You Want How Much? 1955 Volkswagen Samba Microbus De Luxe 23 Window
This next car comes as a tip from John who also included some commentary — all words are his: I realize the market for old VW busses is higher than a Deadhead on a double dose of Owsley’s finest, but please tell me that the price of this one is completely off in fantasy land. Find part of the rotten, dismembered corpse of a 1955 Volkswagen Microbus De Luxe Samba, Factory 23 window, Type 241 in Richmond, Virginia listed for $34,500 on Hemmings. I get that a well-earned patina can be cool and lend a certain cred to an old survivor, but after several decades mouldering in the Virginia woods this one seems to be at least as much oxide as iron.
The seller has quite helpfully cut what’s left of this hulk into small pieces for easy shipping.
Note that this vehicle originally came with a 4-speed manual transmission (not included). The engine is also missing. And, it seems, all of the running gear and at least most of the interior. Oh yeah, and the frame – that would be an extra $17,500, plus shipping from a different source. It looks like you might get 2 of the 23 original windows. The odometer is included and shows 33,360 miles, which seems to be completely irrelevant. The speedometer seems to be stuck showing the maximum speed attained way back when this bus was actually operational.
But hey, the seller goes to great lengths to show that this vehicle has a very loose and tenuous association with James Dean – the ‘rebel without a cause’ might actually have seen this vehicle when it was new on the dealer’s lot. Wow, that clinches it for me!
See a better way to spend something like $35/pound for some VW-shaped pieces of rust? tips@dailyturismo.com
Thanks John for the article! DT E-i-C Vince
Hey, clean title. Great first car for your kid — they’ll *never* get in a fender bender with this thing.
I’d lidar scan it, 3D print carbon fiber molds, bake some panels, and solidworks an intermediation for a Prius chassis. Easy peasy and better than new.
What is the saying,…A fool and his money are soon parted?
You’re buying the VIN at this point. I’m sure they’ll include some of the original panels in the resto to make it a not-quite Ship of Thesus grade fakery… but the reality of it is, as we all know, this is $34k for a piece of paper w/a VIN on it.
I tried to explain this to my 13 year old kid yesterday. Ok…so a Volkswagen Bus from the 1950s is worth maybe $30-40k in great shape. Eyes bulge>WHUT?. And a 23 window Samba in great shape is worth $100k. WHURT?. So if you take a nice $30k regular Bus and cut some windows into it and make a fake 23-window Samba for, let’s guess, $20k of paint/labor/custom-glass, you now have a $40k fake-Samba. But if you put this car’s rusted $30k vin-tag into that $50k fake, you now have a $100k 23-Window Samba. My kid gets it because he knows “new math.”
If my kids had asked, I probably would have given a response about the long term effects of whatever drugs had been taken in that bus.
I got to drive a newer Kombi in Brazil. The driving position felt sketchy but I had fun driving it around the small town I was in.
Are those 33360 original miles?
If a regular restoration shop can be compared to a veterinarian, this really needs a trip to the taxidermist.
Or the medical pod in Elysium where they put that guy’s head back together.
In 300 years this is going to look like a real bargain and you’ll all kick yourselves for not picking it up when you could.