The ubiquitous Volkswagen Beetle is another one of those cars that is eminently available, which can work against sellers hoping for a quick transaction. There’s always a car out there, maybe even in your neighborhood, so there’s little sense of urgency to buy. However, occasionally you can find one that’s been looked after and has some nice upgrades that could save you some money in the long run. This 1970 Volkswagen Beetle convertible listed here on eBay is a claimed garage find that may have a rebuilt engine and sports some attractive wheels; the seller claims it needs a paint job and floor pans.
Paint-wise, it looks decent to me, so it must be a bit of a ten-footer once you get up close to it. The Bug appears to have been lowered as well, as it sits darn near perfect over those wheels. Speaking of the wheels, those appear to be a set of Empis which are a popular upgrade in the air-cooled Bug community. The top looks to be in OK shape as well, which is perhaps indicative of years of being stored in the garage. I wish the seller would elaborate on the paint condition as it looks wholly decent here, but perhaps there is rust bubbling in places we can’t see in the photos.
The seller notes that the engine features a “….gold-painted block that tells me that the motor was rebuilt by Mofoco,” which stands for Mofoco Enterprises out of Wisconsin. They are a household name in the engine and transmission rebuilding world for air-cooled VWs but don’t have the best reputation due to long lead times and poor communication; however, the overall quality report seems to suggest they build good products, so if you can confirm that it was indeed a rebuild unit, you could have a good engine on your hands. Again, looking at the paint here, I’m not seeing too many obvious flaws in the photos.
The seller rattles off a long list of replacement parts that suggest a partial restoration has at least been attempted. It seems most of these parts are still new in the box, and include “….carpet, 4 fender beads, new kick panels, new sun visors, car cover, convertible boot.” So, mostly interior bits, which makes sense if the engine has already been replaced (and perhaps the transmission as well – wishful thinking, but one can dream.) The opening bid is $5,500 and there’s no reserve, which seems like a fair number for an attractive Beetle convertible that comes with a cache of new parts.
Where is it located at writer?
Says it is located in Wisconsin in the eBay ad
70 was the last year of the torsion bar front suspension in the convertible, once the Super Beetle with struts came out it’s what all the rest of the ragtops had.
Floorboards are not an easy or cheap replacement in a convertible. The heater channels have major support in them to support the body. Not a job for the inexperienced to attempt unless you have buddies with this experience.
Just a couple of dings in the rear fenders from what I can spot in the photos; those can be touched-up and smothed out.
Too bad it’s red
This brings back a lot of memories for me. My first convertible was a ’68 Beetle. It was beige with a beige interior and black top. It was also beige because my dad had to co-sign on the loan, and I knew he would never do it unless the car was his favorite color. I already had a robin’s egg blue ’67 Beetle that he had picked out for me, but it turned out not to be a hard sell. I also had to listen one more time about the time his brother-in-law parked a convertible in someone’s front yard and their goats ate the soft top off the car while everyone was eating Sunday dinner. I promised to keep my Beetle away from goats. At least it didn’t have the dreaded power windows he feared since I might drive off a bridge into a river and drown for not being able to lower the windows to escape. I’m sure my dad wasn’t the only one afraid of certain auto accessories.
I’ve done 18 cal bugs back when, and always wanted a convertible this might just work…..
SOLD for $6,325.