a more classic take. Check out the stance of this one though…serious camber made more noticeable with the whitewall tyres

Up front, there was some serious tucking going on.

Something shared in common with another classic looking Bug.

It might be ironic, but you can’t help thinking the tow rope wrapped around the front bumper might be there as a precaution – a precaution grown from experience!

While not adopting such a grass-kissing stance, the simple approach of this car was appealing.

With a race tuned engine and a few graphics with a bit of motorsport orientation, this is a Beetle built for function more than anything.

The old Pegasus logo from Mobil was particularly cool. They don’t make logos like that anymore!

From concourse clean and classic, to low down, tuned and dirty, this show had the lot. Whether you do love a bug or not… surely there’s one here you’d be happy to have in your garage.