Skip to content

4 Comments

  1. Gail
    September 4, 2014 @ 5:36 pm

    I hope they don’t take the car down…it looks so cool sitting up there. What a fun little conversation piece this is.

  2. Peg Gilligan Bartles
    September 10, 2014 @ 8:33 pm

    I grew up in Amsterdam and it seems like that car has always been there. Lovely little town on the Mohawk river.

  3. Oct. 9: Ozoner 29, Broadalbin NY | Carload
    April 24, 2023 @ 3:04 pm

    […] there’s a red Volkswagen Beetle parked at the top of a tall smokestack. According to ExploringUpstate.com, the bug went up around the mid-1970s and was a way for auto repair shop owner Gary Dudka to […]

  4. handyman756
    July 14, 2023 @ 11:48 am

    The VW was put atop the 1896 smokestack of the powerhouse of the recently razed Bowler Brewery on June 12th, 1980 by Gary Dudka as an advertising gimmick for the former Dudka’s Garage, 5 Ann St. The 90 foot lift was done by John Herms of Mohawk Valley Crane Service. His son Jonathan rode to the top with the car and completed securing it to the stack. Wiring running up to the car originally allowed its headlights to be illuminated at night.