In September of this year, Volkswagen announced that production of the Beetle will cease in July 2019. That will mark the end of a model that has been in production in various forms since 1938. This 1963 model is listed for sale here on Craigslist. The Beetle is located in Fresno, California, and is being sold with a clean title. The seller is asking $1,800 for this car.
This little Beetle has been sitting in a barn for many years, and the seller isn’t particularly forthcoming with information on the car. The body looks to be quite straight, and I did notice that one of the tags for the ad is the term “sun baked.” That seems to be pretty appropriate. There is some surface corrosion that is obvious, but the only signs of real rust seem to be some in the driver’s side rear fender. Otherwise, it all looks to be complete and quite solid. In one of the provided shots we can get some glimpses of the floor pans, and they also look to be quite solid.
That term sun baked would certainly describe the interior quite accurately. The door trims look okay, and the dash and the wheel look good, but otherwise, the carpet is toast, and the seats will require new padding and new covers.
The rear seat actually looks worse than the fronts, and the headliner has also become quite shredded, which was a common problem. We know that the car does have an engine, but we get no indication of either the size or the condition. The presence of the gas tank and the exhaust in the back seat indicates that it probably doesn’t run.
These Volkswagen Beetles can be interesting cars. This one looks to be solid, and if it could be made mobile, it would make a quite funky commuter car. I have also seen these fitted with air suspension and turned into rat rods, and this works really well. Alternatively, you could dismantle it completely and undertake a complete restoration as this is not a difficult task with these. There are plenty of options available to you.
If this was near me, I would be on my way to pick it up. Where I live a solid ’63 beetle, even sun baked like this one, would be a good buy at that price.
I’d probably leave the body and paint as is – at least for a while. Just get it running and safely driving and enjoy it.
– John
No surprise– this one’s already gone. Great deal.
Like a Cher farewell concert tour, I’m sure the Beetle will be back again.
Not to split hairs, but the model ending production next year is called the “New Beetle” and it’s got absolutely nothing in common with these save the name.
The Golf-based cars were called “New Beetle” from 1997-2011. In 2012 the A5 Beetle came out, based on the Jetta platform, and its name was simply “Beetle”. No, they have nothing in common with the rear-engined, air-cooled Beetle, but can’t the same be said for the Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger?
Nothing in common with these save the name. . .
Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger were originally and have always remained front-engine, RWD cars. From an engineering perspective, their history is evolutionary. Similarly, the Type 1 (only informally called the Beetle) was rear-engine, RWD and remained very consistent until production ended in 2003.
In contrast, the “New Beetle” and its successor are just Golfs with a rounded panels, and a front-engine, FWD design that is not even remotely similar to the Type 1.
So no, I wouldn’t say the same for the muscle cars. They are all true to their original design. The “Beetle” ended fifteen years ago, not next year.
Just the fact it comes with a towbar makes it super simple to pick up! No renting tow dollies or trailers!
Yeah, but I think you’d at least want to bring along an extra set of wheels with tires produced sometime in the current decade! :)
Yep Marc….now we have lazy tow bar flippers….