Photo: SpicerCollectorCars.com
There is pride in owning a classic car and then there’s this – whatever you might call collector Rudy Zvarich’s gesture of keeping a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle under wraps after driving it only once.
Zvarich, from Portland, Oregon, bought the Beetle as a backup for the 1957 Beetle that he drove daily, in case it ever broke down. At the time, he wasn’t a classic car collector, but he did like tinkering. He drove his new car to a friend’s house in the dead of night straight from the dealer, without an insurance and using a replacement battery.
He moved it to his own house some time later, which made it clock 22 miles on the odometer. Once in the garage, Zvarich covered the Beetle to keep it from gathering dust and forgot it there. In 2014, when he died, it went to his nephew Mike and his wife Pam, still in the same impeccable condition as when it was bought – and still having been properly driven just once.
The only fault on the Beetle is a small scratch Mike is responsible for. He and other relatives were playing inside the garage when they were kids, and one of them scratched the car. Zvarich made sure they never got that close to it ever again.
The car is now up for sale for the asking price of $1 million. Zvarich originally paid $1,756.90 for it, but it’s now a “time capsule,” so it comes with the price tag worthy of one.
“The time capsule 1964 Beetle was removed from its resting place and carefully brought up to running condition with careful attention to not disturb the originality of the car,” Spice Collector Cars says.
“The windshield wipers and hubcaps have never been attached to the car and are still in their original boxes from the dealership. Its black paint is a little dusty, because it has never been washed – ever! The ‘Leatherette Red’ interior looks like it was just installed on the assembly line. The dealer window sticker is still where it was placed in 1964.”
Mike and Pam have their own garage for restoring classic German cars, and they admit they were approached before with an offer for the Beetle. At the time, they could have made $150,000, but they weren’t interested in selling.
He moved it to his own house some time later, which made it clock 22 miles on the odometer. Once in the garage, Zvarich covered the Beetle to keep it from gathering dust and forgot it there. In 2014, when he died, it went to his nephew Mike and his wife Pam, still in the same impeccable condition as when it was bought – and still having been properly driven just once.
The only fault on the Beetle is a small scratch Mike is responsible for. He and other relatives were playing inside the garage when they were kids, and one of them scratched the car. Zvarich made sure they never got that close to it ever again.
The car is now up for sale for the asking price of $1 million. Zvarich originally paid $1,756.90 for it, but it’s now a “time capsule,” so it comes with the price tag worthy of one.
“The time capsule 1964 Beetle was removed from its resting place and carefully brought up to running condition with careful attention to not disturb the originality of the car,” Spice Collector Cars says.
“The windshield wipers and hubcaps have never been attached to the car and are still in their original boxes from the dealership. Its black paint is a little dusty, because it has never been washed – ever! The ‘Leatherette Red’ interior looks like it was just installed on the assembly line. The dealer window sticker is still where it was placed in 1964.”
Mike and Pam have their own garage for restoring classic German cars, and they admit they were approached before with an offer for the Beetle. At the time, they could have made $150,000, but they weren’t interested in selling.
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