1963 Volkswagen Beetle 1200

The Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle changed the world. Like the globally successful Ford Model T, it was a simple, properly-engineered automobile that was inexpensive enough to bring motoring to the masses. And like the Model T, it was strong and reliable and was built around the world in mind-boggling quantities.

The Beetle’s heritage goes back to the pre-war KdF-Wagen, whose name stood for Kraft durch Freude and translates loosely to ‘strength through joy’. Conceived from the experiments of Porsche Design’s Project 12, it used a revolutionary rear-mounted engine with Aluminium and Magnesium castings. With a simple yet effective platform chassis, the car underwent countless revisions and prototypes before, eventually, the Series 38 design would embody the Beetle as we know it.

With 40bhp from its 1192cc horizontally-opposed, four-cylinder engine with Solex carburettor, a 4-speed manual gearbox, independent front suspension with upper and lower control arms and transverse torsion bars, rear suspension by swing axles with trailing arms and torsion bar and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes, it was indeed properly-engineered.

VW’s Beetle soon became ubiquitous all over the world, even in the United States, where horsepower had always ruled. Over the years, details changed, and displacement increased, but the basic look remained. When production ceased in Mexico in 2003, 21,529,464 had been built in plants on every continent but Antarctica.

The car presented here is a right-hand drive 1963 Volkswagen Beetle finished in Birch Green, an original and unrestored example that comes with extensive history and service records. In more recent times, it's been treated to an engine rebuild and an overhaul of the electrical system, with our vendor stating that the body, similarly, is in ‘excellent condition’, with in excess of £12,000 worth of invoices to back this up. The indicated mileage of 66,904 (at the time of cataloguing) would seem wholly commensurate with its well-preserved condition.

Volkswagen's Beetle is an important part of automotive history and this very wholesome example would make an ideal first classic for an enthusiast at a most reasonable outlay.