The VW 21-window bus 1965 bus or bust.

Last week, I went to a beach city in Southern California to visit a guy who was selling a 1965 21-window bus. The 21 & 23 window pre-1967 buses are rare and highly sought after by collectors. It is my dream to own one of those but I don’t think I would like to spend tens of thousands of dollars restoring one.

When I finally met the guy, he took me to an auto shop a few miles away from his office and showed me a bus parked inside a restoration shop yard. I had to admit that I was a bit disappointed because the bus had rust issues all over its body requiring expensive restoration. The dashboard looked nice but

the floors had rust, the passenger door on the front has a broken hinge, it does not have a middle and rear sets. It needs to be totally stripped and restored. I estimated the cost of restoration to be around $15,000.

When I asked the owner how much is he selling the bus, he said, “twenty thousand”. I was tempted to asked him the question, “Is that in dollars or pesos?”. But of course I did not asked because the question would come across as an insult.

To find out how much he paid for it, I threw a probing question of, “Would you let it go for $10,000?”. He responded saying that he would rather keep it if my offer is only $10,000. His response tells me that he probably has more than $10,000 already invested on the bus.

The seemingly bloated prices of the 21 & 23-window VW buses is rooted to one event that happened in June 2011 at a Barrett Jackson auto auction in Costa Mesa, California. A 1963 23-window VW bus colored mouse-gray-and-pearl-white as one of the vehicles being auctioned that day. It was in a condition way better than when it rolled off the assembly line 48 years ago. Everybody was surprised when the bids just kept on coming pushing the price of the bus up above the prices of the other vehicles. When the bidding finally ended, the total price of the bus was $219,000 (this included the auction fees and other fees).

The day after that auction, every vintage VW enthusiast wanted to cash in on their bus and started searching

for 21 & 23 VW buses. The owners jacked up prices and buyers went on a buying frenzy for 21 & 23 windows. Many buyers, especially the amateur restorers, paid hefty amounts just to own these buses without realizing that the restoration cost of these buses are very expensive.

I met a guy who bought a 1966 21-window in Sacramento that had been primered but the engine is out. The panels are not attached and the seats are all skeletal. He paid $20,000. I felt bad for him because he over paid for that bus. This is what normally happens to people who become greedy and would buy things because of a buying frenzy that was swirling around during that time. These buyers has to now have the bus restored at an estimated cost of $5,000 for painting, $1700 for a single port 1600cc engine restoration, plus thousands in interior parts, etc.

It only took a few months for the buying frenzy to die down and now people are stuck with their 21 & 23 VW buses and these people are desperate to sell them to get their money back. I believe one of the people who jumped into the frenzy is the owner of this 1965 21-window bus that I was checking out.

I politely declined to buy the bus telling him it is just going to be too much to restore.

The simple lesson in car restoration is to analyze closely the realistic cost of restoration and the range

of value that the car will sell during a season. If you are not too sure about this then do not buy a project that can overwhelm you with the restoration cost.

Restoring a vintage vehicle can be a joy or a horror, depending on how you handle it.