A waste of 'vettes, and a Beetle as well

Craig S Wolfsburg Wizard

635 posts · joined May 2008 · 15 Feb 2010, 8:24 pm

#762822

Found this article from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/automobiles/collectibles/14corvette.html?hpw

Seems a terrible waste of some classic cars (mind you I'm pretty sure there would be some dreadful year models in there as well). If you have a squiz at the photo gallery you even get a picture of a 1303 that's stored with them.

Craig

1969 Beetle - June
1974 L Bug - Gwendolyn
2002 Bora V6 4Motion - Anita

Scarab Wolfsburg Wizard

646 posts · joined Jul 2009 · 15 Feb 2010, 8:52 pm

#762831

an interesting read, thanks for sharing!

Scarab (aka: Paul)

waveman1500 Also rides a Honda

1,346 posts · joined Dec 2009 · 16 Feb 2010, 1:19 am

#762858

That's amazing. What an unusual prize for a contest. Imagine learning that you've just won 36 Corvettes! No normal suburban resident would have room to even take delivery of four or five cars, let alone a complete set of 36 Corvettes. I can see why the winner wanted to sell them on so quickly, the registration and storage costs would have sent him bankrupt before he could sell them off individually!

Personally, I think a prize like that would be torture. You would have to decide as quickly as possible which ones you were going to keep and then you would have to get rid of at least 30 of them straight away. I'm not sure that I would want to experience the sense of loss caused by selling 30 classic cars within a few months!

Okay, hypothetically, if a prize like this was organised for VW fans, what would you do if you won, say for example, 30 Beetles ranging from the earliest post-war 1946 model all the way up to a 1976 L-bug. Presumably the collection would cover most of the available models in sedan/convertible, standard/deluxe/Super, manual/auto-stick and so on. Realistically, remembering that you will be paying the bills to keep them, how many would you hold on to and what would you choose?

Personally, I would probably have to limit myself to only three cars at a maximum, otherwise storage space would become an issue. So, I would probably want to have a ragtop deluxe oval-window, a 1500 sedan and perhaps a mid-60s convertible. Perhaps I would give a handful of cars away to close family and friends, but that still leaves at least 20-25 cars which will have to be immediately sold. Oh, how I wish to have such problems to deal with!

1972 VW S-Bug - For Sale!
1968-onwards Beetle panels and glass for sale

VW00VW Learner Dubber

6 posts · joined Feb 2010 · 16 Feb 2010, 8:25 am

#762868

yes, have to agree with the above, would be very exciting & very stressful all at once!

amazing story!

Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds

2,703 posts · joined Aug 2002 · 16 Feb 2010, 12:02 pm

#762889

Surprising that there was not another 'Vette collector, or museum, or association that would not take the 30 cars on loan for display purposes - even for free, let alone a reasonable sum. If I won 30 VWs I am sure there are people here who would help store them and look after them.

That's a very interesting question about what VWs it would be cool to win if you had the choice. Even if you just stick to Australian release Beetle models - 1954 to 1976 inclusive - to have one of every year model is already 23 cars. From 1962 to 1968 VW Australia also sold the Standard (later the Custom) Beetle, which adds another 7. From 1968 to 1975 you could order semi-auto Beetles - another 8 cars. And from 1970 to 1975 you could order the 1300 Beetle, which makes another 6 cars. What are we up to now - 44 different Beetles! Not even thinking about Beetle-based Country Buggies, Ghias, or non-Aussie models like pre-'54 cars, or any Cabrios, or post '76 Euro or Mexican cars. And then there's the Type 3 range - and Buses - and then onto the huge range of early and later water-cooled VWs. You could easily have 100 unique VWs in your collection if you had the $$$.

I already have a T2 Kombi and a Mk3 Golf, and my daughter wants a New Beetle Cabrio when she's old enough, so that will do me. Although I'd really like a metalflake-red Manx as a play thing.