TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

17 cram into VW in try for record

ADVERTISEMENT

By GEOFF FOX

gfox@tampatrib.com

Published: November 11, 2009

DADE CITY - More people can cram into a Volkswagen Bug in Dade City than anywhere else in the world.

At the 21st annual Bug Jam, held Sunday at the Pasco County fairgrounds, 17 VW lovers from Orlando, Lutz, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Riverview, Jacksonville and other points across the state squeezed into a 1971 Beetle - with no arms or legs sticking out of windows.

It was an effort that should land the participants in Guinness World Records. The previous record of 15 was set last year in Brazil.

Carol Jeffares Hedman, a Bug Jam organizer and correspondent for the Tribune, said officials at first thought they had beaten the record by one.

"They just keep coming out" of the car, she said, "and there was one more than we thought."

Participants ranged in age from 19 to 56 and in height from 5-foot-1 to 6 feet.

"I didn't think they'd be able to do it," Hedman said. "And one of the people was 6 feet tall. We thought they'd try to have a plan, but one girl there said she could fit 15 horses in a 10-horse trailer. They just kept shoving more people in."

Afterward, she said, the participants and crowd "were jumping up and down and singing, 'We Are The Champions.'

"

Brian Corley, Pasco County's elections supervisor, oversaw the record attempt, which also was timed and videotaped. The world record attempt was made in a 1971 Beetle provided by Classic Camber, a car-restoration company in Tampa.

"There was a thick little (Guinness) manual, very regimented in what they had to do," Corley said. "It had to be a specific type (of Bug), and the doors had to be closed simultaneously, with the windows up for at least 5 seconds."

He said it was interesting to watch 17 strangers develop a plan.

"One lady knew yoga," he said. "I saw one guy, fairly small in stature, but I saw him get underneath the gas (pedal) and the brake. It was absolutely amazing. I'd say it looked like the antithesis of comfortable.

"But really, it was pretty cool. There were thousands of people gathered around, and afterward, we were all celebrating like we'd just won the Super Bowl."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 731-1239.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT