This Abandoned Cottage Has an Iconic Car Buried in the Garden

Wait, what? Can a vehicle be hidden in a backyard? Isn't that like in plain sight? Well, not necessarily, because some get buried in junk or end up covered in overgrown vegetation. Remember the 1965 Porsche 912 that the folks over at "The Late Brake Show" unearthed (literally!) in Cardiff, South Wales, in early 2022? The car you see here is just as iconic, and it also spent decades buried in a garden.

This time around is not a Porsche, and it's nowhere near as valuable, but it has quite a few things in common with a 911. For starters, it's made by Volkswagen, a company with many ties with the sports car manufacturer. Moreover, it's a Beetle, a car Ferdinand Porsche designed more than a decade before he established his own company.

Discovered by YouTube's "Jerry Explores," the first-generation Beetle spent at least a few decades hidden in the bushes near an abandoned cottage. And I say "at least a couple of decades" because the property it sits on has been empty for about 20 years, but the car looks like it's been retired from public roads for longer than that. And sadly enough, the old Volkswagen looks like it needs an expensive restoration to become more than a parts car.

Surrounded by a thick layer of trees and vegetation, the Beetle is difficult to get close to, so our host can't provide the footage for a proper assessment. But it sure looks like rust and moss have taken over all body panels due to exposure to the elements and the damp British weather. It's unclear whether it still has an engine under the rear hood, but it doesn't make much difference since the chassis is likely too far gone.

How did it end up like this? There's no background info to run by, but it's safe to assume that the owner retired the car due to some mechanical issue. Or maybe because he bought a new car and decided the Beetle isn't worth maintaining as a second car. Either way, the old couple that lived here passed away in the early 2000s, and the Beetle was left behind, much like everything else in the yard and inside the house.

But is this a rare "bug?" It's almost impossible to tell since we don't get a complete car walkaround. Seeing the rear window and the taillights would have helped, but the front fender turn signals provided a helpful answer. The Beetle didn't get flashing-light indicators on the top of the fenders until 1955. And they stayed there in various forms until 1975, when Volkswagen moved them in the bumper.

Based on shape and color, the turn signals on this Beetle point to 1964 to 1969 models. Pre-1964 cars came with clear lenses, while post-1969 Beetles got much larger lights. This version may be more common than the late-1940s and early-1950s examples. Still, it's more desirable than most Beetles sold in the 1970s.

Even so, it's anything from rare given that Volkswagen sold about 6.4 million Beetles from 1964 to 1969 (that's more than one million a year on average). But while it may not be worth saving, it's still a sad sight and a fate no classic car should have, regardless of nameplate and scarcity.