My VW is very rare....or is it?

Sorry but I think this is worth a rant. I was reading the classified sections of Ultra VW (which BTW I think is the best VW mag at the mo), and I came across an ad for a westfalia camper. It described the said vehicle as "rare". Then I scanned a few more ads. The same word seemed to miraclulously appear everywhere. Every second ebay ad seems to be the same.

I've had enough.

There is nothing rare about a VW. They are by definition common and cheap. There were over 2 million beetles made and at least half that figure of kombis made. Heck, they are still making bay window kombis as we speak. Another webpage I read today told me there were 203,000 early model type 3 made. Read that again, 203,000. And they are just the pre 69 models. THINGS THAT ARE RARE ARE NOT MADE IN THOUSANDS. I don't think you could even call hebmullers rare, there were a few hundred of them made. Every time someone sneezes another split window beetle is dragged out of a barn in Norway. Fridolins are all over the place, there is even one here in Australia now, thousands of miles away from Austria (I'm sure there'll be another one here next year too).

There are NOS parts coming out people's back pockets, new panels being made all over the place, more aircooled performance parts than ever, need I go on? :blah

I don't think I'm the only one who feels this either. You can still buy almost every model of VW ever sold in Oz in reasonable condition for under $10k. THEY ARE NOT RARE. This especially applies to all the freakin split window kombi and notch back owners. Stop advertising them as RARE.
You might not see them on the freeway every day, but they're like cockroaches, they are everywhere!:cussing

Ok, I feel better now. 🙂

try closer to about 20 millon bugs but i agree mate

what about country buggies?:P

hadnt thought of it that way but you make a valid point pete. vws are like arseholes, everyones got one.

does that mean because I own a VW I have two arseholes? My friends always say I talk shit:thumb

😉 nice rant , I like it !:repuke

You need to take into account of the chemicals and salt used on icy roads in North America and most of Europe..

One stone chip and You have a major rust problem...

Most people with restored Volkswagens in North America and Europe only drive when the chemicals are removed from the roads....

This means that all the people in those countries who drove their VWs in the winter, no longer have their cars as the corrosion virtually ate the cars away... there are very few type 4 VWs left anywhere in the world... ie 411s & 412s.... and not so many early beetles or type 2s or 3s..
as the chemicals also ate those....
Many of those VWs shown in ULTRA VW have had Major reconstruction done.... and I mean Major.....
the average Beetle etc in Europe is either very rusted or had extensive rebuild work done..... Major Work....

As One fellow in the UK said to Me....
Our cars rust away, but our Window /door rubbers nearly last forever... as they don't have the hole in the ozone layer.... problem....

There are many VWs still going in southern parts of the US
where they don't use chemicals on the roads...
but then again, many end up at the wreckers...
as Americians change their cars very often....
and to many, an old VW is nothing....

Lee IMHO... of course.... OK on Pete's opinion...

I'll have a 23 Window with a Heb chaser thanks.

On July 30, 2003, the final original VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) was produced at Puebla, Mexico

My rant is how can the Toyota Corolla take the record as the worlds most produced motor car? 1968 to present with 9 distinct generations which all look different. Maybe Corolla is the most produced nameplate?

Do you OWN a VW Pete???

Mines rare. So stick that in yer pipe and smoke it.

No, but my wife OWN's two, so technically as we are married, I sorta own half of that VW bundle. 😂

Rare is a relative mesure..

For example, i see later model beetles and bay window kombi's on the road all the time, but i never see another later model notchback.

So i think that makes my car rare. Not rare enough to state it in an ad if i were ever to sell it, but in my eyes, its rare.

There are heaps of cows on the planet but my wife likes her steak "rare".

I think rarer is maybe a better word as in barndoor kombis are rarer than normal splittys for example and split beetles are rarer than ovals.
If your talk in Australian terms I'd say a fridolin or a hebmuller is rare in Aus as vehicles in small one off coachbuilt productions never hit our shores in their day and also how many survive today after a hard life in a shitty climate.
It's funny though, how it can be said things are rare or endangered.
It is said Koalas are endangered species but I have seen more now than I ever did in the past.
I suppose say it now and be aware and do something about it than find out later and it's too late.
What the hell has koalas got to do with volkswagens I don't know......I've lost it.

no you havent lost it frog
the word koala means no drink
and old vw's don't take water:P

[ Edited on 18-7-06 by kombibob ]

That is so cool,I had no idea.
They should have been named Koala in Aus not beetle.

Seeing Bruces Barnie on the road - that would be rare.

It's all relative.

If I have something you want badly, it's rare.

I however do agree that the amount of after market convertibles being called rare does make me laugh.

And of course j&S buggies are not rare either!
LOL

Im rare, there is only one of me in the whole world!

:beer:beer:beer:beer:beer

david777 wrote:And of course j&S buggies are not rare either!
LOL

quite right David. they are not rare. although I suspect there were less of them made than there were fridolins. funny eh?🙄

Mick, Yes, I do own a VW, or what's left of one anyway...😏

Alright everyone put a unique part on your car, then the car has to be 'rare'! Make sure you do a good job of it, like superglue on and then say it is factory! Sorry people but who cares whether you call your car rare, it is a Volkswagen thats all that matters!

H

the body of my buggy is 60% super glue, does that make it more rare? 😁

Depends, did you formulate your own super glue? 😁

Thanks David777 for bringing up the topic of buggies.

My Meyers Manx SR IS RARE.

It's the only one in the Southern Hemisphere and when registered it will be the only right hand drive one in the world.

It is the 23rd made. It was made in June 1970. It is one of only two outside of North America. The other is in Belgium.

Approximately 400 were made, (Bruce Meyers lost his records when he went broke and sold up) and only about 50 are on the manxsr.com register.

They keep popping up constantly as unbuilt kits and barn finds as most of them were never finished. I should know. Getting mine on the road has become, in many ways, a tiresome burden, but it will happen.

IT IS THEREFORE, VERY RARE.

PS I like my steak medium rare.

Maybe in Australia, but not generally. I'd say 50 left in the world is still a good number. Good on you for being different, but I don't think SRs are rare, just unusual. If there are 50 on the registery, there are probably another 50 somewhere in barns, and being fibreglass it's not like they will rust. Kitcars are out there generally anyway. But putting a Bruce Meyers production model in the rare category is certainly stretching it. You yourself said he made 400 of them. Their were common Ferraris made in smaller numbers. Just imho.

My J&S is the only one I've seen like it out of many I have seen, but I wouldn't call it rare.

Dictionary
rare1 (râr)
adj., rar·er, rar·est.
Infrequently occurring; uncommon: a rare event; a plant that is rare in this region.
Excellent; extraordinary: a rare sense of honor.
Thin in density: rarefied: rare air.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin rārus.]

there were only 5 XA phase IV gtho falcons ever made. I'd call that rare.




[ Edited on 19-7-06 by pete wood ]

Now this is RARE!!

🙅Any old dub for sale that has original battery tray clean rockers and no rot under windscreen, pedals or pillars is RARE.

/* exaggeration */
21 zillion were made but probably less than 10 original units worldwide remain totally rust free. its like there were lots of dinosaurs once, but finding one alive today would be very rare.

Sorry, I disagree with that. I have heard of at least 3 in the last month like that. Seagull was given one for free. VWs are NOT rare.

But yes, silver's van is rare.


[ Edited on 19-7-06 by pete wood ]

you must be lucky, that wasn't the case when i was looking at cars.

pete wood wrote:blah blah blah......... VWs are NOT rare.

But yes, silver's van is rare.


[ Edited on 19-7-06 by pete wood ]

If Silvers van is rare (which it is) then the ManxSR is also rare.Similar production figures (give or take 50 units).....or does it depend only on what you think is "rare"?????

[ Edited on 19-7-06 by Mick H ]

Rarity is for wankers...

Hell, I have very very rare NOS flathead conrods which I am cutting up for a shifter. All those pre 1930 restorers that will cry.... hahahaha

LOLOLOL

Rarity is stuff that is NLA and one off etc

like me!

HotRodMatt wrote:Rarity is for wankers...

Hell, I have very very rare NOS flathead conrods which I am cutting up for a shifter. All those pre 1930 restorers that will cry.... hahahaha

bus914 wrote:you must be lucky, that wasn't the case when i was looking at cars.

well, I don't know about what you were looking at, but people on this forum seem to be buying cars like that and posting pics of them all the time.

Mick, ok, if thats the case, Silver's van is not rare either. I thought there were only 100 or so of those made.

I don't want to be bloody minded. I'm just sick of people calling their VWs rare coz they are old, rusty, or they have spent too much money on them.

There is a difference between an interesting, old curio and a valuable rarity. I think, again IMHO, people tend to put VWs in the latter category when they belong in the former.

So if there were 2 million of product "X" produced and only 100 left in the world,would YOU classify them as "rare"??? I would.Especially if there was a demand for such a product.

Try and find a container Van I know of 10 worldwide
if you find one let me know I'll buy it
and if I do sell it one day, I will call it Very Rare.
Silver

silver wrote:Try and find a container Van I know of 10 worldwide
if you find one let me know I'll buy it
and if I do sell it one day, I will call it Very Rare.
Silver

There is one in Bowen,QLD.The owner has it in a shipping container now after i offered to buy it.He was a grumpy sh*t. Had a fair bit of rust but not terminal by any means!!!

try again

silver wrote:try again

I will be!!! Will get my old man to email me another one of the pictures of it he took 2 years ago when he gets home on Friday.I'll email it to you.Then you will know of 11!!!!:kiss

So who decides how small a number of something makes it rare? Is it how many are left, OR how many were manufactured?? This is all a word game. Makes some rules, THEN play the game. A guy I know has a 250 PF Ferrari, one of 12 RHD made. Is that as rare as one of 11 privately imported split beetles? Or the poor bloke that had a wrestle with the engineer about his individually constructed vehicle?

I think anything that was produced in numbers of lower than 100 or so, and is of exemplary design or manufacture, and is more than 25 years old can be classed as rare.

Yes, it's a word game, but the point is that the word has value and people are trying to sell garbage as classics using it.

I could make 5 cardboard swords and leave em in the cupboard for twenty years, but that does not make them rare, they're still cheap cardboard garbage.

As for numbers remaining, well that's as long as a piece of string. Everytime someone says this is the last one in existance, miraculously another two or three turn up. It then becomes about how sort after they are. If I offered you a one of a kind 16 anniversary Joe Bloggs copper medallion, you couldn't care less, but if it's a 1961 samba, then it becomes a whole different story.

As far as I'm concerned Oasis, your signature sums it up well...

"tell him we've already got one"

Who cares how many were built. If there is only a handful left then it is rare. Datsun 180B's were rusty and cheap cars that 15 years ago were everywhere. How many do you see on the roads nowdays? In 20 years time Hyundai Excells will be rare as they are built like crap and will most likely be crushed and turned into ice-cream containers. Just because it isn't a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in unrestored condition doesn't mean that if there is only a few left that it isn't rare. Try this hypothetical example;
Which is rarer. They Built 15 of a particular Rolls Royce, if 10 of them still exist then 66% of the production of that model is available. Say they built 1,000,000 Datsun etc. and for some reason only 100 are left, does that not make it rare also?

I think finding an agreement on this topic would be rare! (my 2 cents)

Mick H wrote:So if there were 2 million of product "X" produced and only 100 left in the world,would YOU classify them as "rare"??? I would.Especially if there was a demand for such a product.

If the survival rate is 100 out of 2,000,000, I'd classify it as a piece of shit.:P

lol!!😀

- Adam

phatratpat wrote:😉 nice rant , I like it !:repuke

meh, needs dragons, or ninjas, or ninja dragons. ( NOS ninja dragons obviously 🥷 🙄 )


:party

ninja dragons are rarer...😎

And Pete, there must be a few holy grails around too, especially if the French already had one...:P

Spook wrote:If the survival rate is 100 out of 2,000,000, I'd classify it as a piece of shit.:P

I'll pay that one.

I think the Bitsashitti Sigma fits in that category.

Spook wrote:

Mick H wrote:So if there were 2 million of product "X" produced and only 100 left in the world,would YOU classify them as "rare"??? I would.Especially if there was a demand for such a product.

If the survival rate is 100 out of 2,000,000, I'd classify it as a piece of shit.:P

That is a classic!!!:P What would you classify 5, 20 year old cardboard swords as?????😂

my panel is RARE. Because of all the 67s produced only a handful remain with the 3 vent set up. Not that it influences price a most folks wouldnt notice. RARE now means because they are hard to aquire. Who gives a shit how many were made originally, how many can you lay your hands on right now.

Take an original Star Wars Millenium Falcon toy (late 70s). Not rare as almost 3/4 of a billion toys got made, but having a boxed one unplayed with now is RARE. Hense why they fetch a few thousand.

Ive got a Kruizinwagon Treasure Hunt Drag Bus, thats rare as only 50 made. in matt black and 50 silver. The whole run was only 1000 pieces. RARE because its the only Matt Black Drag Bus made. Even rarer, having the test piece which was Gloss, theres one of those. How about an original Beach Bomb? RARE.

RARE is not so much relative to the numbers made, but the number left/the number available. Container vans are RARE but not impossible to get. Mullers got one if you want it I think. Hardings (now sold), RAAF Refrig. Van is RARE. Doddys Matadors are RARE, so his deluxe.

If its in a car yard then it aint rare. If its in Ray Blacks secret hideout its RARE.

Bruce working on his Barnie ... now thats RARE....(wink).

Oasis wrote:So who decides how small a number of something makes it rare? Is it how many are left, OR how many were manufactured?? This is all a word game. Makes some rules, THEN play the game. A guy I know has a 250 PF Ferrari, one of 12 RHD made. Is that as rare as one of 11 privately imported split beetles? Or the poor bloke that had a wrestle with the engineer about his individually constructed vehicle?

who decides?....THEY do...you know the mysterious THEY, the wizards.

crewcabconnection wrote:Seeing Bruces Barnie on the road - that would be rare.

Haha

But this topic has been done before, and ive never seen some of the models pete spoke of so in my eyes they are rare...

Even petes buggy is rare, thank god for that...

Should be two frids at valla, now that will be rare

These sort of discussions on avd since dave left, now thats rare

Sorry Bruce, cheap shot ... just green with ... Barnies are rare, running or not. 2 Barnies are even better. Did you get the Show Time issue sorted?

No, getting showtime to answer the phone and pick up your car when he says he will, now thats rare...

Have another towing co. very relaible

So youve got it now?

getting Deano to shut up...Now that's rare 😂

getting Pete to keep his opinion to himself....never happened in the history of time...🤓