Beetle mania

MANILA, Philippines - There was a time my wife thought I was working on sculptures in the studio,” admits sculptor Ramon Orlina, “but in truth I was busy restoring my Volkswagen Beetle (laughs).”

Aside from seeing astounding glass sculptures, visitors to Orlina’s home in Sampaloc also marvel at the restored, reconstructed Volkswagen Beetle cars — one in white, one in black — occupying prominent spaces in the artist’s garages.

Orlina and his men used the same equipment they use in grinding and polishing glass to turn the Volks Beetles (one is 1300s and the other is 1303s) into stretched four-door VW limos, the same mechanical sorcery.

He explained that each car was cut in half and stretched by more than one meter, with two additional doors incorporated into the limo, and with the car’s chassis strengthened with a ladder-type box frame. He upgraded the engines (the white one from 1600 to 1800 cc) and made the interiors more luxurious with automatic sliding glass panels for more privacy and assorted amenities. (James Bond movie on DVD, anyone?) The black one even boasts a sunroof, for crying out loud.

Orlina recently purchased a lot down the street from his atelier that he has converted into a car “atalyer” for his car-restoration hobby, using two 20-foot containers for structures. It is a functional space that can also be used for his bigger art projects.

“The first VW Beetle I owned was a gray 1963 model with a 1200 cc engine, which my parents bought secondhand for me when I graduated. I loved that Beetle and clearly it had a lasting impact on me.”

Orlina had encounters with machines by other car manufacturers. “In 1974, I painted on my ’71 Ford Escort sports car in multifarious colors — the top was red, the lower portion blue, and with a wide orange stripe in the middle. You could say it was my first endeavor in ‘art cars,’ but many people thought it was a taxi and even flagged me down!”

He says that as an artist, he appreciates the design and shape of the Beetle, considers them distinctive and revolutionary.  

“Yes, it was a people’s car with more than 20 million cars manufactured from 1948 to 1998. It served and touched the lives of millions of owners. Anyone who ever owned a Beetle is nostalgic about the car, you just can’t help it. As an artist, I feel it has one of the most distinctive and defining art-forms of this century.”

The parts of the Beetle are easily available. Plus, the appreciation from the masa comes readily.

“I have received such raves, appreciation, and thumbs-up from the common tao when they see my two stretched limos. It’s absolutely attention-grabbing, beyond my expectations.”

Once Orlina’s white Volkswagen Beetle limo was spotted in last year’s Trans Sport Show at SM Megamall, 25 people started asking him if they could rent it for weddings. The artist obliged and has continuously received requests for it ever since.  

 “I have restored a ’69 and ’74 Beetle that will be painted on the outside by well-known artists — such as BenCab and Elmer Borlongan — and the interiors designed by well-known sculptors such as Gabby Barredo and Ed Castrillo. Hopefully, they will be exhibited in museums all over the country.”