By: IOL Motoring Staff
The words 'barn find' usually evoke images of rare 1930s Bugattis or equally exotic racecars from yesteryear, in pieces and looking all ratty and rusty.
Yet this is far from the stereotypical barn find in more ways than one. For starters it's a truly humble vehicle that also happens to be one of the world's best sellers of all time, but besides that this 1974 Volkswagen Beetle was found in complete original condition with just 90km on the clock and having had only one owner.
According to Silverstone Actions, which plans to auction the car at the end of May for an estimated price of 35 000 to 40 000 euro (R610 000 - R705 000), the car was bought new in Italy in 1974 by an elderly man called Armando Sgroi, who only occasionally used it to make short trips to his local church. He last used the car in 1978, after which it retired to the barn where it would stand for almost 40 years.
While it understandably needed a small amount of restoration work after standing for that long, the car is said to now be in "virtually new" and original condition. According to Silverstone Auctions, the engine still holds its original oil and the car still wears its first set of tyres. You'll even find its unwrapped tool kit inside.
But would you pay the equivalent of around R700 000 for the ultimate Beetle time warp?
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