'American Pickers' star auctioning prized VW microbus
'American Pickers' star Mike Wolfe is auctioning his 1962 Type 2 double-door panel VW van. It's not fully restored, but it runs fine thanks to a rebuild of its 40 hp engine and a remanufactured Type 3 transmission.
The Volkswagen Beetle is famous for many things, among them being its ability to float for short periods of time.
SWNS
The VW Microbus? Apparently not quite as well.
SWNS
Kitty Orne, the owner of a 1978 model retrofitted as a photo booth for events, found this out the hard way when she got it caught on a beach in Wales, U.K., as the tide came in, according to SWNS.
Orne had brought the classic custom pink van on the sand for a promotional shoot and put it on a trailer, but the tow vehicle got stuck and couldn’t be freed before both were engulfed by several feet of water, Orne’s company explained.
SWNS
The VW, nicknamed Birdy, and the equipment inside had an estimated value of $75,000. It suffered additional damage when it bobbed into rocks while partially submerged.
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The company has set up a crowdfunding account to help cover the loss and thanked the Maritime and Coastguards Agency professionals for their assistance recovering the vehicles when the tide went out six hours later.