Could this 1955 Volkswagen 23-window Samba bus set a new pricing benchmark for the model?
1955 VW 23-window Samba Microbus Deluxe. Photos courtesy Auctionata.
Volkswagen’s Type 2 microbus enjoys a worldwide following, and among the most revered models is the 23-window Samba bus. In June of 2011, a 1963 23-window Samba sold at auction for a record-setting hammer price of $198,000 ($217,800, including buyer’s fees), but now a German auction firm believes it will shatter this benchmark with a 1955 Volkswagen 23-window Samba Microbus Deluxe, set to cross the stage in Berlin on November 28.
The Samba to be offered was built in February of 1955 and sold new through Autohaus Retter in Innsbruck, Austria. As a Deluxe model, it came equipped with chrome hubcaps, a polished VW emblem, two-tone paint (split by chrome trim) and an upgraded interior. In addition to its plentiful side and roof windows, the bus featured a folding cloth sunroof, which further improved ventilation for its nine passengers. As the most luxurious offering from Volkswagen in period, the Samba Microbus Deluxe was even used by European airlines to shuttle passengers to and from the airport, at a time when flying was generally reserved for the most affluent travelers.
The “barndoor” nickname comes from the oversize engine hatch door.
The Sealing Wax Red and Chestnut Brown bus remained in Austria until 1990, when it was sold to a new owner in England who opted for a repaint in the original colors. Aside from this bit of upkeep, Auctionata describes the Samba as “mostly original,” including the lighting, glass, reflectors, wheel trim and even the wraparound Plexiglas rear windows. Over the course of its 59-year life Since the restorative work was performed in the UK, the Samba has reportedly accumulated just 10,305 kilometers (just over 6,400 miles), and is being sold with complete documentation dating to the original owner. There’s also a certificate of authenticity from the Volkswagen Foundation Auto Museum, and the auction firm is claiming that this is one of 11 “Barndoor” Sambas (named for the oversize engine compartment door) remaining from the 1955 model year.
That population claim may be difficult to prove or disprove, but there’s no doubt that 23-window Samba buses are both rare and desirable. Since the record-setting Samba sold in 2011, prices for pristine examples in the United States have dropped, but remain firmly in the six-figure range. In January of 2012, a 1963 23-window Samba, complete with a 1971 Eriba Puck camper, sold for $128,000 in Scottsdale, and in April of 2013, another 1963 example sold for $126,500 in Palm Beach. Last August, a slightly less desirable 21-window microbus from 1966 sold for $110,000 in Monterey, so it appears the market for these Type 2 buses has leveled off in the United States.
That may not be the case in Europe, and the example to be offered at the end of the month in Berlin appears to offer a unique combination of low mileage, extensive documentation and a large percentage of original parts. Auctionata’s opening bid will be €120,000 ($149,725), and its published pre-auction estimate has the bus selling for a record-setting €240,000 ($299,450). Should the bus reach this figure, it may well spark an increase in Type 2 pricing on these shores, too, and it will certainly increase the number of VW buses crossing the stage in Scottsdale next January.
The Auctionata Classic Cars sale takes place in Berlin, Germany, on Friday, November 28. For additional information, visit Auctionata.com.
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My sister bought a VW window van, used, in California for $ 850. But that was back in 1981.
It wasn’t in this condition, although it was an ok runner, with little or no rust.
They have appreciated since then, it appears.
$200,000+ for this? The word “bubble” comes to mind.
I agree, Jim. We can only “stand by the tracks with our hat in our hands” as the Inflation Special roars by.
SHARP bus, though! I’d love to be picked up at the airport in one of these – just don’t book me on SoAwfulBloodyExcuseforanairlineNeverAgain[SABENA], s’il vous plait. [1950s/60s-Era complaint]
For that price I’d rather have the yellow Ghia in the side bar…and a house to park it in.
Wheres The PEACE sign………Growing up you used to see them all over the roads till the rust ate-um up fairly quickly
Did thay not come with rust from the factory ?
The multi-window vans seemed to rust from the bottom down because the weather seals would leak. Seems that Olds Vista Cruisers had that problem but to a lessor degree.
Lololo Howard good one They called that Patina …..
All old VWs died from the bottom up.
From my earlier days of fixing up and swapping cars, I can still account for at least 8 VW buses that passed through my hands. The metal used in their bodies was very thin, and rust was always a problem. I remember going to pick up an old hippy bus for parts that didn’t look too bad (with it brushed on paint job), but when I went to jack it up to change the tire, the sleeve in the body that accepts the jack just pushed up into the body about 4″ until it came to something solid.. Funny at the time – guess you just had to be there.
Back during the 60s & 70s, VWs and Japanse stuff all rusted out quick. Even the Brit stuff. Why? Thin cold-rolled steel stock that was actually made from scap metal…replete with oxidation and rust. PLUS….as the years went on the sheet metal gages got thinner…and thinner. Even in Detroit. Get a paint chip or ratty spot weld bubbling paint off? Instant rust spot. Ziebart (undercoat) it? Worse still. Trapped moisture. Plus all of those nice weld/support channels that retained moisture and soon rusted. SOme rusted out in 3 to 5 years stat. But I love VWs! Have a rust free 67 Bug now…along with 70 911. Thank you Dr. Ferdinand Porsche!
Prices for old cars in general are getting comp;etely out of control. This van is actually worth about $14,000 at the most.
Horace, on what do you base this value? Sales at auction over the past four years paint a decidedly different picture of a 23-window Samba’s value.
Kurt I agree with Horace on the emotion side but as you pointed out its worth what the Market will bare….
Anything is worth what one will pay for it. Apparently there are more than a few people that will pay a six-figure sum for a vintage VW Bus.
“Ve-deee in-tah-res-tink” as Col. Klink would say.
I hate all those “boutique auction houses” cause they are the ONLY ones really making money these days…hands down. Barrett Jackson?? Humbug. You pay at the gate just to be a spectator; you pay just to register as a bidder; you pay a 10% (or higher) buyer’s fee on top of hammer price…and sellers get to pay equivalent fee whether car sells or not. Then there’s a bevy of ‘additonal service crap’ fees applied on top for reserve fees, catalog listing fees, marketing fees, lot fees, storage and transport fees, etc. All of em just love it when cars are flipped…cause THEY (like stock brokers) make money on every transaction. Silly. Madness. Decadence. Auctioneers are just like junkies….
$299,450.00…oh my, the price of speed keeps rising…that’s about $5,445.00 for each mile per hour one can safely squeeze out of this old brick.
Just can’t understand what the attraction to these is!
The folks who came of age in the 80′s love them.
Friend of mine likes them over the muscle cars.
I love a great many muscle cars, but their prices make me laugh sometimes – especially when, if it didn’t have that giant rare and sometimes temperamental motor, then the price might be comfortably under $10k rather than well over $100, or even $200k!
Raw capitalism, ain’t it a peculiar thang.
Once again…as with all of these car/bike auctions and marques/models in play…it’s people with more money and nostalgia than brains running up prices to ridiculous levels! What was a muscle car really all about back then? It was a stripper/sleeper model with limited or no amenities stuffed with the biggest V8 that could fit…with matching rubber to get all that power to the pavement (in a straightline of course). I laugh at how all those ol’ heads with thick wallets lap this kind of old school stuff up. Heck…kias and hyudais blow them away on the highway. And — yes — I had a Transporter once…a 62…standard window model. Ended up stuffing a Corvair 110HP flat six in it. After that, it more than could get out of it’s own 36HP way…
How do you say, “death traps” otherwise?
More than just a repaint, here is a link to the build up:
http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=32312&p=235564#p235564
Looks like a good paintjob. Was taken apart and repainted. Didn´t see any welding done in the threat.
These are truly miserable vehicles to USE. I guess they are nicer when parked.
As a kid (I’m 35 now) I grew up with Samba’s. My dad and grandpa both had VW shops.
You couldn’t be more correct!
What a terrible contraption to try and maneuver. Reminds me of trying to drive a Model T in modern traffic…and I sure as hell wouldn’t want one to simply sit in my garage and look it.
When I got in my 20′s, dad finally bought a ’66 Kombi that had been liberated of it’s reduction boxes with a straight axle conversion, as well as a 1914cc motor producing over 130hp, up from it’s factory 53 hp.
NOW THAT WAS FUN TO DRIVE!
You could do novelty things that were a dream before, like climb hills, merge on the highway without a hail Mary, and even exceed 60 MPH!
I still blame driving “original” Split buses as the reason why I’m prematurely starting to gray…
The reasons you just mentioned are why I prefer American iron. The 4 cylinder Ford Ranger I had in high school was faster than that. And that truck had about 85-90 horsepower on the best day of its life!
There have already been private sales of Barndoor deluxe 23 window Busses that far exceed the grey one that sold for $217k. I know personally of one at $250,000 and have heard tale of higher. I also have first hand knowledge of the recent sales of other 23 window Busses at $205,000 , $145,000 and have a 1956 model in the same Cheatnut Brown and sealing wax red color combo that is priced at $150,000 currently. The market remains strong, and is especially strong in Europe where prices are rising even higher!
So Randy, what do you think I could get for my restored ’69 singlecab (I know, its a bay window)? Haven’t really seen if the trucks have been riding the Samba wave or not.
After visiting a Mercedes restoration shop last week that had Gullwings and other early Mercedes priced in the over $1 million dollar range, these ICONIC, beautiful buses seem to be a bargain. Like all cars, serious collectors or enthusiasts know they are not all created equal. You cannot compare a 63 and a 55. They are completely different vehicles. For all the whining about price I still buy split window buses for $1000 or less because I get out and do the legwork. From where I sit a Barndoor Deluxe for $300k is a sound investment if you can swing it. Unlike a GTO or early Hemi car, EVERYONE has a VW story, memory, and experience, good or bad, and that counts for something.
Hands down the worst driving experience of my life. Mankato, Minnesota, to Couer d’Alene, Idaho, 1972. Couldn’t get out of its own way, no heat, no cool, shifter so loose you were only certain of the gear after letting the clutch out. These benefit from the nostalgia of people who have never driven one.
Olddavid, on the plus side, driving one built character, and that’s something you can’t really say about modern cars.
It taught me to slow down and not to tailgate. Enjoy the ride.
Wonder how it managed to accumulate so little “kilo-mileage”? I can appreciate their might be more interest across the pond. But 21-23 windows are always neat to look at.
The speedo was replaced with a NOS one when the restoration was carried out in the UK, so it started at zero then, not when it was built in 1955. Great bus, had the pleasure of following it to and from Europe in May.
What madness! It’s just a utility vehicle for heavens sake. I do not understand the attraction.
I fully agree. This kind of money could buy a very decent open Packard from the ’30′s.
People that grew up with them are nostalgic over them. I did grow up with several VW buses in the family but the idea that there is only a thin sheet of steel between my knees and the outside is, as an adult, too frightening to want to climb behind the wheel of one now.
If someone is willing to pay the auction amount then what’s the problem? It ain’t your money. Oh but it will inflate prices. Then you should buy now and in 60 years maybe you can sell it for inflated prices. As for hating it, well someone out there likes them.
Of course I’m sure you might consider a Hemi Cuda vert an outlandish car that isn’t worth what they value them at. Then don’t buy it. Same goes for anything including this VW.
There’s so many reasons to like this.
The one that stands out for me personally is the wonderful color combo, but especially that terrific dominant color; because it’s not exactly red, nor orange, nor red-orange, nor browny-red, nor orangey-brown, nor….. you get the picture.
It’s a delight to behold.
Reminds me of an old joke. Apologies to all you Grateful Dead fans.
What did the Deadhead say when they took away his drugs?
“Hey, this van sucks!”
Yes, and there is no slower conveyance on earth for Man
than a Kombi crawling on the hills of Marin County towards the inevitability of the Golden Gate.
Any vehicle that uses a brick for cruise control cannot be worth two large in the mind of any rightly sane person.
hahaha!
Love the paint scheme and the coolness factor. That said, there must have been an ultra slow lane on the Autobahn for this type of vehicle. With the aerodynamics of a cinder block and under 40 horsepower, it must have been a struggle to maintain 50mph. Especially with a load of airplane passengers and their luggage.
Maynard, let’s not forget the joy of driving them in a stiff crosswind.
An excellent training vehicle to introduce budding pilots to the pitfalls of wind shear and turbulance.
I’m surprised that these are the original colors? I assumed that it was “Harley-Davidson’d up” for auction bidders wanting something to park next to their Harley collection or their Ford pickup Harley edition.
Thank you Kurt. The VWs are adorable and the prices are absurd.
The thing I dislike about this van, and others with similar design (like A100 or Econoline) is that, if there is an accident, you are the first one there.
They do have that guillotine effect.
Had a 1963 deluxe bus. Used it to haul our band equipment. We were playing around Colorado. When we played up in the ski resorts I had to go out and start it every break. Never any danger of getting speeding tickets. The heater was nonexistent. Dreamed of having a gas heater. -40 below 0 in a VW bus is a cool ride. This was in the 1960s.
For all the readers who think this is a 60′s Woodstock-hippie-trivia thing, I beg to differ. This 1955 VW would’ve been bought used a few years later by a group of beat generation writers, poets, and college dropouts traveling on a budget. Or a great way to see Europe on the cheap during the summer. If I had $200 grand, it sure wouldn’t be spent on this 50′s classic.To keep it this pristine means never driving and enjoying it. Why bother?
A lot of money for something that has no get-up and go.
My wife says the same things about me…
Years ago several of us guys bought one of these, thinking we could us it to go back and forth to our rented winter season house at Stow Vermont for skiing week ends. Well that was the thought anyway, you see when you put 5 guys and all their ski’s and luggage, beer and other stuff the damn thing would not go faster than 35-40. From north Jersey to Stow took hours and hours, all boring. After a couple of tries we abandoned this folly and went back to our cars….Thank God…
I read somewhere once that early VW’s, the Beetle in particular, handle like “a scared rabbit on rollerskates.” It sounds like these contraptions aren’t any better. I never cared much for Volkswagens.
People, people, take it easy regarding the estimated selling price. After all, it is the Harley-Davidson edition.
Like the muscle car market 10 years ago, this bubble will burst.
My time in Germany was with Air Force Intelligence, so all of our unit vehicles were German cars or trucks with German plates. We had a double cab pickup version with the standard gas engine and it was no fun on the Autobahn with a top speed of no more than 60 MPH (I forget the KPH equivalents). Our VW three window (windshield and front door windows only) cargo van had the diesel engine and was lucky to get up to 50 MPH on the autobahn. When driving it, I was routinely passed by every vehicle behind me on the entrance ramps because the time to get on the highway on some entrance ramps could be measured in minutes. The “executive” passenger van had the bigger gas engine and it would accelerate, but i remember about 65 MPH was about tops. All three were squirrally in the wind or when we were passed by big trucks, especially by double trailer trucks.
On the other hands, our German Ford sedans and coupes were fantastic Autobahn drivers.
You’re risking engine fire every time you fill this thing up with gas.
This is an awesome vehicle, restored by a guy who paid a lot of attention to detail…. And I had the pleasure in having a ride in it last year….
So what is your offer?
I’m surprised nobody is re-poping the roof and other sheetmetal and turning every early bus into a 23 window, kinda like hemi Cuda’s and GT Mustangs. Probably lots to be made….
oh those 23-window “tributes” are out there too.
My ’63 Microbus ran a lot better with a 2180cc motor in it, but those dame reduction boxes…
Here’s a slightly smaller one for $200.00
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1958-REVELL-VOLKSWAGEN-MICRO-BUS-23-WINDOW-1-/390848301483?pt=Model_Kit_US&hash=item5b005fc9ab#ht_460wt_790
What do you think why millions of the “Bullis” were built and sold, specially in the US? Because they were slow, uncomfortable, loud, had low gas-mileage, were ugly etc.? No, everybody loved them, they put a smile on your face even when you were passed by a 38 tons van on a German Autobahn. As students around 1970 we made so many trips in Europe in a 21 window bus and were never disappointed.I still like to spot them on European streets and remember the good times. But more than 200 Grand? Definitely not. The times were not that good.
This is just stupid: the car “collection” industry is again setting prices for “investors”.
There is no reason a POS like this should be worth anywhere near what they are trading for. Another example of greed taking over a hobby.
But since we’re all supposed to make money in this hobby at one time or another; I have a completely rusted out, bent, motorless VW van with a mouse infested interior that I’ll let got for $50,000.
I give up.
I have a 57 Deluxe and to me it`s worth nothing cos ill never put a price on it but they are worth every penny!
i loved mine until I got hit head-on by a drunk driver! Not much protection whe your feet are in front of the front tires.
A fool and his money are soon parted, blah, blah, blah. The “collector” car and the business of auto auction money making is truly not what I enjoy about old cars. Luckily I am in the car hooby for my enjoyment of car designs that I like because of what they are. I’m so lucky they are cars still thought of as lowly little high volume sports cars of little worth. That VW bus is cool, All I could think of when $200K was quoted was an E-Type, an Austin Healey 3000, an MGB roadster and GT, a GT6, a TR-4 and a small airplane like a Stinson or Fairchild, maybe a Monocoupe.