Million Dollar Baby

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A 1964 Volkswagen Beetle in excellent condition is currently offered for sale for 1 million dollars in Portland, Oregon. Why so much? Well, according to the seller the car in question ‘may be the most original Beetle on the planet’. It is in perfectly preserved condition and with just 23 miles on its clock.

The car’s story is a good one, too. A man named Rudy Svarich bought a Beetle in 1957. He loved the specific model so much, that – when he heard VW was to facelift the model for the 1965 model year – he decided to buy a brand new spare car in case his old VW gave the ghost and he’d be forced to buy the new model variant. He found a ’64 car, black in colour, with a dealer in Beaverton, Oregon, and drove it to his home using a battery of his own so he’d not have to use the new one coming with the car! It moved garage one time, but stood still between 1966 and 2016, when Svarich passed away at the age of 87. 

Together with more cars that Svarich had amassed, the time capsule VW went to his niece. The only miles on the clock are the one that his uncle put on it back in ’64: 22 of them. By now the Beetle comes at 23 miles, since ‘the car clicked over from 22 miles to 23 pulling it out of storage.’ But it still looks new. The car never wore it’s chrome wheel covers and its mirrors, and these can still be found in a box coming with it, like the original battery. See the ad here. What do you think – is it worth the extraordinary asking price?

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