Bidder's testosteron: US$ 217,800 for VW-Bus

After graduating in '73 your editor + three friends  bought a 1959 VW camper at approx. $ 650 . We travelled 7000 miles through southern Europe and sold the bus at $ 850 to an American who tuned up old VW-busses with Porsche engines. My camper was not a Samba (I kept the Lesney 1:43 model as a souvenir). But back than a Samba was pretty useless. If somebody would have told me that a Samba in a distant future would sell at $ 217,800 I would have sent him to a doctor. Let alone what Dutch VW importer and VW Bus father Ben Pon would have thought. Anyway, yesterday it happened at Barrett-Jackson. Maybe it was due to the charity background of the auction. And due to bidder's testosteron. But one thing is sure, collectors want to pay- they want to pay big-time-money  if that one car that they really-really want comes along. So what's the bottom line? Make sure the car you are selling is exactly what the big collectors look for. Restore it better than new. Or alternatively, do not restore at all and most certainly never wash or detail it.  See that you obtain every picture and syllable of history involved with your car. Or create & write a history around your car. We are not telling secrets. All this is happpening all day and all around the globe. Yet not by everybody. (photo JB/ PostWarClassic.com)

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