Poll Question: Do you consider yourself a purist? (Poll is closed)
pre67vw
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16 years ago
The more I look around the more crazy prices I see, long gone are the days of picking up a rusty Beetle for £50 - now the same thing would cost you upwards of £1500. Rusty type 2's seem to start at £5k if they're really bad, or upwards of £10k if the owner is trying it on. Restored and roadworthy cars seem to go for roughly 3 times these prices, with top restorations and rare cars just writing their own price tags.

What's you're opinion of all this? Is it good for the hobby? or is it slowly killing it?
Rob Amos
Happiness is a stock VW
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lifeintheslowlane
16 years ago
I think there will always be an affordable entry level into the hobby. OK days of the £50 Beetle are long gone but it's all relative.

There are kids out there driving around in WRXs paying thousands a year for third party insurance.

If it's cool enough to drive a Beetle, kids will pay the price.
John.
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JD
  • JD
  • pre67vw Junkie
16 years ago
Bugattis are "quite expensive" and some folks still collect them, so it won´t kill the hobby. I think there are still plenty of cheap beetles around, just not so many of them are pre 67.
"John, you need to get a grip and STOP MOANING AT EVERYTHING. ThumbDown "
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pre67vw
  • pre67vw
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16 years ago

Bugattis are "quite expensive" and some folks still collect them, so it won´t kill the hobby. I think there are still plenty of cheap beetles around, just not so many of them are pre 67.

JD wrote:



Bugattis were never cheap 'peoples cars' though, I'm not aware of Bugatti Jam. I think there are some genuine prices still around, but you have to look for them - most people think because it's an old VW it must be worth loads...

Rob Amos
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JD
  • JD
  • pre67vw Junkie
16 years ago

I'm not aware of Bugatti Jam.

pre67vw wrote:



They told me not to tell you.:oops:
"John, you need to get a grip and STOP MOANING AT EVERYTHING. ThumbDown "
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GKL 7
16 years ago

I'm not aware of Bugatti Jam.

pre67vw wrote:



Which fruit is used to make that?

I think prices have gone way over the top.
Every one thinks they are sat on a pot of gold.
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55Kab
16 years ago

Every one thinks they are sat on a pot of gold

' wrote:



Agree totally. There are just too many car's about for them to command silly prices, especially Split Screen Van's, I mean, not exactly rare are they but for the same money people want for a very good one you could buy a fairly rare or unusual exotic including 911's together with some nice vintage British tin.

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lifeintheslowlane
16 years ago
Come on all you "holier than thou" types sat there with your valuable VWs complaining about prices...how much are yours insured for...a couple of quid?:wink:
John.
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pre67vw
  • pre67vw
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16 years ago

Come on all you "holier than thou" types sat there with your valuable VWs complaining about prices...how much are yours insured for...a couple of quid?:wink:

lifeintheslowlane wrote:


Mine is insured for what I think it's worth, but actually I might need to bump it up considerably as if anything did happen to it I doubt I'd be able to replace it with the insurance money...
Rob Amos
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GKL 7
16 years ago

Come on all you "holier than thou" types sat there with your valuable VWs complaining about prices...how much are yours insured for...a couple of quid?:wink:

lifeintheslowlane wrote:




Haven't got one,so there.
Like Martin said take a look around the classic car market and see what you can pick up for the same money.
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Kev
  • Kev
  • pre67vw Junkie
16 years ago
I can't really work out where people get the money from for some of these cars / buses. There seems to be lots of rich people in the hobby now or maybe I am just in the wrong job :lol:

Looking at the prices of bare shells and other peices of junk for sale I think my cab is way under insured, not on the road at the moment though anyway.

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ianmac
16 years ago
At the end of the day anything is 'worth' the amount people will pay, I think the VW scene has changed, there are a lot of everyday families who want a bay window camper and think nothing of paying £15-20k for a so called 'restored' camper. I know a guy importing bay windows giving them a quick flash over and a tart up and punting them out for £15k each all day long- he can't get enough of them. This in turn pushes anything slightly older and more desirable up.

That aside there are some nice VWs about for reasonable money- just got to keep your eyes open, my brother just recently picked a well advertised very nice RHD oval for what I consider to be a very reasonable money.:?

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RockStock
16 years ago

my brother just recently picked a well advertised very nice RHD oval for what I consider to be a very reasonable money.:?

ianmac wrote:


Coral Red?
StockRocks
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RockStock
16 years ago

especially Split Screen Van's, I mean, not exactly rare are they

55Kab wrote:


Beetles, not exactly rare are they

Bays, bonkers prices! See the G'Day Kombis ad in the July/Aug issue of VW Camper?
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JD
  • JD
  • pre67vw Junkie
16 years ago


Looking at the prices of bare shells and other peices of junk for sale I think my cab is way under insured, not on the road at the moment though anyway.

nev wrote:



Just had an insurance guy estimate the value of my cab. He came back with 9000 euro. I challenged him to try and show me one single other driveable semaphore cabrio for 9000 euro anywhere in Germany. There are projects for sale for 10K and ropey US imports for 15K! And a 54 for 45K.:shock: But there are still bucket loads of cheap Beetles around - just not ones that people on here would class as collectible.
"John, you need to get a grip and STOP MOANING AT EVERYTHING. ThumbDown "
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55Kab
16 years ago

But there are still bucket loads of cheap Beetles around - just not ones that people on here would class as collectible.

JD wrote:



That was my point above. Want a 65-67 Beetle? Easy. Want a 58-64 a little harder but not exactly rare. Want a good 56-57 Oval? Fairly easy but again not rare. 53-55 Oval getting harder and so on with coachbuilts and the like commanding a lot more.


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mrsherbie
16 years ago

Just had an insurance guy estimate the value of my cab. He came back with 9000 euro.

JD wrote:


:shock:

My 79 is on agreed value of £10k ( £1k is in the wheels) it is very scruffy but og and 33k miles. Finding another for £9k with my mileage would not be impossible but not easy or instant.

But yours is 20yrs older, so therefore obviously less desirable anyway, so I agree with your insurance guy :lol:

"it'll wreck the patina you haven't worked so hard to create" - 50Karmann
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Rich Oakley
16 years ago
THE biggest driver of the rapidly inflating prices is the 'coolness' of campers. People from outside the VW hobby are buying them because they are 'cool', man. The same thing happened in the late 80s with Beetles. Rusty, bodged 1303s were selling for silly money to people who just wanted 'a Beetle'. The last three Bay Window campers I have sold have all been mint condition, unrestored British RHD campers and they have all sold for decent money to 30-something or middle-aged couples wanting to be part of the cool fraternity.

I still consider Beetles, on the whole, to be reasonably priced. If you shop around, you can still pick up a very nice RHD semaphore Beetle for under £5k, LHD for less. The REALLY rare stuff has started to attract attention from the likes of wealthy people who are just buying them for investment purposes.
47 Beetle, 56 UK Karmann Cabriolet, 56 UK Beetle, 57 UK Type 2, 59 UK Beetle, 66 UK Fastback.
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48REME
16 years ago
The high prices don't reflect the rarity of a car. High prices are driven by a fashion or a trend in particular models. The higher the demand, the higher the price. My car is extremely rare for example, probably rarer than any pre-57 model and no less scarse than a KDF but it will never command a particularly high price because there isn't an interest or a demand for this very specialised and obscure field of interest.
Another example: even though they are very scarse, I am sure it is far more difficult to sell a Rometsch Lawrence than it is to sell a Banana. Why? Because they are simply not as much in vogue or in demand as the other coachbuilt.
Splits and Ovals are getting more and more expensive because it's what everybody wants, not because they are rare. They are in fact getting easier to source nowadays than ever, thanks to the internet.:wink:
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lifeintheslowlane
16 years ago
How about a VW coachbuilt made for just 4 years and still at a very affordable price?

Yep the early Karmann Ghia Coupes are still available in the US for a knockdown price. Not so much the early convertibles as they were a one year only car and people have latched onto the fact.

A Rometsch is obviously a rarer car but the Ghia is arguably a more stylish design and don't let anyone tell you they're not a true coachbuilt. As a lot of earlier cars slip out of reach of the average enthusiast, early Ghia prices will follow the trend.

If I could convince my wife...I'd be buying another before they too slip out of reach.
John.
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