When I was nine, my dad bought a new ’65 VW Beetle (in Ruby Red). He loved that car and was a VW man the rest of his life. Dad, ever the thrifty one, decided the new gas-sipping Beetle would be our family vacation car in the Summer of ’65. So us three kids (me, my twin brother, and my older sister) and Mom and Dad learned how to pack light and spent a week driving to historic Civil War Battlefields. Seven years later I learned to drive on that Beetle, so I’ll always have a soft spot for ’65 Volkswagens. Here’s a sunroof-optioned ’65 VW wearing its original Sea Blue paint (and a fair amount of aftermarket accessories) that’s located in Acushnet, Massachusetts and for sale here on eBay. At the time of this writing, 13 bids had been placed with the top bid totaling $8,500.
As is pretty common in online listings from private sellers, there’s no history of the car, scant information shared, and I’d like to see more photographs, but “it is what it is” as they say in Cliche Land. Based on the photos, I’m not seeing rust spots, the front and rear bumpers are decent, the trim is all there, and the glass looks good. The original Sea Blue paint is tired and faded, and there’s a lot of non-original bling trim pieces that have been added, and as Captain Obvious would point out, those aren’t the original wheels. As mentioned earlier, this Beetle has a sunroof, which I assume works. 1965 marked the second year of the crank-open steel sunroof which cost an additional $90 to the Sedan’s list price of $1,563. Of the 288,583 Beetle Sedans sold in the U.S. that year, I couldn’t find a breakdown of how many came with sunroofs. My guess is it’s not a big percent, but maybe a reader can supply that number in the comments section below.
Overall, the interior looks good, starting with the front seats (a photo of the rear seat cushion is shown in the garage). The steering wheel and door panels look original and the replaced carpet looks very good. Some non-original equipment can be spotted including the gear shift lever and knob, what looks like a radio mounted under the dash, and the foot-shaped gas pedal and headlight dimmer switch. (I had to laugh, because after Dad gave me and my twin brother the ’65 Beetle when we turned 17, we put the same goofy foot-shaped gas pedal on it.)
In the rear is VW’s legendary air-cooled 4-cylinder, 1200cc, 40 horsepower aluminum-magnesium engine (that’s been possibly. modified), which is linked to a four-speed manual transmission. The seller states, “the engine was rebuilt, runs good, driven once a week in good weather, have spare transaxle and tote of spare parts, plus several manuals, and is always garaged.” The odometer is listed at 8,000. On the surface, this appears to be a solid 58-year-old Bug and a good candidate for restoration. I was taken back a bit by the latest Hagerty value estimates for a ’65 Beetle Sedan. A #3 in Good condition is valued at $20,100, a #2 Excellent is valued at $50,400 (and a #1 Concourse is currently valued at $83,200!). I wish my late father could see those numbers. He probably would wish he hadn’t sold his ’65 Beetle for a few hundred dollars to a family member back in 1977.
De-accessorize it and you have a pretty cool bug! Way too many JC Whitney add-ons.
Rims look like 5 spoke Empi wheels.
No luggage rack?
You would think with all those chrome do-dads that owner would 1000% have a roof rack. It would be hilarious if he thought mounting a rack was “tacky”.
Why would you put a roof rack on a car with a sun roof?
For the same reason they have all that other garbage
on it – it’s for the (un)”cool factor”.
That motor is not stock.Nice to know what has been done to it.
I would add a roof rack.
Has a sun roof!
What a fun slow ride
drink that stash of sam adams and admire your toys… garage beers are best… :)
My similarly thrifty Pop had a ’64 in the very same color, and in which I later learned to drive. Also, as a family of 5, were lkewise subjected to cross-country vacation trips in that vehicle (from CA to MO along then Route 66 and I-40, some 1,650 miles, and back again every summer). Though those were some pretty miserable childhood experiences, I still have quite a fondness for old VW Beetles. I even owned a ruby red ’59 of my own in college. My wife and I went on our honeymoon it it. Perhaps someday I will own another.
Ah, yes, fond memories of ’65 Beetle I bought used in the early 70’s. It was some kind of blue/green paint with a lot of whitish primer showing through. It had a metal sunroof which after half a dozen times of being opened, the plastic crank handle broke, never to be opened again. At least 3 starters and 2 generators replaced during the 3 or 4 years I had it and used to park on a slight grade at work, so I could stick my left foot out the door and push it backwards, pop the clutch with my right foot and take off like a bat out a barrel off molasses. Great skater in the winter, too. Probably the only guy in South Jersey to hit a patch of ice, do TWO 360’s and continue in the original direction he was headed. Still rue the day it was traded in ’75 for a ’68 Renault R10, though! The Bug was a fun car to drive, just kinda “chilly” in the winter, lol.
Undercarriage pictures are necessary before I would do any bidding . The old Bugs look best with whatever original accessories VW had to offer . Anything else is tacky .
This must have been the “Cuban” edition,,now hold on, lower your weapons, the Cubans have a rather, shall we say, flamboyant taste in cars. My son visited there couple years back, and said, the color and friendliness were a welcome change from Americas black and silver and no interaction. The
foot gas pedal ( and smaller foot dimmer) was HUGE. THAT guy, and his wealthy heirs, has a place where it’s warm and a surf,, for sure.
I know, the hobby is a personal thing, and with every gee-gaw that was added drew a smile from the owner, but it looks out of place today, if that’s an issue. The wheels really make it look nice.