The Volkswagen Beetle (officially the Type 1) was the “People’s Car”, conceived during Adolf Hitler’s rule in 1938. Mass production didn’t begin until after WW2, and these cars were built somewhere as recently as 2003. Changes were minimal from year to year, so it often takes a “Bug” expert to pick out the model year from photographs. This nice ’65 example has been partially restored and looks and runs like new. Located in Monroeville, New Jersey, this German econobox is available here on eBay where the current bid is $7,300, reserve unmet.
Back in the 1960s and 1970s, you couldn’t turn a street corner without seeing a Beetle. That’s because 21.5 million of them were built over the course of 65 years. They were intended to be cheap cars that anyone could afford to buy, so they were generally used up and then discarded. Today, you seldom see one in this condition because the majority of them have long since ended up in the junkyard.
Great efforts may have been made to keep this ’65 Beetle as original as possible. The light blue paint has been redone, but none of the photos show any flaws with it or the sheet metal. The seller believes the 1,200-cc air-cooled engine is original, producing 40 hp at 55,000 miles on the odometer. These cars had 4-speed manual transmissions, and this one seems to do the job nicely. New parts include the brakes and fluids, and the little engine that could has been tuned up.
By today’s standards, these machines are a bit barbaric. Virtually no creature comforts, and they were quite noisy. But they were fun to drive, and nearly half the cars in my high school parking lot were Beetles (the other half were muscle cars), none in the condition of this one. They were a dime a dozen back in the day, but it will take north of $7,000 to own this one.
From the late 70s to the late 80s, VW Bugs were the only cars I drove, having owned a ’62, ’63, ’65, ’69 and ’72. All of them, while slow and unexciting to say the least, were so easy to drive, maintain and repair. “Engine out” took me less than half an hour, by myself. I still have the repairman’s bible, “VW Repair For The Compleat (sic) Idiot”. And back then, you could buy a Bug for next to nothing and sell it for same, never losing money. The car here exemplifies how crazy prices have become since, but in this case it’s so nice it probably will bring the ask.
The classic bugs like this have a great charm to them. As a kid I grew up watching the Disney Herbie movies and these cars always make me smile when I see one still on the road or at a car show.
Considering how nice it is, I’d bid as high as $10,000. Not unreasonable in my opinion. I’ve seen them slightly rougher for $5,000.