When I was a teenager, VW Beetles were all the rage – I knew numerous people who owned them. One of my best friends had a pair of ’66s, a ’65, and a ’64 (he kept wrecking them, managing to roll one onto the 17th fairway of a golf course!). I spent lots of time cruising, and wrenching on his fleet. The ’53-’57 oval window versions were still spotted periodically in those days, but a split window version like this 1950 example? Forget about it! You’d see one occasionally but it was a rare spotting. With that thought in mind, I’m pleased to present this pretty solid-looking split window example. It’s located in Farmingdale, New York and is available, here on Motor Classics for $84,900 (yikes!). Thanks to Larry D for this tip!
The listing for this Bug offers great images but no other details. It makes for a peculiar presentation with its red primered roof overlaying a very stock and finished-looking body. The maroon finish is solid but lacking some sheen and images of the front boot reveal paint crazing. The trim is all in place and the headlights appear to be wearing “tea strainers” or some similar sort of protective grille – haven’t seen these on a Beetle before. This VW gives off a very original vibe and perhaps that’s the reason for the primer; the roof was in lousy shape and needed some finishing but the desire was to preserve the rest of the finish – strictly speculation on my part.
The interior is in rough shape! It’s a simple, spartan environment on its best day and the big issue is, obviously, the condition of the upholstery. The door cards haven’t fared much better as they’re heavily water-stained. Interesting to see is the instrument panel and how much emphasis was placed on time, noted by an outsized, centrally located clock – probably a valuable piece today. The rest of the simple instrument panel is intact including the clear and easy-to-read 80 MPH speedometer. Of note is the accelerator pedal, it’s a roller.
Power is provided by a 30 HP, 1100 CC, flat four-cylinder, air-cooled, rear-mounted engine driving a four-speed manual transaxle. While the engine certainly looks complete, original (except the fuel filter), and familiar, the listing makes no mention of operating aptitude – further inquiry will be necessary.
A little research tells us that this Beetle is one of 82K produced, worldwide, in 1950, a number almost double the ’49 output – the concept was catching on! The distinctive split rear window continued into the ’53 model year but was upgraded to the more familiar oval shape during that production year, thereby ending what many consider to be one of the early Bug’s most endearing features. One thing not too endearing is the $84,900 asking price. There is a make-an-offer option, but still… I really like this game-changing little car, just not $84K worth of liking; how about you?
The generator belt looks odd…
They’re only original once, right?
Seriously: this thing looks like a candidate for a pretty complete teardown and refurbishing, not to mention a LOT of cosmetic work. With that in mind, my opinion is that $84K is just one of those Cloudcoocooland things.
Never drove a Splittie, so don’t know what the mechanical brakes are like. Pretty sure a ’50 had the no-synchro transmission.
From all I’ve been told, the early Beetles were pretty raw and unrefined. I had a ’54 (hydraulic brakes, synchro transaxle, a little more power) for a while years ago, and would prefer that if buying now.
Never seen the dash before on one of these. Very dissimilar to what came after. And very cool.
Too many beetles have been lost by having a cheap fuel filter above the electrics, better to have it outside the engine bay. Ask me how I know…?
TBAU,
Not only is that cheap plastic fuel filter in the engine compartment, but it’s directly above the ignition coil connections. And to make the situation worse, there are NO clamps on the fuel line connections! As the rubber lines slowly relax their pushed-on grip on the filter in/out lines, one of those rubber lines will [without warning] pop off and spray pressurized fuel all over the place! I hope the owner has $85,000 in stated value insurance!
The interior look at the roof and the primer all over the top, plus the new river in the split windows, makes me wonder if the original top had major issues and was replaced with either a nice original or maybe a steel repo, although the latter seems unlikely. New or newish rubber in the window; I think the origs would have metal trim that I know I’d have replaced or reused. Def need more info…. Especially at that price.
I never had a split windshield, but I did have a ’53 ragtop with a ’58 Porsche Super engine, a ’53 Porsche trans and ’53 Porsche breaks. Everything bolted right up except the parking brake, but a grinder to the pushrod took care of that.
Seems today, memories are the hot button. Jog a memory, riches await. I’m sure someone still hanging on to old Beatle boots, just in case. People, with lots of money and no place left to spend it, can take memories to the bank, and the VW is one of those such memory/money makers. If you never had any encounter with a VW,,well, I don’t know how to finish that, they were standard issue for our youth. Fond memories of packing all your friends in one, or when it ended up on the HS steps, all come flooding back with a VW Bug, and apparently, its cost is no object. If buyers are too young for THOSE memories, surely $80 grand should be enough to repeat those shenanigans,,,HA! Eat your hearts out, we had that kind of fun FOR FIFTY BUCKS,,,you can see why I’m bitter. With no gas gauge( 1953 was the 1st year for the reserve lever), better do your math at the pump.
For that price I’d want it to be in like new condition.
1950 deluxe models did have hydraulic brakes. I have a 51 deluxe. Standard models (no chrome and painted hubcaps, gray interior) had the cable brakes. Mine definitely an attention getter when I drive it. Drives the same as an early oval window. The reserve fuel lever is there too. I think 84k is a bit ambitious for that one looking like it does. You could find immaculate ones for less if your patient.
$85K for a VW? This guy is bonkers. Price for a VW at half of what he’s asking would be high.
Back in The 70’s , a California shop sold split window kits that could be welded in place of the original rear window. If done right, couldn’t tell from genuine. Tip off was no semaphores.
I love the old Beetles, although, I have never owned one. Drove a 60s Karrman Ghia once.
Had a cousin who owned nothing but VWs her entire life. As a kid, (4-5 yrs old) used to ride in that carpeted well behind the rear seat. Hated it when I got too big for it.
I like the old Beetles for their parking light assembly. Their small taillights and “nose” license plate light. No gas gage and the reserve lever. And of course, if it’s old enough, the semaphore turn signals.
My opinion is , Bugs were great until the curved windshield. They went downhill after that.
Back in my day, you could not look in any direction without seeing VW Bug. Great times
I do believe the VWs were designed so that a lay person could keep them running on their own. I have owned them for over forty years and only had to seek professional help (!) when I needed a case line bored or a stripped out hole case-saved. The whole engine, even in the Supers, only weighs about a hundred pounds. Love em.
I don’t remember ever seeing an instrument pane in a VW that looked like that.
I wouldn’t give 86 grand for forty of these.
Remember that time in ’63 when Chevy tried to recreate the cool factor of the bug’s split window for the Corvette, and didn’t quite get it right?
Howard A , Talk about memories here is one for you. 1969 auto shop class senior year… 3 of us tried to put a 60s GM air conditioner on this kids VW. We had some pretty good engineering/design skills ( learned in vocational arts classes)as far as mounting the compressor and some hardware. Wanted to make sure the compressor clutch would work. Fired it up touched the compressor wires and everything stopped. Project abandoned.