Automotive

2017 Monterey Auction Preview 2: Volkswagen Samba van found in Oregon woods could break auction records

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The "Woods Find" 1959 Volkswagen Deluxe 23-window Samba that will go to auction by Mecum on Friday, August 18, 2017 (Lot F86). The Samba has covered just 200 miles since a no-expense-spared rotisserie restoration, won 'Best Luxury Bus' at the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America Show on April 23 and comes with 400 photos charting its redemptive journey from being abandoned in the Oregon Woods to  becoming one of the stars of the most prestigious automotive gathering on Planet Earth. Auction Description
Carol Duckworth, Courtesy of Mecum Auctions
The last five years has seen one of the enduring icons of sixties personal freedom appreciate in value so quickly that many owners may not know the value of their car could soon eclipse the value of their home. Last Saturday, January 21, 2017, a 21-window Volkswagen Samba sold for $302,500, indicating that the trend is further accelerating.
New Atlas
On January 21, 2017, this 21-window Volkswagen Samba sold for $302,500, becoming the most valuable Volkswagen Samba van ever sold at auction.
Barrett-Jackson
On January 21, 2017, this 21-window Volkswagen Samba sold for $302,500, becoming the most valuable Volkswagen Samba van ever sold at auction.
Barrett-Jackson
This 1967 Volkswagen 21-window Deluxe Samba fetched $143,000 at Barrett-Jackson's 2017 Scottsdale auction.
Barrett-Jackson
This 1967 Volkswagen 21-window Deluxe Samba fetched $143,000 at Barrett-Jackson's 2017 Scottsdale auction.
Barrett-Jackson
Barrett-Jackson sold this 1963 Volkswagen 23-window Deluxe Samba for $217,800 in 2011
Barrett-Jackson
A prior record holder for the highest price ever paid for a Volkswagen Samba van at auction was this €190,000 ($236,639) 1955 VW 23-window Deluxe Samba. The car was auctioned by Auctionata in Germany (now absorbed into another auction company and hence no auction link) in Germany in November, 2014
Auctionata 
In early February, Artcurial sold a 21-window Volkswagen Samba for $104,095 (€97,744) in Paris. For more detail, see our feature article entitled The 100 most interesting lots from Retromobile Auction Week.
Artcurial 
This 1963 Volkswagen Type 2 '23-Window' Super Deluxe Microbus with Eriba Puck was sold for $159,500 by RM-Sothebys in March, 2016
RM-Sothebys
On April 8, 2017, Barrett-Jackson sold this 1961 Volkswagen 23-window Deluxe Samba above for $291,500, a new record for the 23-window model. 
Barrett-Jackson
On April 8, 2017, Barrett-Jackson sold this 1961 Volkswagen 23-window Deluxe Samba above for $291,500, a new record for the 23-window model. 
Barrett-Jackson
On July 22, 2017, this 1966 Volkswagen Deluxe 21-window Samba bus received a bid of $95,000 (effectively $104,500 with buyers premium), but the vendor's reserve price was not met and the van was passed in.
Mecum
Mecum Lot F106  Monterey 2017  - Volkswagen 11-Window Bus
Mecum
This 1963 Volkswagen 23-window Samba van comes from the last year of production of the model. The recipient of a three-year concours quality restoration, the van will cross the auction block at Russo & Steele's Monterey auction on August 19, 2017
Russo & Steele
The "Woods Find" 1959 Volkswagen Deluxe 23-window Samba that will go to auction by Mecum on Friday, August 18, 2017 (Lot F86). The Samba has covered just 200 miles since a no-expense-spared rotisserie restoration, won 'Best Luxury Bus' at the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America Show on April 23 and comes with 400 photos charting its redemptive journey from being abandoned in the Oregon Woods to  becoming one of the stars of the most prestigious automotive gathering on Planet Earth. Auction Description
Carol Duckworth, Courtesy of Mecum Auctions
The "Woods Find" 1959 Volkswagen Deluxe 23-window Samba that will go to auction by Mecum on Friday, August 18, 2017 (Lot F86). The Samba has covered just 200 miles since a no-expense-spared rotisserie restoration, won 'Best Luxury Bus' at the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America Show on April 23 and comes with 400 photos charting its redemptive journey from being abandoned in the Oregon Woods to  becoming one of the stars of the most prestigious automotive gathering on Planet Earth. Auction Description
Carol Duckworth, Courtesy of Mecum Auctions
The "Woods Find" 1959 Volkswagen Deluxe 23-window Samba that will go to auction by Mecum on Friday, August 18, 2017 (Lot F86). The Samba has covered just 200 miles since a no-expense-spared rotisserie restoration, won 'Best Luxury Bus' at the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America Show on April 23 and comes with 400 photos charting its redemptive journey from being abandoned in the Oregon Woods to  becoming one of the stars of the most prestigious automotive gathering on Planet Earth. Auction Description
Carol Duckworth, Courtesy of Mecum Auctions
This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum
This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum
This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum
This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum
This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum
This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum
This 23-window Deluxe Samba was purchased new in Germany in 1962 by a US military sergeant who shipped it home to the United States in 1969. In 2015 the Samba completed a three-year concours restoration project.  Auction Description
Russo & Steele
This 23-window Deluxe Samba was purchased new in Germany in 1962 by a US military sergeant who shipped it home to the United States in 1969. In 2015 the Samba completed a three-year concours restoration project.  Auction Description
Russo & Steele
This 23-window Deluxe Samba was purchased new in Germany in 1962 by a US military sergeant who shipped it home to the United States in 1969. In 2015 the Samba completed a three-year concours restoration project.  Auction Description
Russo & Steele
This 23-window Deluxe Samba was purchased new in Germany in 1962 by a US military sergeant who shipped it home to the United States in 1969. In 2015 the Samba completed a three-year concours restoration project.  Auction Description
Russo & Steele
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When the clocks ticked over on New Year's Eve last, the world record price paid at auction for a Volkswagen Samba van was US$236,639. That van was a 23-window model, with the record price for the 21-window model standing at $129,719. Barely six months later, the record for the 21-window model now stands at $302,500 and the 23-window record is now $291,500 and with several near perfect specimens of the Samba heading for auction at Monterey Car Week, more records could go.

The record price for a Samba first passed the $200,000 mark in 2011, when Barrett-Jackson sold a 1963 Volkswagen 23-window Deluxe Samba for $217,800. That record stood until November, 2014 when a 1955 VW 23-window Deluxe Samba sold for €190,000 ($236,639) in Germany.

Though the collectible car auction marketplace has been generally erratic over the last 18 months, the T2 Volkswagen bus has been one of the fastest appreciating automobiles on the auction block, with the $100,000 mark seemingly the new auction "floor" for any Samba vans and even some tradesman variants of the Kombi Wagen are pushing past that figure.

This 1967 Volkswagen 21-window Deluxe Samba fetched $143,000 at Barrett-Jackson's 2017 Scottsdale auction.
Barrett-Jackson

The 23-window Samba had always been considered the most valuable until the Scottsdale auctions in January 2017 when a 1967 Volkswagen 21-window Deluxe Samba (pictured directly above) sold for $143,000 to set a new record for the model.

On January 21, 2017, this 21-window Volkswagen Samba sold for $302,500, becoming the most valuable Volkswagen Samba van ever sold at auction.
Barrett-Jackson

The auction record for a 21-window Samba lasted just 24 hours before another 21-window Deluxe Samba (directly above) took the outright world record for any Samba van with a sale of $302,500, more than doubling the 21-window record of just 24 hours prior. Even more surprisingly, it wasn't even standard – normally the best-of-breed cars which sell for the highest prices are perfectly "bog stock." This one wasn't.

The last five years has seen one of the enduring icons of sixties personal freedom appreciate in value so quickly that many owners may not know the value of their car could soon eclipse the value of their home. Last Saturday, January 21, 2017, a 21-window Volkswagen Samba sold for $302,500, indicating that the trend is further accelerating.
New Atlas

That's the hero image from our story published on January 22, 2017 above. For those who want to get into the fine detail of all the previous $100,000 plus sales for the Volkswagen Kombi/Samba, make sure you read that feature entitled How the Volkswagen Kombi became a family heirloom!

On April 8, 2017, Barrett-Jackson sold this 1961 Volkswagen 23-window Deluxe Samba above for $291,500, a new record for the 23-window model. 
Barrett-Jackson

A sale of a 21-window Volkswagen Samba for $104,095 (€97,744) in Paris in February suggested the marketplace temperature had fallen but on April 8, 2017, Barrett-Jackson sold the 1961 Volkswagen 23-window Deluxe Samba above for $291,500, a new record for the 23-window model. That sale along with the January Scottsdale sales appear to have recalibrated the marketplace.

On April 8, 2017, Barrett-Jackson sold this 1961 Volkswagen 23-window Deluxe Samba above for $291,500, a new record for the 23-window model. 
Barrett-Jackson

In Portland Oregon on June 17, 2017, the above 1959 Volkswagen 23-window Samba received a bid of $115,000 at a Mecum auction. Given that the 10 percent buyers premium had to be added to that bid and it was not accepted, that means the reserve price for the vehicle was more than $126,500 and given there was no compromise reached, most likely a lot more.

Then in Denver last weekend (July 21-22, 2017), Mecum sold the above 1960 Volkswagen 23-window Samba for $132,000.

The VW Samba/Kombi vans available at auction during 2017 Monterey Car Week

Monterey Car Week is an event of such gravitas that not only do people travel there from around the world, but people from around the world send their cars there to sell them. If you have a top tier automobile of any ilk, you'll most likely get the highest price for it at Monterey because the week long event draws an audience like no other, an audience comprising more Ultra High Net Worth automotive enthusiasts than any other gathering on the planet.

Hence the sale of a 21-window Samba van for $302,500 and a 23-window Samba for $291,500 in the first six months of 2017 means that the world's best available Samba vans are heading to auction at Monterey Car Week 2017. Here's a rundown of the Volkswagen Samba/Kombi vans we'll see in Monterey.

The "woods find" 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba

The "Woods Find" 1959 Volkswagen Deluxe 23-window Samba that will go to auction by Mecum on Friday, August 18, 2017 (Lot F86). The Samba has covered just 200 miles since a no-expense-spared rotisserie restoration, won 'Best Luxury Bus' at the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America Show on April 23 and comes with 400 photos charting its redemptive journey from being abandoned in the Oregon Woods to  becoming one of the stars of the most prestigious automotive gathering on Planet Earth. Auction Description
Carol Duckworth, Courtesy of Mecum Auctions

Mecum appears to have by far the strongest Samba van line-up at Monterey with the above 1959 Volkswagen Deluxe 23-window Samba the most likely of several Mecum offerings to snatch the record, partly because it is as close to perfect as you can get, and partly because it is one of those fabled "barn finds."

Found in the Oregon woods, the Samba has been the subject of a no-expense-spared rotisserie restoration, and ticks all the boxes. It has traveled only 200 miles since that restoration, comes with a Volkswagen Certificate of Authenticity, and in its only public outing to date, it won the Best Luxury Bus Award at the 2017 Kelley Park Vintage Volkswagen Show held in San Jose, California on April 23 by the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America.

Most importantly, the van also comes with 400 photographs that illustrate the journey from being abandoned in the woods to becoming one of the stars of the most prestigious automotive gathering on Planet Earth. Auction Description

The 100 mph "sleeper" 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba

This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum

Authenticity has always been the defining characteristic of the collectible car movement, though there are signs that may be changing in the middle and lower tiers as a new breed of investor is more interested in function than form. Cars modified in period to be as good as they could be are gaining fast in credibility on the block. The world record $302,500 Samba is not standard and this vehicle might look standard to anything less than the untrained eye, but it most definitely is not.

This 1959 23-window Volkswagen Samba looks close to stock from the outside, but is far from it on the inside, with a 2,387cc engine producing 160 hp and four wheel disk brakes. Auction Description
Mecum

Instead of the original 40 hp 1200cc horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine, the engine bay (above) now houses a bored and stroked unit displacing 2,387cc and producing 160 hp. All that extra muscle now drives a new transaxle with much longer gearing, enabling the van to cruise at 100 mph, and the Samba now sports stoppers to match, with disk brakes on all four wheels. Auction Description

Fully-restored 1962 23-window Volkswagen Samba

This 23-window Deluxe Samba was purchased new in Germany in 1962 by a US military sergeant who shipped it home to the United States in 1969. In 2015 the Samba completed a three-year concours restoration project.  Auction Description
Russo & Steele

From the last year of Samba production, this 1962 23-window Volkswagen Sambavan has just completed what the auction report describes as a "no-expense-spared, ground-up restoration." Auction Description

... and another fully-restored 1962 23-window Volkswagen Samba

This 1963 Volkswagen 23-window Samba van comes from the last year of production of the model. The recipient of a three-year concours quality restoration, the van will cross the auction block at Russo & Steele's Monterey auction on August 19, 2017
Russo & Steele

This 23-window Deluxe Samba was purchased new in Germany in 1962 by a US military sergeant who shipped it home to the United States in 1969. In 2015 the Samba completed a three-year concours restoration project. Auction Description

View gallery - 28 images
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5 comments
Gizmowiz
Don't tell Mike Wolfe of 'American Pickers' or he will blow a head gasket.
Buzzclick
What? No sunroof?
Catweazle
Ah, but how many cup holders has it got?
dave be
Wow.. one really should NOT drive one of these 100mph under any circumstances. Brakes would be only 1 piece of that problem.
I used to ride cross country in my parents 55. That thing would begin to panic at 55. They're top heavy, narrow wheel base, easily influenced by side gusts of wind, and the suspension is unstable at high speed. Not Im talking about the original high speed, not this version which is almost 2x.
Then of course theres the fact that your very close to the first thing thats going to hit any obstacle. Not that a 55mph crash is pleasant with the lack of modern safety equipment, but its miles better than 100.
Ill pass on the updates to this one.
Grunchy
Faster isn't necessarily better, but it is nice to have the bigger motor so that acceleration from a stop isn't anemic. It's only a 2.4 litre motor, there should be a way to make the van safe with that power plant.