Equipment
Fuel-injected 1.6L flat-four paired with a four-speed manual transaxle. Features include a steel sunroof, chrome impact bumpers, a heated rear window, and 15? Lemmerz wheels.
Condition
Spent much of its life on static display at a Van Nuys, California Volkswagen dealership. Showing 137 reportedly actual miles.
Market commentary
Barrett–Jackson sold this Beetle in 2012, with 108 miles showing on the odometer, for $26,400. Ten years and 29 miles later, it sold on Bring a Trailer for $51,000. Even accounting for inflation, that’s nearly thirty percent higher. A VW Beetle is not an emerging classic like a Skyline GT-R or an E30 M3. It was, ten years ago, a widely admired classic and a cultural touchstone, just as it is today. If anything, this is the sort of “Boomer car” that is supposed to stagnate as the folks who remember the Summer of Love and whatnot slow their participation in the market. Instead, Hagerty Price Guide values for 1977 Beetles in excellent (#2) condition have nearly quadrupled since 2012, with Gen–X and younger collectors now accounting for the majority of interest in the model, per our insurance data. Although the appreciation has no doubt accelerated during the pandemic, it was already happening beforehand. Note that the first major leap was in 2019—considered, in retrospect, to be a slow period for the market.