We love package deals. It can be a great way to buy a project because you will start out with plenty of spares. At the same time, transporting two or three cars, or in this case four, can get costly. But, if you live near White City, Oregon and love old VWs, this could be a great chance to buy yourself a lot of three Beetles and one Squareback. These cars aren’t all that big, so transporting them a short distance could be done relatively easily and without having to make too many trips. Take a look at this lot here on eBay. Our thanks to Jim S for the tip!
These cars come in varying conditions, but will all need work. They are all missing parts, with the Squareback being the only one with an engine still in place. Between the three Bugs, one could put together a complete car less the motor. Finding a replacement motor shouldn’t be difficult or all that costly. Seeing as you won’t have a number’s matching car, we would drop an upgraded motor in whichever one we decided to finish. Once we completed one of the Bugs and the Square Back, we would either finish parting the other two Bugs out or sell them to someone needing the sheet metal and left over parts. Of course if you have the means you could build a fleet of Beetles, doing different types of modifications to each one.
As much as we love the Beetle, we are struggling with the seller’s asking price. If there were a couple engines included or if the Squareback was complete and running, we could see this easily being worth $5k. As they sit, it will be tough to get half that for them. Sadly, the seller doesn’t seem too motivated to let them go, so we will guess that they will end up being left outside until they are past being salvageable. Hopefully we are wrong and someone will snatch up all four cars up and get at least one of them back on the road. Sometimes package deals like this can be a great buy and other times you end buying a lot of expensive rust. Do you think this package deal could turn out to be a decent buy?
The Beetles are different years so putting “together a complete car” would look akin to Frankenstein cruising through the neighborhood. The Squareback most likely has a severely rusted underside and any parts will have to be scrounged as there is no swapping with the Beetles. $5K? Maybe $500.
My first foreign car was a ’67 squareback—haven’t owned an American car since.
Struggling with the price? I agree. The price would be okay if they could be coaxed to run onto a trailer under their own power but as for the way they are…well, I’m not a VW guy so I can’t say for certain except IMO the seller is asking too much.
Old VW Beetle are wonderful cars to restore. Restoration candidates are easy and affordable to find and parts are easily to get, both used and reproduction. That being said, it would be crazy to spend this much on three Beetle sedans; in most markets, you wouldn’t have to look that hard to find a better deal. The Squareback is interesting, but just doesn’t have the appeal to most people that an old Bug does. Some people love them, some hate them, but, increasingly, people just don’t remember them or know what they are and they are not as sought after as they probably should be. Parts for the type threes are harder to come by, especially used parts. Reproduction parts for type threes are easier to find now than they were ten or more years ago, but without the high volumn demand, they cost more than Bug parts. If you want a Bug, there are better buys. If you want a type three, get the nicest one you can find.
Now if these were all Beetle convertibles…
the kids contract is more complex than buying a cellphone…how much is scrap steel going for ,again?
I don’t think they are only fit for scrap (I think you could do something with the yellow and orange cars or part them) but a major price adjustment (reality check) is in order. I’d say $1800 would be top dollar for the lot! People who have never restored a car just can’t apprieciate that there is 8-10 grand worth of parts and materials required to restore one of these, and that’s doing nearly all the work yourself! When the car is completed, the top value will be 8-10 grand! The joy is in the doing! Nobody’s gonna get rich with these.
I absolutely agree with Brian. You need to go carefully on this one and the price is too high.