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.
I would call this a nice #3 or #3+ driver due to some seen surface rust and dirt and no under photos? What is it worth today? Like you, I had a 59 version with the 36 HP engine. I rebuilt and upgraded with JC Whitney parts around 1973, a good shade tree activity one CA summer. We worked at a ranch down a dirt road in redwood country then. If I can remember, I may have traded it for a 54 Chevy pickup or a 53 Mercury, they’re jumbled now in my head.
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.
Awesome bug; good price. Heck you can barely buy an atv for this ask. These are so much fun to drive.
Okay, settle down now, Bugs just don’t go for 5 figures, not in my neighborhood anyway. With my possible choices to relieve boredom, a VW was on the list, along with the Z1, a camper, a MGB, or a new recliner( right now the recliner is in the lead) When you click on a certain type of listing on FB, all the listings pertaining to that come up. It should come as no surprise, Colorado has a large collection of them, mostly because, the hippies did indeed “move to the hills”, and a Bug usually got them here. Maybe in Jersey, but here I get listings of Bugs, maybe starting at $8grand,,,then the price slashing begins. $7, $6, sometimes HALF the original price,,,no sale. The one thing here, is there are a slew of say, ’68 on up, but older Bugs like this are indeed hard to find. If so, they don’t look like this. It’s fun to see the progression of the Bug through the years. The ’65 was about half way with many improvements, just none too visual.
Funny, to us older folks, a VW Bug was more of a novelty than real daily transportation. They were fun, cheap, simple cars that invoked good times and one had no business setting out for Colorado in one, but many did. Bugs are slow, cold/hot, uncomfortable, noisy cars, but by golly, everybody has a VW Bug story. If not, that’s a shame, they were part of our youth, I suppose much like a phone is today. Great find, and patience is the key.
Howard, love that line “…recliner is in the lead..”. I finally sold my ‘74 Super for 5k, this car should go in that neighborhood.
Howard,
It is not in your neighborhood.
With due respect, ChatGPT says a running, driving presentable 1965 VW beetle is worth $10-18k. A nice clean car with good paint and interior and no major rust is worth $18-28k.
I bought my first (VERY) used bug in 1965 – a 1959 with an extra complement of rust. They were still unique enough that bug drivers, when they met on the road, would exchange subtle “High signs”.
Summer of 1968 I drove my 1957 VW from San Francisco to Buena Vista (central Colorado mountains for anyone unfamiliar) to work on a guest ranch. Cost $12 in gas…10 gallon tank, 30 mph, 1200 miles. Used it to move horses in from pasture in the morning.
I guess I “moved to the hills” but I was no hippie, anything but!
Had 7 of these over the years, usually daily drivers but yes, fun and cheap. Alternated between these and 3/4 ton pickups.
Can we stop hearing about the Beetle as “Hitler’s car”? Can we stop hearng about Ralph Nader every time you write about a Corvair? We know these factoids and they add nothing useful about the car at hand. This is lazy writing.
Amen Tim.
You must be reading something different from what I am, says PEOPLE’S CAR CONCEIVED DURING HITLERS RULE.
Won’t happen, Tim, it’s the way we’re programmed from birth. Bad news 1st. Corvair=Nader, VW= Hitler, any Rambler = junk,,,unfortunately, it’s the 1st thing someone may think of, and writers are merely grabbing onto that. I don’t think it’s “lazy” writing. Russ, and all the writers, for that matter, do a great job. Remember, many aren’t experts on whatever subject they write up, and go with what is popular and what their research turns up. 99% of the time, a VW history is going to include Hitler.
AND,,,as much as it may surprise me and you, someone may not have ever heard of a VW/Hitler connection. Not that they could even imagine what that was like, but I feel should be said, lest we should forget,,,
At 70 years old I have heard of the connection of Hitler/VW but that is not my point, my point is that the writer didn’t write that it was Hitlers car. Can’t beat the writer for something he didn’t write.
While Hitler commissioned Dr. Porsche to create a people’s car, and there’s that famous picture of Hitler rejoicing over the prototype, I have never seen a picture of him actually riding in one. He favored heavily armored Mercedes. Interestingly, VW had to settle up with Tatra after the war for copying their design for a boxer four air cooled engine. Tatra carried the idea of an air cooled car engine to its extreme in later years.
Simply the best defined purpose vehicle made. Functional, economical, durable, serviceable, and even fit a tall man. At 6′-4″, Dad wore his top hat. He bought our 1964 when I was five. I sold the car my senior year of college with 197,000 miles. It still looked and ran perfectly, as Dad taught me how to do every maintenance item (down to cleaning the weep holes in the fenders). At a time when used bugs could be bought for $100, I sold ours for the $1,850, what Dad paid new. I also had a 1968 convertible when my bride of 44 years started dating. That one I sold after five years, doubled my money, and used the cash for the down payment on our first house. Today I have a 2013 Beetle Convertible TDI. It’s our play toy. It gives only the slight feel of the original bug, as it really does not feel like a glove you slip on to be a part of you, but it is fun. I wish government regs could be lifted to allow such a vehicle once again!
We had four bugs. Got to where I could pull the engine , solo, in 30 minutes. Out of 22,000,000, not many still around.
California, had a program to get old cars off the road, back in the ‘80’s. If it ran, you got $750. They had a bleachers set up at the junkyard where you brought the car. You could watch cars being crushed. An old guy drove up in one just like this, in pristine shape. He didn’t want anyone else to have his beloved VW, and watched it get crushed! I think I saw some tears.
Am I the only one who has never owned a VW of any model?
Sorry Angel, but yes is a distinct possibility. Not too late to change that though. You might be happily surprised.
I never have. It was strictly forbidden in my family to even mention the name. A lot of friends had Bugs, and I was even a VW mechanic, I doubt the old man knew about, for TWO WHOLE, agonizing, horrible days. This was in late 70s before my trucking shenanigans kicked in, a guy in Milwaukee had a VERY busy shop. It was a typical 2 stall building, and this is no lie, there were at LEAST a dozen Bugs waiting on repairs in the lot. He was a maniac, and it clearly wasn’t for me.
I’ve since rekindled that thought again, as I don’t want one for any long travel, it’s nice to hear Mike did that. I bet he wasn’t the only one with a swallowed #3 exhaust valve along the way. I’d consider the opposite, CO. to Cal. but not 30 mph. FB is loaded with Bugs of all kinds, and, I’m not going to post them, but $5grand would indeed buy a nice, running, driving, say, ’71 Bug and I bet I could trade the Jeep for one. We’ll see.
I figured that #3 was the problem in mine in KS but I never knew for sure. Fortunately I had some warning with it, but that’s mostly why I said I don’t want another one unless it has a Porsche transplant, or maybe if it’s just used for puttering around town, but I think there are better cars out there for the same or less money these days.
Better cars for traveling a distance for sure, and available for less money due to the Bug nostalgia. The slant 6 Chrysler products, for example, are plentiful and cost less. Is that apples and oranges?
Hi Dave,
I think it’s only comparing apples to oranges when somebody wants a car in a particular niche or a certain type. For me it’s not always about the type of car but what else can be bought for similar money that I’ve seen and would like to have. The Studebaker that was on here a while back is a good example of that (https://barnfinds.com/parked-since-81-no-reserve-1963-studebaker-gt-hawk/). It sold for $3700 on eBay and I think it’ll be a really cool car for the buyer, and it didn’t sound like it would be all that expensive to get it back on the road. Point being I’d rather buy that and spend a few thousand if necessary to get it fixed up and drive it, and I’d have an awesome classic than spend it on a VW bug.
I had one of these in the same color but mine was a ’64. I paid $450 for it with a rebuilt transmission and I put a pair of reversed rims and fat tires on the back for better cornering stability. It worked too. I drove it every day to work, took it to Lawrence KS early one summer and over into MO and then back to Denver that fall. In KS the #3 cylinder started knocking.. but lo and behold I came across one at a gas station in Lawrence for sale and it had a brand new rebuilt engine for $65, installed.. and that was for the whole car that also had an AM/FM in it and a carpet kit that I kept and put in mine. The guy even put my engine in his with the agreement that I had to tow it to the town junkyard, which I already knew about because I was foreman on an excavation crew and my boss had his office ajacent to it yard. My girlfriend also had a black ’65 and we drove it from Denver to Freeport TX, and then to San Diego and back to CO. No they’re not fast and they’re cold in the winter, but they’re fun to drive and easy on gas. But having said that I wouldn’t pay the current bid of $8150 for this.. at least not unless it had a Porsche engine transplant. ;-)
All I can think of is, I just bought my wife the cheapest model Honda atv, the Recon 250, to the tune of 6100.00. Her previous Recon being stolen out from under our bedroom window :( Now this bug ain’t really cheap, but it is nice, and I can’t help thinking I would prefer it to the Recon lol. But you gotta keep mama happy.
As an aside, my uncle once owned the Nazi governor of Hungary’s Mercedes 540k. Its been sold a couple of times since my uncle owned it. Not too long ago my mother got a call from the present owner asking for info. Yes, my Dad did drive it to his high school assistant principals job lol.
I have a ‘63 Beetle with original paint. My parents bought 19 years ago from a friend in Santa Cruz, CA. It’s the first car my brother and I ever drove.
15k for the bug. Wowzers!
Ended but NOT sold at $15,000. Did not meet reserve and far from perfect example, a very nice driver it appears.