BeetleMania in Santa Barbara: Their Parents Would Be Proud

How's this for deja vu?Twenty-five sorority girls from University of California at Santa Barbara managed to cram into a new Beetle at the local Santa Barbara Mazda-Volkswagen dealership. They also succeeded in raising $1,500 for charity while beating the old Guinness Book of Records mark by one person.But there should be an asterisk next to the listing.Unlike previous Beetle-stuffing records, the

May 1, 1998

1 Min Read
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How's this for deja vu?

Twenty-five sorority girls from University of California at Santa Barbara managed to cram into a new Beetle at the local Santa Barbara Mazda-Volkswagen dealership. They also succeeded in raising $1,500 for charity while beating the old Guinness Book of Records mark by one person.

But there should be an asterisk next to the listing.

Unlike previous Beetle-stuffing records, the seats did not need to be removed from the new Beetle to record the win. An open hatchback helped, but the difference was an extra person squeezed in on top of the large dashboard.

That's something you wouldn't have been able to do in the old Beetle.

A local VW exec tells WAW a friend of his who works for Chiat/Day (Nissan's ad agency) summed up the hoopla surrounding the Beetle when he said: "I wish we (Nissan) only had your problems; at least Volkswagen stands for something."

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