Has The Market Softened For The 23 Window?

[daepp]

...or caveat emptor?

It’s very preliminary, but I have a chance of picking up this 23 Window bus (from a friend of my daughter’s) for $60K. She grew up hearing me moan about selling my 21 Window in ‘88 (for $1700!) to finance my honeymoon, so when her buddy told her he had a bus for sale she texted me right away.

As of yet I haven’t seen it in person (that happens Saturday), and if they told me the year I don’t even remember, but the seller claims it’s a good, rust-free driver, California car, located in Los Angeles and that it’s been completely restored.

So I hop online and a cursory look around seems to suggest $60K might be a good price, but that the days of 6 figure buses may be over. True?

Again, I haven’t even seen it in person so...

[MRM]

My advice is worth no more, and probably less, than you paid for it. My thinking is that every generation of cars goes through boom and bust cycles based on the age of the people who grew up with that era of cars. Everyone wants the premier car of their youth. As that cohort ages, the cars they love fall out of favor. My considered opinion is that 1960s vehicles, especially hippy vehicles, speak to specific generation of baby boomers who are quickly dying out. They love the premier vehicles of their era. No one else does. I do think the market for 23 window vans is dropping and I think that it will one day drop the way that early 1900s vintage cars dropped. When my dad was young they were high dollar collectors cars. Now they’re interesting pieces of history and worth a few dollars to keep around because they’re interesting. I think all VW vans are like that. If it’s what you want and can afford it, get it. Life’s short. You should enjoy it to the max. But as an investment I think it’s in an inevitable downward slope.

[Hugh R]

My advise isn't worth spit, when I was a lad, my parents bought a new 1960 regular VW bus it was a novelty and other VW bus owners used to flash their lights, 30 or so HP and it might hit 55 on a downhill. I just don't see it going UP in value any more.

[fintstone]

I watched them cut a very clean one up and make a hot rod out of it on Overhaulin' just the other night. Seemed a shame for a nice, drivable "survivor".

[manbridge 74]

Problem with the restored ones for me is all the repop parts. See them at Barrett Jackson every year. They look off.

[herr_oberst]

I wish I knew more about them, I'm sure someone will be abler than I.

I think it's a 65/66/67, judging by the shape of the taillights. The lack of a pass through between the front seats will probably be a clue, too. Like I said, I don't know all the peccadillos. It's missing a passenger side mirror, the w/w's are ragged (most likely a fairly weatherbeaten restoration) and the headlights are aftermarket.

I never understood why someone would pay those kinds of prices. I had a '65, and for a 19 year old hippie, it was an ok car, but absolutely nothing special, and like Hugh said, if the speedometer was accurate, 55 came around only with the hand of god on your back, or a tailwind and a downhill. If you happen to rearend someone, your legs are the impact bumper, and no matter how much work you do to them, those windows and doors will rattle and shake....

Good luck if it's something you want, I know I'm just putting in my two bummers...but I just never understood the appeal. Maybe it's sour grapes because I traded mine for a Peugeot that immediately cracked a head...

[911boost]

Paging Thom

I�m biased but I�d buy it .

[Hugh R]

To echo herr-oberst: my Mom had a small, like 10 mph accident, in Hyannis Port, Cape Cod in about 1962 with the Bus, front left as facing the vehicle, I was in the front passenger seat, had I not been sitting cross-legged in the front seat, I'm pretty sure I would have lost my legs.

[nota]

had a 62 window van
can you say broken transfer case ? twice ?
how the gutless pig broke anything is a mystery
much rather have my room mate's 62 econoline with a 351 cleveland he put in it

extra windoz = leaks and rust never got the attraction

type 4 later was driveable

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by fintstone

I watched them cut a very clean one up and make a hot rod out of it on Overhaulin' just the other night. Seemed a shame for a nice, drivable "survivor".

Found photos.

The Chip Foose Designs VW Microbus

They added a couple of windows.

[Jeff Higgins]

They used to say that the best cure for wanting a Volkswagen bus is getting a Volkswagen bus.

I grew up through the era when these were new. The only folks that had them only had them because they couldn't afford anything better. They were horrible then, whether you were driving one, riding in one, or stuck behind one. The demands of modern traffic have not improved that situation.

[ckissick]

Compared to the 23 window buses listed on The Samba, it's a good price:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/search.php?submit=yes&type=text&section%5B%5D=5&keywords=23+window

[Bill Douglas]

$60K, I nearly spilt the pinot down the front of my shirt. I sold mine for about $300.00. Minor rust and the doors popped open on hard corners, but otherwise excellent.

[Tishabet]

Basic question: are you sure it is a real 23 window? You can buy the entire roof panel etc and create a 23 window of your own from a cheaper bus, be sure what you are looking at.

+1 to paging Thom

[ckelly78z]

If it's what you want, get it, and enjoy, if it's too much money, pass, and find another. The market on these is driven by boomers who remember taking trips with their parents, and want to recapture some memories.

[slow&rusty]

I think these buses are cool, especially lowered with more HP and the "right wheels"..but I'm thinking if I had one what do I with it?

Do you take it on a night out with the wife and maybe another couple? When they are restored so majestically, its not like you can take them to Home Depot or the Garden Center to pick up mulch or drywall. Long distance trips would be a bit miserable especially in the middle of summer and I'm sure these perfectly restored ones are never driven in inclement weather...so when do you exactly drive them?

[jcommin]

I have seen ridiculous prices for a 23 window. It is a cult car - like Broncos right now. If I had Jay Leno money, I would add a clean 23 to my collection but I just don't see the value of this vehicle or the need for one.

[GothingNC]

Maybe Gabriel can add it to his collection.

Inside Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias’ dream VW collection – Newsroom

[Yorkie]

If you believe Hagerty values of the absolute best continue to rise but flat for everything else. Anecdotally speaking the fever pitch seems to have died down. The Euros are not in trawling the local SoCal VW events like they were a couple of years ago. Westfalias took off quickly as split screens got silly but even now those are calming down. I think buses are an itch you scratch then move on. I had a couple when the kids were small but they/we got tired of the snail pace and lack of comfort. Buy it to enjoy it rather than make money on it. You shouldn’t loose much unless you have a 15-30 ownership horizon.

[widebody911]

I hope not, but in reality, the leading edge of the market hype has died. Things went nuts after some 'tard paid $200k+ for a '62 23-window at BJ, but a year or so later, a nicer, earlier bus only went for $90k. The are lots of 6-figure buses listed on TheSamba, but if the prices reflected reality they would be sold by now.

I hope to get paint on my '57 in the next few montsh