This 1961 Volkswagen may look like a pointless project but if the current bidding suggests anything, it’s that air-cooled VW fans see plenty of potential. Early Beetles have unique details that enthusiasts prize, and the bevy of documentation that is shown in the photos suggests that there was a long-term owner who loved this Bug. The front end damage looks bad but may in fact be superficial given the Lego-like assembly of original Beetles. From the doors back, it looks entirely restorable, but our bodywork gurus in the audience may have a better sense of what’s possible. Find it here on eBay with bids to $2,175 and no reserve.
I love the shot of the Beetle from this angle. There’s something about the fat tires and rally-style wheels with a ton of dish that makes the Beetle look far tougher than it is. It does work, however, and plenty of people have hopped up Bugs over the years. The other thing I dig is the color, which looks to be original based on the color of the painted dash (which typically was done at the factory to match the exterior.) This has patina-look all over it, although it will be a challenge to match the front once the repairs are made. Hopefully, a donor car with matching paint and some patina will be found for the rebuild.
The interior looks quite nice for a project car. To me, this always suggests some level of care was allocated towards the car in question, even if it hasn’t been used in decades. There are other photos in the listing you should absolutely check out that show seemingly every manual and marketing collateral that was given to the first owner when new; seeing it all still with the Beetle and in decent shape really does convince me this VW was someone’s pride and joy before it was whacked. The paint matches inside the door jams, too, suggesting the outside shade is indeed its original color. The seller does show photos of the rear floor having rotted out, likely due to the factory battery placement.
No word on engine health, but the listing indicates the mileage of 47,800 may be original, and the interior condition supports that (possibly). If the mileage is true, the engine could very well be original – but we all know air-cooled VW engines were swapped out regularly when a mechanical fault developed, so you can’t assume its numbers-matching. Regardless, it looks complete, and it sure seems like this Beetle was parked shortly after it was wrecked. The current bid price is certainly worth it in parts alone, but I suspect it will go higher before the auction is over. Is $5,000 possible? I think it could be.
Repairable, but with the initial buy-in already at $2,500 with six days to go, the buyer’s going to quickly be upside-down, especially if the damage got into the frame head. I note that the car has a tow dolly setup as well.
:),,let’s have some fun with this one, I bet just about everyone that was cool, remembers THIS scene. VWs attracted a let’s say, a more rebellious group that still needed wheels to get to the rock concert. Let’s look:
you’ve got the “Autovox Transmobil TR3” portable car radio( circa 1965) with “The Seeds, You’re Pushin’ Too Hard” playing loud and trimmed turn signal lever to facilitate removal, ash try open( smokin’ something?) gas pedal stuck to the floor, bent steering wheel,,,dude, traffic stopped, and with the 2 or 3 working brakes, not including emergency, more than once this played out. I don’t think the broken windshield was the result of the accident, dent in dash, possibly later, and if it was a tree or something or that truck/Cadillac with no damage,, at least we got it home, and was the start of many a dune buggy or Baja Bug project. Just get the dented stuff off before the old man comes home.
Looks like the 40hp, 1st year, push button door handles, newer front turn signals, and let’s get serious for a sec, who knows what that round knob is by the shift lever? Hint, it was useless,,and see the “gas reserve” in front of the shift lever? Gas gauges, while available aftermarket, were a couple years away. I think the reserve was .8 gal. or about 25 miles. Had to be quick.,I’ve toyed with the idea of a Bug lately, never had one myself, and an instant smile from anyone over 60,,,by gar, that takes me back,,,far out man,,,if you don’t have any VW memories,,well, I feel sorry for you. We had a blast!
Button next to the gearshift?
Hot air. Heating.
Best not to use.
Ah yes, nothing like the smell of oil burning oil in the morning to defrost the windshield….or maybe one corner of it.
Yep, heat control knob. My ’71 bus heat never worked – all the plumbing was rusted out long before I took ownership. Used it for six years as a DD and loved every mile.
It was succeeded by a ’64 Beetle that blew little heat until I rebuilt the engine and installed new heater boxes and plumbing. While I still had to carry an ice scraper for the *inside* of the windshield in GA winters, it did put out enough heat that I didn’t need the wool blanket for longer cold-weather trips any more.
“Eeyore” was succeeded by a ’00 New Beetle TDI, which I ran out to 270K miles before selling to a high schooler for his first car. He ran it another 6-7 years before it finally expired.
The NB was succeeded by a ’13 “Beetle” (poor naming convention, VW!), that, once I had been driving for a while, I realized it had none of the charm of either the original, nor the “New,” other than the shape. Basically a Toyota with a VW badge. Only kept it 18 months.
My retirement projects are a pair of early ’60s Beetles, and I can’t wait to get them back on the road. Thankfully, they won’t be DDs…
Had 57 VW convertible with factory installed gas gauge. as well as the handle that supplied an extra gallon or two. gfraduateds gto porsches but still miss the VW 60+ years later.
Good Lord. Did everyone survive that wreck?!
Had a ’61 with the fabric sunroof. Good car, but the only heat was provided by the inhabitants!
That wreck escaped being a conflagration by about six inches.
VW guys are a strange bunch. All of them have their own “parts department” out in back of the garage. This one still has lots of doo-dads attached and is ripe for picking.
this beetle looks squashed to me but i am not an expert on bugs but i will say good parts but not at 2100.00
I’ll take $50 to haul it away.
The rear seat was lifted to show where the battery goes, only problem is the floor that supports the battery is gone.
Floor pan rust on a bug? :)
The companies that sell floor pan panels have made a good living over the years.
If you’re familiar with Bugs and give the pictures a good look, there’s a lot of rust here.
My first car was a 61 bug, painted light blue metallic. Was in overall nice condition and cost me $500. I ran a battery powered cassette player (hidden in the glove compartment) attached to the car’s radio speaker.
My 59 VW bug was sold for a 54 Chevy pickup I think, but it was around 1973 in N CA 130 miles north of SF. I rebuilt the 36 HP engine with JC Whitney parts: new cylinders and pistons, bearings, HD oil pump & cooler, Bosch centrifugal advance distributor, headers. It went well down the dirt roads and highways in Mendocino County.
I miss JC Whitney. The internet killed many catalog companies. JC Whitney was one of the best for reasonably priced auto parts. They also had many odd ball parts that no one else sold.
Like a rope starter pulley for the VW!
It looks worse than it truly is. Besides Bondo fixes everything!
I tend to repeat some stories, mostly for the new readers. A friend I’ve known all my life, met him in HS, 1972. Upon graduation, he picked up a ’58 Bug for $50, not bad, but a blown up 36 HP. If unfamiliar with the VW 36 HP, the oil cooler was right above #3 cylinder, and it ran hot. Usually, the exhaust valve would come unglued, shutting down the fun in a hurry. We had the luxury in a big city, to have a junkyard nearby, and had a PILE of VW motors, bodies long gone. We would get a used head, used piston, even used the old head gasket, maybe $20 bucks? We didn’t care if the pushrod tubes leaked, and that happened a couple times. We had it down to a science. After it backfired, we knew what happened, and got towed home, it was raise the back, 4 bolts on the transmission, gas line, throttle cable, a few wires, and a bumper jack lowered it down, and off to “Larry’s”. “More VW parts, a boyz, ( in his faked broken English), you a know where they are”, and we slapped it back together, and cruisin’ the lakefront that very night. I don’t see anything that remotely relates to that today., :(
Judging only from the evidence of the photos, my guess is that the tow bar came off and it rammed into the motorhome that was towing it ???
Did the same thing in my Mom’s 67, left-turned a guy I didn’t see because an inexperienced driver was blinded by a low afternoon September sun. This was in 1978, and my folks got it fixed for $700, not including paint (so it stayed in primer); in ’82 Mom was rear-ended, blew rear frame members out, that was that.
[Imgur](https://imgur.com/JHf7rOG)
Didn’t bend the gas tank, though. That’s a punishing hit.
I have an original paint 1963 Beetle. My parents bought it from one of our closet friends in 2007. In 2016 my brother, who was 16 at the time, was driving the car and a guy in a Cadillac DTS pulled out in front of him, but instead of speeding up to get out of my brother’s way, he stopped. My brother hit the brakes, the wheels locked up and the Beetle slid into the Caddy. The Caddy was turning right when it pulled out, so the left fender and frunk lid were fine but the right fender was crunched and the bumper pushed in so the spare tire well was crunched as well. Now, a classic car getting whacked is bad enough, but an unrestored classic with original paint getting whacked is just the worst! However, we took the car to a frame straightener, who, amazingly, repaired the crash damage while saving the original paint!