1958 Volkswagen BEETLE

Split- and oval-windowed Beetles finished in 1957, so our 1958 1200 is one of the first of the single-piece rear window cars. It’s a Type 114, which is factory shorthand for an export Deluxe RHD sedan. It was ordered by a Portuguese man named Mr José. He ran a bicycle/motorcycle shop in north Portugal but then emigrated to Mozambique, where they drive on the left as in the UK, hence the steering wheel on the right.

In 1978 Mr José returned to Portugal taking his beloved Volkswagen back home with him. In 1990 he sold the car to his cousin, who later sold it to another Portuguese man named George. Jon bought it off George in early 2018 with a note to confirm its original colour of Beryl Green. The paperwork suggests that the car was painted in Fern Blue metallic with grey/blue seating but Jon believes this was an administrative error at the body-in-white stage as he has been right through the car and can find zero trace of blue paint. ‘I am very doubtful that a car destined for Africa would have had metallic paint as it would never have survived.’

Jon reports that this recently-serviced Bug starts first time and drives really sweetly. ‘They were set up to hum along all day at 60mph and it's very comfortable at 50mph.’ Although he obviously can’t guarantee the 40,000km/25,000m on the speedo, he says that it does drive like a 25,000-mile car, and he’s well qualified to make that statement as he does know his Beetles. His first classic was a 1973 1303 which he still owns. Jon drove it from Farnborough to our place here at Abingdon with no issues. Prior to that he’d driven it to the Volksworld Show at Sandown Park. ‘Most of the others seemed to have brought their VWs on trailers.’

Jon’s reason for selling is not because there’s something fishy with the car. ‘Not at all,’ he says. ‘If I was keeping it I would be doing nothing to it.’ It’s simply that he has somehow managed to accumulate eight classics and needs to cut back on his collection to liberate some space.

The pics speak for themselves really. For a 60-year-old car this VW looks really fresh in its very period livery of Beryl Green, and incredibly so considering it spent the first 20 years of its life in equatorial Africa. Other than on the rare occasions that he actually drove it, Mr José obviously kept it well protected from the sun.

Portugal can be a wet old place at certain times of year but again the signs are that strong measures were taken to protect this Beetle. Rustproofing wasn’t great on any cars in the late 1950s and the Beetle was no exception. Drain holes can get blocked with the passage of time, leading to corrosion in inner body cavities, the floor pans, front and rear kick panel sections, door posts, and under the front spare tyre well. As you can see from the images, there are some visible rust spots on our car, but Jon assures us that none of it is structural. Jon’s local VW guy has been right through the car and has pronounced it to be sound. The brightwork is super with just a tiny tinge of brown and bubbling on a couple of the hubcaps and on the driver’s quarter-light frame. There’s a crack in the door paint above the driver’s-side top hinge.

The rubber window and wing-top indicator seals are all original, but to no-one’s surprise these are perishing in places. Amazingly, if you’re a Bug geek, the original bonnet stay is still in place and still working.

Paint is important on an old Beetle because there’s almost as much of it on the inside as there is on the outside. The remarkable freshness of this cabin’s Beryl Green paint is testament to a pampered life.

One of the oddities of this special-order Beetle is the spec. As it was destined for African climes, no windscreen washers were fitted, a slightly odd decision given that it does have wipers, indicating that whoever it was that specced the car up (or perhaps more appropriately down) did expect some bad weather but not enough to justify the washers. Anyway, it's a cute ‘feature delete’ that will provide the new owner with another talking point at shows.

As noted earlier, the paperwork suggests the car came out of Wolfsburg with grey-blue leatherette upholstery as opposed to the black vinyl that’s actually present. Again Jon believes that this was an admin error at the factory. There’s some very light discolouration and edge-fraying to the carpet (with a hole on the rear transmission tunnel section), and a little honest patina to the headlining, but the leatherette on the seats and door pockets is in excellent shape. All three grabhandles (two rear, one up front) and both sun visors are present and intact.

All the equipment that’s in the cabin appears to work. Don't get too excited though: the equipment roster amounts to wipers and lights. No seat belts. And that’s a Deluxe car. Makes you wonder what a standard car had. Just lights, presumably. And on a 6-volt system there is not much to write home about either, as Jon found when driving back from a VW club meeting in Esher one evening.

The radio is original but is presumed to be non-functional. ‘I’ve never turned it on,’ says Jon.

Bug engines are famously simple. You do need to keep a weather eye out for oil leaks as they won’t help an old and/or worn engine to maintain good oil pressure. Great news then that this one’s engine – the original item, with all the numbers matching up to those on the documentation – looks remarkably dry and ready for plenty more action.

The only new parts fitted are a regulator and a coil, both in a silver finish. The factory items in black are no longer available, but the original black units will come with this car for possible reconditioning down the line by someone who is looking for total originality and who has the right knowledge.

Although Beetle valve seals even from this era are hard enough to allow it to run on plain unleaded, Jon has been putting in a dose of additive every now and then.

The gearbox is fine. First gear is non-synchromesh but it can be regarded as a hill-start gear only as the car pulls easily in second from stationary.

The brakes are the original drums, and the exhaust is the original design, although Jon can’t confirm that it's the one that came with the car from new.

Jon had a positive experience with the DVLA when he was applying for an age-related plate. Understandably a bit worried by the DVLA’s standard administrative process which stated that none of the documentation sent over to them in support of the application would be returned, Jon included a note with his form to ask if it please could be returned. A week after he had received notification of the new plate, a brown envelope dropped through the door with all the paperwork enclosed and intact.

Shortly after that, Jon’s phone rang. It was a chap from the DVLA asking if the papers had been received OK and whether Jon noticed the significance of the registration that had been allocated to it. ‘I hadn’t,’ says Jon. ‘So the guy explained it. He’d apparently looked for the best number he could find for the car and come up with 435 XVB. 4 plus 3 plus 5 equalling 12, for 1200cc engine capacity, and XVB for export VW Beetle. A bit obscure, but it was nice to find a human being at the DVLA.’

The original Portuguese log book is present – buff, just like old British ones – along with that note from previous owner George, some certification correspondence from the VW AutoMuseum, and a Fragile but apparently complete original owner’s manual.

The disparity in values of aircooled VWs is peculiar. Buses have sold for over $300,000 in the US, which is three times the price of the most expensive Beetle ever – and that was the original ‘Herbie’ from the movie of the same name, so a massive exception. Regular Beetles without a celebrity connection rarely reach a tenth of the price of multi-window ‘splitty’ vans. Why is that?

Whatever the reason, we reckon that the gap is bound to narrow now that both Beetle production lines (original and New) have finally closed down. Expensive restorations apart, the further back in time you go, the harder it is to find solid examples of these classic Bugs. Solid original cars are on another level of rarity. This particular one comes with a fascinating back story that could easily explain what might otherwise appear to be a unnaturally low mileage. And it could all be yours for a single-figure outlay. The estimate is £6000-£10000. What price do you put on what is not just a characterful and cheap-to-run classic but also a real piece of history?

We always encourage viewings. This Beetle is located here at The Market HQ in Abingdon. Just click the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing to arrange an appointment. Ahead of that, or at any time during the process, you’re more than welcome to ask any questions or jot down observations in the comments section below. You won’t be shocked to hear that our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section will answer general questions that are frequently asked about how The Market works.

Also please note that we have a network of trusted suppliers with whom we work regularly and successfully: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

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Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.