John Arreola VW, 1960 VW, VW Bug, Hawaiian VW Outlaws Seattle

November 10, 2023

A Homesick Hawaiian Builds a Bitchin’ VW Bug With Some of That 50-State Flavor

If there was ever a place that gave the California car scene a run for its money, it’s 1980s Hawaii, specifically Oahu. Though barely bigger than the city of Los Angeles, the island had a car culture every bit as strong as The Golden State’s. And if you were into mini trucks or Volkswagens, it was almost a toss-up as to who did it better. Hawaii went hard in the ’80s.

That’s when and where John Arreola grew up. “I was introduced to bugs by an older guy in my neighborhood,” he remembers. “He had an oval window with a one-piece front end, Center Lines, and a big motor.” John let him ride his dirt bike in exchange for a chance to drive the Beetle, the first VW he’d ever driven. “I was bitten!” Six months later, John got a ’65 to call his own.

A lot happened in the decades between then and now. John worked his way up the ladder professionally. He and his wife, Jo, started a family of their own. And in 2006, they swapped the tropics for temperate Bonney Lake, Washington, a town smack-dab between Seattle and Mount Rainier. But about a decade ago, his boyhood pal Bradley “Bubba” Parrow began reminding him of all the good times they had. “We had VWs in high school,” he notes. In the spirit of Hana Hou – the Hawaiian phrase for encore – John set his sights on another car. “The hunt was on!”

He found this ’60 online. The Euro-spec versions from this period got semaphores in the B-pillars in lieu of turn signals on the fenders, broadcloth upholstery instead of vinyl, fluted headlights, and simple bumper guards instead of towel-rack overriders. A ragtop faithfully restored down to its Indian Red finish and 36-horse mill, it was the perfect canvas for his encore.

John changed little beyond powder coating most of the car’s underpinnings and engine tins – it’s mechanically stock right down to the split-case transaxle and six-volt charging system. He set the front stance with spindles and torsion adjusters and the rear with offset spring plates. This is a static drop, so to make it possible to steer without tires fouling fenders, he runs a front axle beam that’s 6-inches narrower than stock.

“The wheels are a throwback to my high-school days,” John points out. Just as California had a “look”, so did Hawaii. And cornerstone to the Hawaiian Look is wildly proportioned wheels, usually Center Lines. Consistent with Cal Look, the Hawaiian Look favors narrow front tires on equally narrow wheels. John chose 15×3.5-inch Center Lines, known in the VW community as bubbles for their prominent center.

But unlike Cal Look, Hawaiian Look calls for rear tires stretched across the widest-possible wheels – the deeper the better. The 15x7s John chose are in fact conservative if only to make the tires tuck. Those tires measure 185/55R15; the fronts, 145/65R15.

John finished the build with some carefully curated accessories. They include pop-out quarter windows, a glove-box door pull, coco mats, impact strips on the Euro-spec bumper guards, and an EMPI GTV steering wheel. Ultimate plans call for a hopped-up mill with Okrasa-style heads and manifolds that double the number of intake ports and carburetors.

Whether by birth or by choice, Hawaiians find a way to work that island style into whatever they do. You could call their culture irrepressible. Case in point, it’s probably impossible for them to simply own a car without showing you exactly where they’re from!