This Volkswagen-turned-hot-tub, known as the V-Dub Tub, started as a joke.
When a service department staffer at Crystal River Spas (Carbondale, Co.) decided to move on, he left behind an old Volkswagen Beetle.
"He said, 'Someday you'll build a hot tub out of it. I'll give you the title,'" Service Manager Andy Kinnen recalls.
After sitting in the shop for a couple years, the joke began to turn into reality. Kinnen and the service team worked on it whenever they had free time; in all, the car spent a year under the knife. In addition to waterproofing and lining the car with vinyl, the team implemented Hot Spring technology to speak to the company's signature hot tub line.
"The car is probably 70 percent Hot Spring," Kinnen says. "The electronics and all of the lighting, the fountains, the control panel and the pumps are actually are the same ones that are used in our spas. And it's the newer stuff we've got, so we can program stuff into it. And whenever Hot Spring comes out with new stuff, we can make the V-Dub do that stuff, too."
The V-Dub Tub has made its debut at a few local events, including a beer festival, where it attracted plenty of attention with its jets, fountain and lights. Most of the time, though, it stays parked in front of Crystal River Spas where it continues to serve as eye-catching signage.
"You look and see an old VW, which everyone always wants to look at anyway, and they go, 'Holy cow, it's full of water!'" Kinnen says.
You can take a closer look in person, as the V-Dub Tub will appear at the Hot Spring International Dealer Conference in San Diego Coronado Island in January 2016.
