My first car was a VW Beetle so I am always excited to see clean examples like this 1964 VW Beetle. With a claimed 84,000 original miles the car presents very well. The Beetle is for sale by the second owner who provides quite a few details about the original owner who purchased the car new for his daughter. After driving the car through high school and college she returned it to her father who stored the car for 47 years. The Beetle can be found here on craigslist in Edinburg, Texas where the seller has set a firm price of $10,000.
The current owner rescued the car from its slumber and performed a light restoration to bring it to its current condition. The car is rust free and still wears all its original sheet metal and retains its original floor pan. A fresh coat of paint, new running boards, and window rubber complete the exterior restoration. I would prefer to see the original paint here, but the new paint in the original factory color looks pretty good. All the chrome and trim pieces appear to be intact and in good condition giving this little beetle a nice clean appearance.
Inside the engine compartment is the original 1200 cc engine. A new battery and fresh gas were all it took to bring this little engine back to life after being parked for 47 years. The engine compartment could use some sprucing up and a good detailing. The Beetle also retains its original 6-volt electrical system. A complete overhaul of the braking system makes this a nice running and driving car.
Under the bonnet could use some sprucing up as well including a new wire cover and trunk liner. These are readily available and relatively inexpensive so this should be an easy fix. The window washer bottle valve also appears to have gone missing, but this too is a readily available aftermarket part and should be easy to rectify. It looks like the original jack is there but no sign of the original tool kit.
The interior restoration was completed with factory correct upholstery including two-tone door panels while retaining all original dash components including the factory AM radio. The seller claims everything is in working order with no issues.
All in all, this is a nice example of a period-correct Beetle that could be driven daily or used as a weekend cruiser. If this was your Beetle what would you do? Would you drive it or stash it away for another 47 years?
Drive it and enjoy it for what it is, a reliable, economical, trouble free, iconic motor car. I have had several and even the ’56, ’57 1100cc and the ’62 1200cc were fantastic little vehicles. I used to drive the ’62 from Harare, Zimbabwe, to Durban, South Africa, a distance of just about exactly 1000 miles non stop other than for gas, regularly, and it never ever missed a beat.
I agree with ken, who knows what the future, if any, will bring. Have fun with it now. Stuff like this doesn’t come up often, because they were all but thrown away. Like an old cell phone, why would you keep it? They were never intended to be anything special. Sold cheaply, made millions of them to transport the masses dependably and economically,( as opposed to today, charge a fortune, and sell only a few, mentality) used for X amount of years, then discarded. Come to think of it, the premise for all cars. I think as the years go by, and people that actually buy these find out how inadequate they are for todays travel, the “cute” factor will fade, the bubble will burst, and nobody will want one. How many ’64 VW’s do you see on the roads as it is today. In the meantime, $10g’s for a Bug? Preposterous,,,but here we are.
Right you are. Gas tank in the front , motor in the back, you in the middle- sitting on a seat with a very flimsy frame. The heater works best in the middle of August and almost everything today gets better gas mileage. But of course I’d do it again and 10gs is a bargain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctin21yrfcA
Very much worth it. Good find. My 4th car was a ’69 type 1. Not fast, but fun and very easy to work on.
Wow. My mother had one exactly like this one. Even the same year. Great little practical cars. I always think of Herbie when he made his stage appearance. Great memories.
Seems like a lot of dough, right? It’s really not. A fair-to-average Beetle will cost 3 to 5 grand, and by the time you’ve got the thing straightened out and flying right, you can wind up well in excess of ten large. And those that say ‘nahhhh…’ have a habit of not looking at receipts.
’64 isn’t the most desirable of years, but it is in great shape and absolutely worth the asking price. I wish I had space for it.
My parents bought a 1960 brand new in Germany, drove/ferried it to Sweden and put it on a boat to California. My first car was also a Beetle and also a 1964, but with that sweet fabric pull back full size sunroof. Now back in the day, I could identify every year of Beetle no matter how small the change was from the previous year. Such as ’67 (backup lights), ’68 (new tail lights with integrated backup lights), ’66 (the 1600 badge), etc. What has me puzzled is I believe it has the wrong license plate light and wrong front turn signals. My ’64 had the narrow clear turns and if I remember correctly, they didn’t change to the wide amber ones until the tail lights changed in ’68. Also, my ’64 had the narrow ‘Jimmy Durante nose’ looking rear license plate light, not this wide one which I think was a ’65 or ’66 change. Again, this was 50+ years ago so I may be incorrect. Just didn’t look right to me.
I see what you mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNlu5Rt6_vA
On the other hand, perhaps ’64 was a change-over year:
https://www.vwsouthcoast.com/details-1964-volkswagen-bug-used-84445.html
We had a ’64 Beetle and the sunroof was the smaller metal one with the crank, unlike the full length sliding “fabric” one with a hook that locked it closed one in the ’62 that we owned before the ’64. Our ’64 had the narrow wide license plate light, not Jimmys schnozzola like our ’62 had. both were excellent commuter cars for my Dad for his daily trip to N.Y.C. from Rockland County N.Y. and back . After he was done with the ’64 I got it and made a dune buggy out of it when I bought a body off of a co-worker, that was a fun car.
In the photo with the car on the trailer the rear decklid (engine cover) appears to be missing. I wonder if the replacement was from a later model.
suprarossa, according to my books, everything is correct on this car. Turn signals were enlarged in October of ’63, then again for the 1970 model year. The ones on this car are correct. The license plate light was also enlarged in August of ’63. You could very well have had a very early ’64 that didn’t have these changes yet. That wasn’t uncommon for VW.
It’s also possible you had a ’63 that was registered as a ’64. That happened back then in some states, depending on when the car was sold and first registered.
I’d fly out and draft behind a semi on the e-way all the way home
Sweet little bug, Id take her in a second!!! A few piddly things wrong Id have to change back to factory, the chrome trim for the window rubber would be first..The joy I get from driving my 67′ is wonderful…FUN!!!
Great little car! Add some Herbie decals,
teach my neice to drive a stick, and let the
fun begin! Seems she’s always had a thing for Herbie anyway. Too bad a lot of
them were turned into dune buggies though. And the video, I think I might’ve
seen it a long time ago. This is one way
to put my neice into a cheap dependable
car she’ll like.
The price is too high! It would be a great weekend cruiser like the car shows, especially at the local Sonics drive ins! The only issue with this car is the gas tank. Unless this engine is started at least 15 minutes every two weeks and the tank is kept full then there are no serious tank rust issues. I’ll probably come to Edinburg this weekend since I live nearby. I’m ready for some good ol’ Texas horse tradin’ pardner! Yee haa!
If I had not just bought a new toy a week ago, I would gladly pay him 10K. Fly in and drive it back to Florida. This is a really perfect find. Love it!