Product description

The Paruzzi Speedster and the Wizard Roadster are the world's most produced contemporary sports convertible Beetle sedans. Chris Boyle was in charge of design in the early 1980s. The first official production model dates back to 1983 and was under the name Wizard Roadster which Chris Boyle introduced to the market through his company founded Wizard of Rods. Many companies copied and adapted the design but the original Chis Boyle was never surpassed, even the 1:1 copies did not match the high quality of the original. In 1998, Wizard of Rods was taken over by Peter Cheeseman and the company name was changed to Wizard Roadsters.

The conversion kits have been improved in many ways over the years and there was even a complete polyester bodywork, which was sold mainly in England, but sparsely. Production lasted until 1998, after which the subsequent and definitive recovery took place. Due to the commercial failure of the new owner, the Wizard project went bankrupt and, in 2000, the curtain fell on Wizard Roadsters limited .

From 1990 to 1998, Paruzzi was the official importer for the Benelux, and adapted the model for Dutch legislation. Externally, there has been no change, the big difference being the reinforcement to meet the Dutch requirements of the National Road and Traffic Administration. The subcutaneous changes were so extensive that the Wizard Roadster appeared on the Dutch market under the name Paruzzi Speedster. With the exception of the reinforcement package, the Paruzzi Speedster remained in production at Wizard Roadsters until 1998. Production of the reinforcement package took place in Yerseke (Netherlands) under the strict supervision of Westerwind Nederland, the parent company of the Paruzzi brand at the time. The reinforcement package was so well developed that technical tests proved that the Paruzzi speedster was even stiffer than the original Volkswagen.

After Peter Cheeseman got rid of Wizard Roadsters in 1998, the collaboration between Paruzzi and Wizard stopped. The available stock was shipped to the Netherlands, allowing Paruzzi to continue delivering the Speedster until 2012.

Due to the long period of production and sales, the Paruzzi Speedster and Roadster Wizard are now cherished and restored, which also increases the demand for spare parts. No more new parts are produced, but the Paruzzi warehouse still has a fairly large stock of various Speedster-specific parts, so make the most of it while it's still there.

Note: If you do not know if you have a Speedster Paruzzi or a Roadster Wizard in your possession, please compare the pictures of the different parts, in order to avoid ordering parts that would not suit you later on. An important detail, which has been copied and adapted by many other brands, is the rear part that partly passes over the rear fenders for Paruzzi and Wizard models. If this part does not fit on your rear fenders, very few parts will fit without adjustment.

On the 2+2 version, the rear seat railing is at a 90 degree angle, on the 4 seat version the railing is in the original position.