Calling all 'air'headz!!!

[Amy x]

hello hello! i need some help!
my mate's Dad has asked me to help him sell this Bug, I love it!
he's not a VW fan (is a skoda head lol!) he bought it for his lady friend as she thought it would be 'cute' for the summer....think they used her all of 3 times!

as far as i know its a 68 tax exempt 1500 Beetle, but thats about the sum of it, stops starts MOT'd till mid of next year.

How much do they fetch? would it better to try to sell it more towards the summer time? is it a popular shape/year etc? if i was going to advertise it for sale what things do i need to point out in the add that aircooled people would look for when buying??

Thanking you muchly

A xx

[Shamrockez]

Erm, hate to tell you this, but it would be worth considerably more if someone hadn't hacked off the roof! :(

Home made cabs can be very badly done - no strengthening put in when taking out the roof, roof doesn't normally fit well and they tend to leak. Personally I wouldn't touch one with a barge pole!

On the plus side, it's a 68 which means it's tax exempt and it's a late Bug so parts are easily avaliable and cheaper than the more desirable earlier Bugs.

As for price - it really depends on the condition. Could be anything from £50 - £2k.

[Amy x]

Ahhhh i didn't realise that! so someones taken the roof off its not factory?? Luce how can you tell coz i'm not sure that he realises and i don't know enough about oldies to notice that from a pic!!

[Shamrockez]

This is a factory cab (Neil's) - made by Karmann for Volkswagen:
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f320/neilmiles/1303%20for%20sale/DSC01405.jpg

You can tell by the line where the roof meets the top of the screen. On Neil's it's a clean edge, there's no poppers, and it fits snugly. It also looks 'thick' and will have support bars under it. You can also see support bars width ways along the roof and it's rounded, rather than dipping in the middle.

You can also tell by the doors. A real cab will have a thicker portion of metal above the door trim. Erm, Nel's has been detrimmed so perhaps not the best example - see this one:
http://www.covvc.org/images/68BeetleC.jpg

The rear side windows will also be triangle shaped. Most of the time home made cabs have no side rear window - it will be either non existant or part of the roof. This window winds down into the body work. There is a chrome bar on top of it, and also a chrome bar on top of the front door windows.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p7af336e78ff42db39ed645a8910162a0/e80995ac.jpg

The hood will sit like this when down:
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f320/neilmiles/1303%20for%20sale/DSC01399.jpg

On home made it will probably be removed and stuffed in the bonnet. There is also no vents below the rear window on a karmann cab - they have vents in the decklid to cool the engine.


Some examples of home made ones:
http://www.ochryfoel.u-net.com/Beetle.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd105/kingbeno/beetle1.jpg

Then there's the karmann badge - should be on the front quater of all real karmanns - but of course you can buy them and stick them on a fake, or take them off a real one.

there's also strengthing underneath, but I think you have enough tips to go on for now :)

[Shamrockez]

Most of the conversions are carried about by a company called Paris Beetles - see here:
http://www.parisbeetles.co.uk/convertible%20kits.htm

[1958 Harry]

Stick it on Ebay - see what he gets for it. I agree with what Lucy says, personally I dont like roof choped bugs either - theres lots of peeps who do tho.

Could also try asking on VZi, what they reckon its worth :)

[Amy x]

Thanks Guys! mucho Help! i would have never known from that pic that if was a chop! just have to break the news to him now, hope he realised and just forgot to tell me lol!

i'll Stick it on Volkszone in the for sale bit, anywhere else i could stick it that would help to shift??

[Shamrockez]

Hopefully he didn't pay Karmann prices for it!

Stick it on some local forums near where he lives too - that always helps.

[sharkbait]

Lucy's done an oustanding job on that description of non Karmann Cabs! Can't believe some of the aftermarket conversions out there... they're ermmm beyond description.
Having said that, someone will buy it, but I'd say wait till summer gets close, there will be a lot more interest then :)

[Shamrockez]

I sound like a right geek don't I? :lol: :o

Yeah I've seen some shocking examples too! :eek:


I'm also a little worried that the Paris site doesn't say anything about adding any strengthening!

[sharkbait]

Lucy you are a geek, but I wouldn't change you in any way! Who else could I rely on to tell me beetle facts? Seriously, I never realised how big the strengtheners were underneath a real cab till I got mine.
Even so, it still feels a bit 'bendy' when you go over really rough terrain or say, train tracks at level crossings at any kind of speed over 30! Would hate to think what the unstrengthened ones are like.

[Shamrockez]

Yeah they're pretty hefty! Some people don't understand that when you take the roof off a car you need to make up the lost strength (plus more) underneath to stop it collapsing. When we bought my Mum's 02 Karmann Cab my sisters wanted Dad to buy the New Bug cab which was for sale at the time - it was used in Austin Powers and a conversion and they couldn't get it into their head that it probably wouldn't have any strengthening put in it because it was basically a film prop and how that could be very dangerous - their response was "well it's new so it's got to be stronger than an old one, even without a roof" :rolleyes: :laughing: a couple years ago I got the 'pleasure' of seeing such a Newbie - someone had hacked the roof off a V5 Sport and it had collapsed in the middle :(

I've never been far enough in Tina (Mum's) to notice the bendyness - infact I don't think i've been anywhere in her other than nicking the keys and taking her for a sneaky spin round the farm bit where we live :lol: Perhaps I'll drag her out of the barn at Christmas and give her a clean and take some decent pics of her if it's not horrible weather :)

[sharkbait]

Yeah, you should do that! Get yourself driving her... would be cool. I only notice over really bumpy stuff, like I said... rest of the time it just feels like a 'normal' bug. Except that the headlining seems closer to me cos the roof is so thick. It's actually warmer than my old tin top one was!

[Shamrockez]

I'm not on the insurance :( and so far my attempts to convince my Dad it would be a good idea to add me, have failed :lol:

I've not driven a tin top in so long I probably can't remember where the roof comes :o :( but Tina's roof will seem really close considering I'm used to driving Robbie :lol: