Price: £15,995 | Year: 1961 | Engine: 1192 cc flat four, 34 bhp
If you're looking to do the time warp, look no further. This 1961 VW Beetle boasts originality as its main attraction, never having been resprayed or welded. The new owner will perch on the very seats, boasting their original fabric, as installed at the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg in 1961, and fire up the exact same flat four power plant VW engineers installed at the rear. At a time when so many classic cars are the sum of so many new parts, this Beetle has only those few needed for its continued longevity.
There's nothing quite like a Beetle. It was the original Volkswagen, Adolf Hitler's people's car for the masses, designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Revived by the British army after the Second World War, the Beetle went on not only to shake off its origins, but to establish itself as one of the best-selling and most-loved cars of all time. Think surf culture and the Beetle is front and centre, further immortalised as Herbie in 'The Love Bug', its silhouette recalled in VW's later reincarnation of the Beetle.
Beetles were designed to be driven – and driven so many were, into the ground in many cases. This Beetle has had a sheltered life by comparison, delivered to Sweden in July 1961 and, under the same ownership, kept for many years in dry storage. The new keeper will, according to the Beetle's documents, be just the second to have custody of this remarkable piece of automotive history.
Black paintwork is largely unblemished, merely showing the desirable patina of age and reflecting the car's gentle life. Inside, the original string parcel rack, so often broken or missing, is present and correct. What interior wear there is – to seats or door cards – simply adds to the Beetle's history and to its appeal. The dashboard exhibits characteristic Beetle simplicity, with little in the way of distraction for the driver, who may want to avoid fast corners in the wet when all the weight of the rear-mounted engine has a nasty habit of spinning these cars like a top.
That distinctive Beetle engine note is all the aficionado needs to identify an original VW. This Beetle's flat four has been sympathetically detailed as part of a light recommissioning that saw all worn or perishable parts replaced while retaining as much originality as possible. You won't see anybody off at the traffic lights but you will be driving an unrepeatable classic, an example of one of the 20th century's greatest pieces of car design. Truly remarkable.
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