Classic Volkswagen Cars for Sale

190 listings

Buy & Sell Volkswagen Classics. New listings added daily.

Beetle (84) Vanagon (27) Super Beetle (26) Karmann Ghia (12) Bus (8) Thing (7) Dune Buggy (5) Kombi (3)

Volkswagen brought the world the Beetle and the Bus — two of the most recognizable vehicles ever made. Classic VWs are beloved for their air-cooled charm, simplicity, and cult following.

190 listings found

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Premium

Jupiter, FL

1979 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

$26,500

Dealer

Weaverville, CA

1971 Volkswagen Transporter

$14,995 42,727 miles

Dealer

Midlothian, TX

1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle

$15,500 $16,000 30,000 miles

Featured

Gainesville, FL

1974 Volkswagen Bus

$38,900 14,000 miles

Altamonte Springs, FL

1973 Volkswagen Beetle

$24,995 56,111 miles

Altamonte Springs, FL

Frequently Asked Questions about Classic Volkswagen

Volkswagen was founded on May 28, 1937, in Berlin by the German Labor Front, a Nazi organization, as the Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH. It was renamed Volkswagenwerk GmbH on September 16, 1938. Ferdinand Porsche, whose office had received the engineering contract for the car on June 22, 1934, was one of its first directors. The factory's foundation ceremony took place on May 26, 1938, at what is today Wolfsburg.

Volkswagen is German for "people's car." The term described the project before the company existed: an inexpensive family car backed by the Nazi government, with a publicized price of 990 Reichsmarks. At the factory ceremony in 1938 Adolf Hitler named the car the KdF-Wagen, after the Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) organization. Beetle and Bug started as nicknames, and the factory designation for the sedan was Type 1.

The British Military Government took over Volkswagen as trustee on June 5, 1945, and Major Ivan Hirst restarted the bomb-damaged factory with a British order for 20,000 sedans. On October 8, 1949, trusteeship passed to the Federal Republic of Germany, administered by the State of Lower Saxony. The company became Volkswagenwerk AG in 1960, and 60 percent of its stock was sold to the public in 1961. The federal government and Lower Saxony each kept 20 percent.

Volkswagen's first cars reached the United States on January 17, 1949, when Dutch dealer Ben Pon landed two Beetles in New York and failed to find a distributor. New York importer Max Hoffman took on the car in 1950. Volkswagen of America was founded in October 1955 to organize dealers, parts and service, and the Think Small advertisement appeared in 1959. U.S. sales reached 569,696 vehicles in 1970, and Volkswagen opened its first American plant at Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, in 1978.

Classic Volkswagens were built first at the main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, where series production of the sedan began on December 27, 1945. Transporter production moved to a new plant at Hanover in 1956, and the Emden plant, built for overseas exports, started building Beetles in 1964. Karmann built the Karmann Ghia at Osnabrück. Volkswagen de Mexico's Puebla plant began production in 1967 and built the last original Beetle on July 30, 2003.

Volkswagen's second model was the Type 2 Transporter, known in America as the Bus, which entered production on March 8, 1950. The Karmann Ghia coupe followed in 1955 and a convertible in 1957, both using Beetle mechanicals. The Type 3 was launched as the VW 1500 in 1961. The Type 181, shown in 1969 and developed for the West German military, was sold in the United States as the Thing for the 1973 and 1974 model years.

Volkswagen began the switch in 1970, when the K 70 became its first front-wheel-drive, water-cooled car. The Passat followed in 1973, and the Golf, sold in the United States as the Rabbit, entered production at Wolfsburg in March 1974. Wolfsburg built its last Beetle on July 1, 1974, and the last German-built Beetle left the Emden plant on January 19, 1978. Air-cooled Beetle production then continued outside Germany.

Specialist buyer's guides describe classic air-cooled Volkswagens as mechanically durable when serviced on schedule. Hagerty's Beetle guide calls the air-cooled engines simple and durable and says replacement parts exist for nearly everything. Magneto's Type 2 guide calls the flat-fours robust but says regular servicing is crucial, with oil changes every 3,000 miles. Both guides treat rust as the larger risk, with Hagerty pointing to the heater channels and Magneto to the windshield surround, floorpan and chassis rails.

The 190 Volkswagen listings on Classic Cars Arena right now are priced from $4,995 to $82,995, with a median asking price of $19,245. These are the prices sellers are asking today, not sale prices, and the figures change as cars are listed and sold.

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Classic Volkswagen Cars for Sale

1964 Volkswagen Bus

1982 Volkswagen Vanagon

1979 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

1971 Volkswagen Transporter

1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle

1952 Volkswagen Beetle

1973 Volkswagen Beetle

1969 Volkswagen Dune Buggy

1967 Volkswagen Beetle

1973 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

1992 Volkswagen Bus

1974 Volkswagen Bus

1974 Volkswagen Beetle

1970 Volkswagen Mini Mark

1995 Volkswagen Kombi

1955 Volkswagen Beetle

1968 Volkswagen Dune Buggy

1966 Volkswagen Beetle

1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle

1972 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

1964 Volkswagen Kombi

1973 Volkswagen Beetle

1978 Volkswagen Beetle

1972 Volkswagen Bus

Frequently Asked Questions about Classic Volkswagen

Classic Volkswagen: The People's Car

Most Popular Classic Volkswagen Models