Vintage VW eBay Treasures!

What would we do without the internet? Where would we have to find al these early Split Bug parts? For instance, in the ’70s and early ’80s people must have had a lot of connections to find the good stuff. Or they had to visit vintage VW events like Bad Camberg. As I was born in the mid ’70s I can only imagine how these events looked like back then. Were there a lot of early parts available? Even with the internet nowadays, it’s getting harder to find good original parts and not something like this. But, I’ve found a nice selection of parts on eBay again ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ) and no, I didn’t won any of them As you can see, the vintage VW treasures are still out there…

Who’s Playing These Games?

A while back I came across an ultra rare KdF board game on eBay ( 1 2 3 4 5 ). Never saw it before. I placed a maximum bid of € 1000 on it. Yes, I know, it’s a lot of money for ‘just’ a board game but when was the last time you played this game?  My guess was that it wouldn’t be enough to become the lucky winner as eBay is full of vintage VW collectors. I waited and waited, 1 minute before the end of the auction. Still the highest bidder. Would it be mine after all? 10 Seconds before the end of the auction… Exciting, isn’t it? Just check the result in this picture. Is it worth that kind of money? Well, that’s up for discussion…

Yes, It Is! The VW 38 Prototype…

KdF All The Way!

Here are some eBay auctions of KdF parts that fetched some nice prices. Low demand of these rare parts often pushes the price sky high, but what if it’s the last part you need to complete your restoration? This usually results in paying the price! The first item is a 1943 VDO speedometer  for a Kübelwagen or some other KdF type car. It definitely needs restoration. I wonder how much that would cost compared to the selling price? The second item is a dash pod that would make a perfect match with the first item. It has the cog wheel logo on the rear side. The last item is a Solex 26 VFI II carburetor for a type 166 Schwimmwagen which is looking very good! It could be NOS. It also has the cog wheel logo. As you can see, there’s some real investing going on in the vintage VW scene!

Real Masterpieces?

A couple of weeks ago I was following an auction on eBay (where else? ). The item to be auctioned was a spare parts list for a Kübelwagen from 1943. It was in perfect condition. Maybe a bit too perfect, so the first thing that went through my mind was, “Is it Real?” Also the seller could not confirm whether it was original or just a cheap reproduction. If it was original it definitely went cheap and the winner is very lucky. Normally the original ones go for hunderds of euro’s. I didn’t bid on it as the chances are high of buying repro stuff on eBay these days.

Also the following piece of KdF literature looks repro to me but I’m not 100% sure. It’s some sort of repair manual for a Kübelwagen from 1940 sold on eBay. Can anyone confirm if these items are original or not?

Economic Crisis? Use The Kdf Money Box!

Ever seen such a nice collection of KdF money boxes? I wish I had them in my collection I but haven’t found a nice one yet. People used them for saving coins which they used for buying KdF stamps. These stamps were put into a KdF savings card. The full cards eventually could be traded for a KdF-Wagen not knowing that this would never happen. Back then two companies made these boxes. They were Georg Brandstaetter or GEOBRA and the German tin toy company Michael Seidel. Nowadays  these boxes are very rare and highly priced collector’s items. I’m still looking for one…

On the KdF-Wagen forum there is an interesting thread about these money boxes and if you are into vintage VW scale models don’t forget to take a look at the models section of this forum.

The Hessisch Oldendorf Show Is Over…

But it was a super event this year! Lots of very nice cars. Is a Hebmüller rare? Nah, I saw at least 30 of them last weekend I said my prayers in the church where the vw38 prototype was located. Hopefully God heard my prayers and watches over the whole restoration process.  I talked to a lot of people and searched for rare VW parts and literature the whole day. I came home with just one item. Most of the parts and literature had a nice price tag on them. For instance the pre ’49 tail lights I’m looking for… 2000 euro… so I’m still looking I took a lot of pictures. Went to the Gründmann museum and almost had a 2 hour journey to vintage VW heaven… What a nice collection they have! I can’t wait to go the the next one… Counting down already… Still 3 years and 364 days to go…

The Real Deal?

This week I came across this auction on eBay of a type 82e or a type 92 Kübelwagen based KdF Beetle. Is it an original one? It definitely looks like one. It has some specific KdF era details like the ‘ears’ on both sides of the gast tank. Also the small round gas tank is from the KdF era. Looking at the price ( 60.000 euro ) it must be a real one. If it’s a fake the owner did a real good job trying to make it look as real as possible! My guess… It’s original! Just start bidding and maybe it will be yours!

Gründmann To The Rescue!

It finally arrived at the right place. The VW38 prototype is now part of the vintage VW collection of the Gründmann family located in Hessisch Oldendorf. The rumor goes this car and an April 1943 KdF Type 92 Beetle were traded for a fully restored 1943 KdF Beetle. Good deal? I think so, because they have the parts (maybe not all, but a lot), the skills (check out their other cars) and the knowledge (impressive collection and of course good connections) to give these cars the restoration they deserve.  Hope to see these cars at the Vintage VW Show in Hessisch Oldendorf in June this year. I wonder at what stage the restoration of these cars will be when the show starts. More pictures can be found on their new web site http://www.vw38.de.

KdF Era Delivery Van

I came across this original picture on Ebay a while ago showing what appears to be the type 88  KdF era delivery van (see Chris Barber’s book page 191). It must have been built somewhere in the early 40′s and was based on a Kübelwagen chassis. Note the banana style bumper at the front. This was not the only pick-up type car Volkswagen produced during the war but these models never became high figure production cars. Even after the war Volkswagen never developed a pick-up type Beetle. Coachbuilt company Beutler built some pick-ups and another coachbuilder named Fischer converted some Ovals into pick-ups. I wonder what happened to the KdF one on the picture. Is it still among us? who knows…