Posted on 10/07/2018 10:06:07 AM PDT by BenLurkin
According to the seller, this Beetle was purchased new in Beaverton, Oregon, in 1964 as a backup for the owner's 1957 Beetle; the car cost $1757 when new. Apparently, he never needed it, as it was promptly put into storage and never licensed, insured, or driven, and was only moved once: after two years of keeping the Beetle in a friend's storage unit, the owner constructed his own building and moved it there, where it sat from 1966 to 2016. The 23rd mile on the odometer rolled over as the Beetle was pulled out of storage, and the original battery has never even been activated.
Finished in black with a red-and-white interior, the Beetle looks as if it has just rolled off the showroom floor. The window sticker is still attached, and the windshield wipers and hubcaps have never been fitted and are still in their boxes. Having always been stored inside under a sheet, it had until now never seen sunlight, according to the seller. The car is powered by a 40-hp 1.2-liter flat-four engine mated to a 4-speed manual transmission.
After the original owner died in 2014, his collection was passed on to his nephew, who is the person now selling the Beetle. He says the car was returned to running condition after coming out of storage without anything being done to affect its originality.
(Excerpt) Read more at caranddriver.com ...
Karmann Ghia.
Karmann Coachworks of Germany built it. Ghia Studios of Italy designed the chassis.
My first car was a 1960 KG - before they slowed the turning radius and mushed the suspension.
Some KGs were actually rally roadsters in the 1950s, when sports cars were not also hot rods. I used to see some on the street with racing numbers when I was a boy.
Volkswagen.
Kubelwagen.
Porsche 356.
Karmann Ghia.
Rentault 4CV (?).
LOL! That’s funny! Today you would be accused of rape just for being there....
I slept in the back of mine in KOA campgrounds on my way (solo) from the east coast to the west coast to pick up my husband on his return from VN. Safer times, to say the least.
The battery and starter on a VDub were in the back of the car, and the ignition switch was in the front on the dash. After a while the wires to the solenoid created resistance that 6 volts couldn’t push through. You would have to crawl under the car and cross the contacts with a screwdriver to start the car. Always had to make sure it wasn’t in gear so it didn’t roll over me.
And don’t get me started on the heater boxes. Before they came up with the “Fresh Air System,” they would pump the engine cooling air over the cylinder fins to heat the cab. VWs always leaked oil and the oil would cook on the cylinder fins and get blown through the heater system into the cab.
The most pathetic thing about the VW Beetle is that when its sales starting pushing upwards 500-700k during the late 60’s, the idiots in Detroit tried to compete by making such great cars as the Pinto, Nova, Gremlin...
Look at the wheelbases and engine specs — they mimic the Bug, but, of course, managed to actually be worse. Had to specially engineer that, I guess.
“The ole boys down at the coffee shop always said if you’d just buy a new car and cover it up and keep it in storage somewhere, it’d be worth a million dollars some day...”
Somehow I don’t think that would apply to a Chevy Vega or Ford Pinto.
The Corvair was a contender. But Nader killed it.
No but the heater boxes have tiny pinholes so that the new owner will suffer carbon monoxide poisoning when he or she drives it in the winter the first time. Think “Christine”.
The Corvair came earlier, before the Beetle was on Detroit’s radar.
That said, the Corvair was part of a concerted effort by GM/Ford/Chrysler to respond to a small car craze following the ‘56 Suez Crisis and ‘57 recession.
And unlike the late 60s sad efforts to mimic the Beetle, the early 60’s smaller platforms such as the Corvair, Tempest, Falcon and others were truly innovative (and led directly to the muscle cars).
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