No. The Birds Eye Pea Car was a one-off promotional vehicle built for a television commercial, not a Volkswagen or a Beetle conversion. Its Volkswagen connection was visual: it used Volkswagen Beetle headlights. Underneath, reports describe a modified off-road go-kart chassis.
Why did it look like a Volkswagen?
The round green body and prominent headlights invited the comparison. SlashGear and Autoevolution identify the lights as Volkswagen Beetle headlights, but neither describes the vehicle as having a Volkswagen chassis. The apparent VW connection was a component used in a custom advertising build, not its underlying platform.
Volkswagen Group’s history places the company’s “German People’s Car” project in the 1930s: Ferdinand Porsche submitted a memorandum on January 17, 1934, and the first VW Series 3 prototype was presented in July 1935. That history is separate from the Pea Car, which was made for a Birds Eye advertisement decades later. Volkswagen Group’s account of the early project says the three prototypes underwent 50,000-kilometre tests between October 12 and December 18, 1936.
What was the Pea Car built for?
It was a stunt vehicle for a Birds Eye frozen-vegetable commercial that aired in December 2005. Reports attribute the build to London special-effects company Asylum and describe a modified off-road go-kart chassis beneath custom green bodywork. SlashGear’s account says the body had twelve fiberglass panels designed to come away on camera; Autoevolution’s account also describes panels separating as the vehicle drove.
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- Car Size: Long 13cm , Width 5.5cm , Hight 5.5cm
- Product Material:zinc alloy plastic rubber
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The commercial used that visual gag to express Birds Eye’s message: vegetables lose vitamins after picking, while freezing locks in their goodness. That is the advertisement’s claim and creative metaphor; the vehicle’s history does not independently establish the nutrition claim.
What was under the green body?
The accounts describe a custom build rather than a production car. Besides the modified off-road go-kart chassis and Beetle headlights, SlashGear reports Lancia turn signals and a Honda engine. Autoevolution also identifies a Honda engine, describing it as single-speed. Their top-speed descriptions differ—about 60 mph in SlashGear and over 60 mph in Autoevolution—so a precise maximum speed is not firmly established by these reports.
Rank #2
- Die-cast metal body with plastic parts
- Opening doors and engine compartment
- Detailed chassis
- Item Package Weight: 1.28 pounds
Where is the Pea Car now?
Autoevolution reports that the vehicle was displayed at the National Motor Museum and says it was “said to be” on display at a Unilever site in Walton-on-Thames. The report does not independently confirm its current whereabouts, so it is not possible to identify a present-day display location with confidence.
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- CLASSIC REPLICA: Authentic 1:32 scale die-cast metal model of the iconic 1967 Volkswagen Classic Beetle in a beautifal paint finish
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Rank #4
- Iconic movie styling – Features Herbie's #53 livery, racing stripes, and vintage license plate for screen-accurate authenticity
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Rank #3
- package height : 7.111 cm
- package length : 29.718 cm
- package width : 19.05 cm
- Product type : TOYS AND GAMES
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