VW Super Beetle “Dance to the music”
In January 2009 LS Car Audio started “Project Maggiolone”. Taking a 1973 Super Beetle and making a high-quality demonstration vehicle with some unique features that are one-of-a-kind. This is the first car in the world that automatically “dances to the music” with a neon light and smoke show.
It all started with the complete removal of the body to get ready for the installation of the Della Air Suspension and the complete restoration of the Beetle itself. They built all the brackets and reinforcements for the front and rear to accommodate the air suspension, and also to reinforced the rear of the vehicle. There were many changed parts, such as door housing in order to install the rubber grommets for electrical supply to the door itself.
The painting and all of the mechanics worked together to produce an overall elegant and aesthetic look. Then LS Car Audio started the construction of all of the interior pieces for the high quality Hi-Fi audio system and they came up with an elegant design with a matching color.
The interior construction of all of the panels is of Medium density Fiberglass Fliss and all pieces are individually designed by LS Car Audio. For sound quality they installed a 38 centimeter JBL Reflex front loading sub woofer with two symmetrical SLRs on the front of the dashboard to get a low bass. All pieces are finished and upholstered in leather and thermoformed by hand. The pieces are built without a Fiberglas mold using a special technique developed in house, then finished and coated.
The fenders are made of fiberglass, widened by 16 centimeters in the rear and 8 centimeters in the front. Even the side step platforms are built to measure out of Fiberglas. The rear side housings hold the Harman Kardon amplifiers and 1.5 Farad capacitors. Construction of two-way JBL satellite rear speakers are lined with a yellow skin to match the interior. The control electronics are via a touch screen on the dashboard with electronic display.
There are red, blue and green underbody lights, a 19″ monitor under the auto-opening front hood, electronic security, artificial smoke machine (like at a disco), switching programs for lights, hood ignition lights, power seats and interior lights. These activate the “dance system” that makes our Beetle “dance” to the rhythm of the music! This is all directly connected to the multimedia system with the filters to detect the beat of the CD so that the vehicle moves at the appropriate pace.
LS Car Audio also added a Carbon exhaust that was also built by hand. They constructed an air control console for the various timing of lights, power windows, power locks, power strobe lights in front, turning on gas, power inverter, interior lights, display control for programming of the underbody lights, air compressor for the suspension, consent ignition lights with power opening doors, phew!
They built the central tunnel that houses the fuses and console manual override for all movements of the air suspension, a support plate with black anodized aluminum with laser etching. Then they made the design of a Beetle on the dash for rapid intuition of the commands. The electronic circuit board has allowed them to reduce from 42 to a total of 3 threads for command of the entirely Digital system.
So after eight months of hard work (done in their spare time including Saturdays and Sundays) LS Car Audio made a Beetle that by all accounts is very special. The planning and implementation took about 1800 hours of work and they also used their 30 years of experience and professionalism which you can see in Project Maggiolone. Please watch the YouTube video to get a full appreciation of how they made the VW Super Beetle “Dance to the music”.