My Dad saw a clean ragtop sunroof Bug over in Florence, Oregon recently and asked me what he thought it would be worth. I could only toss out a rough number for a decent clean driver without seeing it first, so I took a guess. Long story short a short time later he picked it up for near the exact price I estimated and now it is in his garage...in turn I'm going to buy it from him, since if he hadn't purchased it I'd never known about it given I seldom go to the coast.
He bought it from the wife of the original owner, who'd since passed away and she didn't need the car anymore, since she lives in an assisted living community (where he saw the car parked). It's been overhauled once and interior reupholstered and I believe the paint has been refurbished or resprayed but I can't be sure of to what degree, only VERY professionally. 80K original miles on the clock and it still has the California bill of sale from Thornton Motors in Stockton, CA...unbelievable!
I dont' see this car going anywhere anytime soon as clean and showroom perfect as it is...Herbie conversion? I could never consider such a thing myself...take no offense, please, but I couldn't ever imagine taking a perfect one owner car and turning it into Herbie or a Cal-Looker or (worse yet) dune buggy, like the guy at the gas station my dad filled it at on the way home.
No offense taken. I've revived enough of them from the grave to learn how to enjoy them.
Put a 53 sticker on the door and stripes over the top would do nothing to damage the car and bring a quick smile to a young child. Remember to enjoy your car.
I hear ya guys on making a car one's own...I gurantee you if I saw this same car when I was seven or eight--coming of age in terms of my passion for VW's--I'd see Herbie written all over this car... but there's tons of repainted, non-one-owner cars out there to build Herbies out of. I just couldn't do it with a one-owner and feel right about it. But that's just me and strictly my opinion...
