Around 1966, Gary Emory traded a motorcycle for a wrecked '57 oval window Beetle. With his father running the body shop at Chick Iverson VW Porsche and his brother Don on paint, he finished the very first Baja Bug in 1967, and started a movement that turned countless Beetles into off-roaders. The original was later totaled. After Gary passed away in August 2025, his son Rod Emory and the family finished a tribute, with Uncle Don, now 80, painting it the same chrome yellow he used in 1967.