Here’s a special edition I have legitimately never heard of before today: a Baja Champion edition Volkswagen Beetle, apparently sold to commemorate the company’s successes in Baja off-road racing in the late 60s and early 70s. The package is an obscure one for sure, and I’m not even certain there’s many people left who would know how the company fared in the grueling endurance race. The paint color, known as Marathon Blue Metallic, only came to the U.S. market on the Baja cars, and the cosmetics on this 1972 VW Beetle listed here on eBay look like one of its better selling points.
Oftentimes, a special edition package that is purely cosmetic in nature is fairly disappointing. A stripe kit, maybe a commemorative plaque – and a few extra grand tacked onto the MSRP. To VW’s credit, they slapped on the Baja decal, but the exclusive paint job is pretty nice, and those color-matched “Sport” wheels are sharp. Now, you also have to remember that this being a Beetle, the standard equipment list is fairly light, so it’s easy to add a variety of seemingly commonplace equipment and suddenly, the Baja edition looks like it’s relatively loaded. For instance, it came with not one, but two reversing lights! Sadly, it appears to be missing the rubber strip from the rear bumper (it’s still attached to the front.)
On the inside, you did get the little plaque on the glove box door, which has incredibly survived in this example. Other bonuses with the Baja included an anti-glare rearview mirror, a make-up mirror in the passenger sun visor, a padded dashboard, dual-circuit brake warning lamp, and lockable storage box, as well as a second ashtray in the rear, a second door pocket, and carpeting (thanks to the SE Beetles website for that information.) The seller claims the interior is “rough” but it doesn’t look all that bad to me; perhaps up close, there are more flaws than we can see here.
The engine looks quite clean, but even that may be a misnomer. The seller claims it needs to be completely rebuilt, and it’s clear he’s gotten some questions about this as the listing was amended slightly. He notes that the Beetle had a tendency to backfire when fired up, and he hasn’t run it in a year. The little flat-four will at a minimum need its fuel lines cleaned out and the carb rebuilt or otherwise refreshed, and even then, he indicates the engine “might” run. All that said, it’s probably safer to just assume a rebuild or replacement is in your future if you take on this limited-production Baja champion Bug.
Nice car. Add going through the distributor to that list of ‘gotta dos”. Running a compression and leak down test will tell you everything you need to know on the inside while things like the backfires are usually due to fuel or electric problems or both.
These distributors have a tendency for the metal spring cap holder to slip especially if they function not horizontally as in this case. I had a similar one in my X1/9 and it left me stranded with broken distr. cap in a small Swiss village in November 1982. Luck (cap not totally broken), wife’s sock (as a cap retainer) and a pencil to roughly find the firing order & advance saved the day. Back in Greece i changed the distributor with an expensive MagMar one with screws as retainers.
Cool and unique factory package that I’ve never heard of either. Like the blue color. Clean the points and it will probably fire right up
These were cool looking. Before I got my 71 Super Beetle I looked at a couple of these but they were rough either with bad paint or the special wheels were missing. Like Bob said ditch the 009 distributor and install a SVDA distributor like factory and the correct carburetor and you will probably have a good runner.
And it is gone. 5756 USD bought it. Sounds like a good deal
I recall the 1972 Baha being the first USA limited special edition Beetle. I was living in Toledo, which was a major port for VW and Porsche. The Brontosaurus Beetle was introduced in 1973 with bright green, red, yellow and maybe orange.
Forgive my aging memory.
I bought a new 1974 Sunbug, which was metallic gold with a velor interior, sunroof and fake mag steel wheels.
My Mom bought a new Lagrande Super Beetle in 1975 Metallic Blue and velor interior, sunroof and fake mag steel wheels.
I actually had a set of Baha steel wheels on one of my Karmann Ghias
Great memories.
I like the color. A nice change from the usual fare, and the wheels really acentuate the looks.
I bought one of these beetles for $800 in the late 70s with 24k on the clock. Something I have never seen before or since was factory a/c. I finally swapped the original engine out at 160k miles (not a typo) and sold it to a guy in the Phoenix area in the mid 80s. Thought it may have been my Bug, but I installed speakers in the doors, and this one doesn’t have them. Great car. Found one locally. 1 owner
Beat up. Not running. Not for sale.
One of my older brothers bought one of these new in ’72. I really liked the color. Color and wheels are what set it apart from the rest of the beetles.
See above.
These distributors have a tendency for the metal spring cap holder to slip especially if they function not horizontally as in this case. I had a similar one in my X1/9 and it left me stranded with broken distr. cap in a small Swiss village in November 1982. Luck (cap not totally broken), wife’s sock (as a cap retainer) and a pencil to roughly find the firing order & advance saved the day. Back in Greece i changed the distributor with an expensive MagMar one with screws as retainers.