BUYER’S BRIEF
Sturdy, easy to own and a great community of owners, here’s how to buy a Bug
MARKET ANALYSIS
Projects cost from £2000, but you’re better off buying something from £4000 that will need less work or is still near MOT ready. Good Beetle saloons are priced from £5000, but you can easily spend double this on a late Sixties saloon. Cars from the late Seventies are less sought after, which is why they only go up to £8000 or so. If you fancy a cabriolet, you can double all these values, with superb open-topped cars fetching as much as £25,000, although only the very best car is worth more than £15,000.
Why you want one
Volkswagen has never been anything less than candid in its promotion of the Beetle. As its 1975 brochure declares: ‘It’s the car that made us famous’. It then goes on to state that ‘nothing of the original Beetle is left in today’s Beetle’. In slightly different context, that may well be the case with your prospective purchase in 2025, so it’ll pay to study the car closely. We’ve focused here on Beetles from 1965 onwards because they’re more usable, more readily available and more affordable. Worth noting that nothing is interchangeable between the very first and last Beetles. Indeed, there were changes of some sort just about every year.
You can expect your Beetle to be fitted with an 1192cc or 1285cc engine, while a 1493cc unit was introduced in 1967 and, later, a 1584cc lump. The earlier sloped headlamp design is the purist’s favourite; buy a 1966 or 1967 car and you could have this with 1500 power, making it the pick of the bunch for many. The 1200 model was always aimed at those on a budget; this was the model that was last to get brake, suspension and electrical upgrades.
The 1302S and 1303S are more usable than most Beetle variants thanks to their 1600 powerplant, bigger boot and MacPherson strut front/semi-trailing arm rear suspension. These days, most Beetles have been modified in some way, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing – it often makes them more usable.
The inspection
For all their period advertised Volkswagen build quality, Beetles still rust like any other classic. The body bolts to the floor pan, and poor repairs often leave them welded together, complicating future restoration work. Trickier corrosion spots include the windscreen surround and heater channels – a box section running the length of the car on either side, roughly under the doors.
This hollow space transfers heat from the engine to the interior and suffers from internal condensation. Repair panels are available, but it’s a labour intensive – and so often pricy – job.
CABIN There isn’t much to worry about inside the car but if it’s RHD, check it’s genuine as many have been converted. In our view, that’s not an issue if it’s done properly.
Perished window rubbers will contribute to a dissolving floor, and you must ensure that all the electrics work as they should. Old wiring and poor modifications are potential issues; while the Beetle switched to 12-volt electrics in 1967, earlier cars may also have been converted. Seats are likely to have sagged if they haven’t yet been replaced or re-stuffed and while generally hard-wearing, carpets and seat covers will need refreshing by now. All of this is available but worth bargaining over.
Overheating – generally caused either by poor tuning or hard driving – will quickly ruin an otherwise sound engine. There's no coolant, of course, so check cooling flaps to be sure that they aren’t corroded and make sure that the oil thermostat hasn’t failed or been removed. The tinware surrounding the engine is important in controlling air flow so make sure that it’s not damaged or missing, while corroded heat exchangers can allow fumes into the cabin with potentially dangerous consequences, so check them carefully.
BODYWORK Beetles might have been famed for their build, but they still rot. Happily, bolt-on wings, bonnets, doors and boot lids ensure that they are easy to replace.
Oil leaks tend to come from the rocker cover gaskets and crankshaft oil seal; fixing the latter is fairly involved but it’s not too difficult to pull out the engine. Noticeable movement at the crank pulley (back and forth) means that there’s excessive crankshaft end float and an imminent re-build is needed. Oil changes every 3000 miles are advisable, so be very suspicious of a car whose owner cannot prove that it has been regularly serviced.
Power was a bit restricted by carburettors that didn’t allow the engines to sing. There are plenty of alternatives, including single and twin-choke EMPI or Webers. Beetle engines can feel strangled by the factory exhaust, so installing freer-flowing stainless-steel pipes and a manifold can release an extra 10bhp. The Bosch distributor has an unreliable vacuum advance, so swap that for a mechanical one. Change the points and condenser for a Pertronix electronic setup, too. The 6v electrics became 12v in 1967. Any car can be converted for more reliable starting and easier fitment of ancillaries, but it’s a big job with lots needing to be replaced.
ENGINE Lumpy running can be caused by perished hoses, an ignition system past its best or valve gear in need of an overhaul.
The four-speed transmission can suffer from worn synchromesh, and bearings so check for any nasty noises or jumping out of gear on the overrun. Difficulty in selecting gears is often a result of linkages that are out of kilter, which is easy to sort, but test a gearbox that has this issue thoroughly to be sure that it isn’t indicative of general wear. Removing and overhauling the gearbox is very easy, however, so don’t be too put-off by a car with engine or transmission issues if the body is in good order. Low gearing means that the engine can feel busy on motorways. A ‘Freeway Flyer’ gearbox has a higher differential ratio (3.875:1) and fourth gear (0.82:1), but may require a clutch upgrade at the same time.
The suspension system is a straightforward arrangement of telescopic dampers and torsion bar springs but needs checking for rot around the mounting points and general wear and sagging. Overhauling the drum brakes is a relatively cheap and easy job but do check the steering for excessive play – this can be adjusted, but old boxes will soon run out of available adjustment. So too, a car whose steering wheel is reluctant to return to centre because there's a good chance that someone before you has overtightened the steering box.
Inside, check for leaky window rubbers as you'll be mopping rainwater off the floors (if they haven't rotted out)! Otherwise, there isn't much inside a Beetle to begin with but if parts are needed, everything is available from specialists and, predictably, it's all easy to fit at home.
More gentle cruiser than B-road blaster.
USEFUL CONTACTS
VW Owners’ Club GB, vwocgb.com
Historic VW Club, historicvws.org.uk
Beetle Werks, thebeetlewerks.co.uk
Heritage Parts Centre, heritagepartscentre.com
WHAT TO PAY
PROJECT £2000-3000
GOOD £3000-5000
EXCELLENT £5000-25,000
TECH SPEC
ENGINE 1584CC/FLAT-4/OHV
GEARBOX 4-SPEED MANUAL
POWER 50BHP@4000RPM
TORQUE 79LB FT@2800RPM
TOP SPEED 81MPH
0-60MPH 12.2SEC
ECONOMY 28-34MPG
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO OWN
James Walshe finds out what it’s like to live with a Beetle…
Andrew's Beetle has certainly lived a life!
From the looks to the unique noise, to it’s… err… history, the Beetle is a shining example of what happens when sunshine emerges from the dark clouds of our past. It is loved almost beyond any car on the planet. Whichever one you buy, you’ll stumble into a community of fellow fans. There has been a Beetle scene for many decades, after all. Owners adore them, but are they as simple and enjoyable to own as you’d expect? ‘It’s like anything else if the car has been bodged’ says Andrew Leggett, who owns a well-travelled 1973 Beetle 1300. ‘It was MOT’d when I bought it, but when I got it home, my mechanic dad insisted I wouldn’t be driving it again until we’d sorted out the rust and body filler. You could almost have lifted the body off the floorpan. It was bad!’ Andrew learned to weld though and set to work on the suspension and brakes. ‘Good thing is parts are cheap and easy to find!’
It was a similar story for Paul Warren, who restored a 1966 Beetle for his wife Rachael. That said, it feels like Volkswagen made changes to the Beetle every other year so it’s worth researching carefully to check you’re buying the right parts. ‘From bumpers to the cabin, there are subtle differences here and there’ says Paul, who finished the car with help from friends, before Rachael sadly passed away. ‘We’d built Rachael’s dream Beetle, which meant the world to her and to everyone else.’ The car became famous locally at shows and the fact it’s a Beetle makes it even more significant. ‘People just smile wherever you go!’ Sure enough, as we’ve seen on the silver screen and at car shows across the world, these cars have a personality all their own. There’s simply nothing quite like a Beetle. Volkswagen’s own 1973 brochure concludes with words that are as true today as they were back then: ‘The longer this car goes on, the more people love it.’
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