A 1955 Volkswagen bus was sold recently for a stunning price of $235,000 by a German auction company, the highest price ever paid for one of the grooviest microbuses ever created.
The minibus is best remembered for its role as a cheap, yet sometimes unreliable, transportation option for bands of hippies during the 1960s. With its VW logo resembling a peace sign, the bus became an icon of the 1960s culture, along with the VW Beetle.
With benchlike seating for up to nine and a clanging air-cooled engine capable of 30 hp (in this case) the VW vehicle is the exact opposite of the normal luxury cars and muscle vehicles that take in a lot of money during a big auction.
Due to their emotional appeal though, the VW buses have become more of a collector's item as the years go by, according to the auction house Auctionata.
Amazingly, the bus sold at auction remains nearly in original condition, with just 6,400 miles on its odometer. The vehicle is distinguished by its chrome hubcaps and chrome VW badge, along with a large cloth sunroof and two-tone paint job.
Did we mention the bus had 23 windows? In the auction world, the more windows a vehicle has the more valuable it is, according to Auctionata.
It also doesn't hurt that it was one of only 11 Sambas from 1955.
The highest price ever paid for a microbus before this was $218,000 during a 2011 Barrett-Jackson auction in California, according to the auction house.
The record-breaking auction was conducted mostly on-line, and by the time it ended, the highest bid for this bus was only €120,000, or about $150,000.
The owner was not willing to sell the vehicle at that price however, so days of negotiations followed before the owner agreed to sell it for €190,000. The price also includes a 10 percent buyer's premium paid to the auction company.
The original microbus went into production back in 1950. The last VW bus was made in Brazil in 2013, according to VW. Nearly 3.5 million of the vehicles were produced around the world over the years.
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