Gallery - CONDITION ISSUES

The problem with spare parts, the heat in the Middle East (up to 50° ) and the tuning mania of young princes were the reason that, with the exception of a few units, the cars were literally "Repaired or painted to death" in various backyards.
Currently there are about 10 respectable cars with original paint, papers & original stickers worldwide.
Another reason was the Vehicle Test Station (TÜV) in the UAE, which bans stickers on private cars and thus had the distinctive Millennium Cup Edition decor removed during the annual inspection, which had left so many cars with "similar, homemade or no stickers at all".
Many were repainted immediate after delivery and others were restored after accidents with completely macabre tuning parts in truly "semi professional" backyards.
Incorrect parts from series Beetle, hobbyist LOGO's, falling interior, dissolving, sticky & broken plastic parts, etc. have slowly but surely "destroyed" these cars.

"Ordinary Citizens" had to remove the decor immediately to get another year's registration! The VIN number is from the Silver Beetle which is the next picture in the gallery!

These is the outcome / results of such workshops, accident repairs & "refinements" by "cheap workshops"

Also such a successful repair in Dubai. Only lasts for the sale of the car and then the paint is literally "off"!

Just have to "keep up appearances" until the car is paid for and giving someone else a headache :(

Temperatures in UAE reach up to 50 degrees in summer. If you don't have the right & air-conditioned parking space, your car will very quickly be left to decay. Panels fall off, the soft paint comes off and becomes sticky like chewing gum, the plastic breaks, etc... This also applied to many VW / Audi models at that time, including those from the high end classes!

In such backyards - just in a driveway - the cars were more damaged than reworked. If you take a closer look, you soon will feel tears in your eyes :(

There was no stopping of the heat decay - the solution was interesting interior upgrades, instead of repair as seen here. Some even liked it.

Such conversions were made due to a lack of spare parts or a fatal aberration of taste, just to distinguish themselves from the other cars :(

A car in Qatar... typical "TÜV compulsion",... the stickers had to be removed in order to get approval for another year. Unfortunately, the replica turned out very poorly!

Car in Dubai - accessory spoiler installed due to unavailable spare parts, which again shows the typical Dubai damage!

Same car - reversing light is missing at the back & the CUPEDITION sticker is homemade - way too high but at least similar to the original :)

The glove compartment was broken out and the gear knob was replaced with an accessory.

No one would remove the decor on a car like this unless TÜV insisted on. Of course, this was not a problem for sons of the ruling family or rich sheiks. But as soon as the cars were passed on to "normal people", they were at the mercy of the TÜV and the decor had to come off!

Decor wasn't too bad either :) ..rims and the rest a series of permanent changes...often done weekly!

Millennium Beetle, interior, leather, orange

As already mentioned, no prince or anyone of better origin would like to see HIS CAR on the street again or identically - "THEY" always wanted to own unique pieces - otherwise the part will be sold, given away or scrapped!

Some fullconversions were really tough! For the cost of such an upgrade, some average earners in UAE should have saved up a long time ago. Many of these conversions were also of really good quality ==> but robbed the original of its soul and collector's value!

A spare parts problem... after accidents, hitting the speed bumps or bumping into the curb, the necessary parts could no longer be obtained - princes sometimes still found ways with parts for the RSI, which was an unsolvable problem for the normal emirate meant! A part of the grille is missing here, other rims were installed, etc..

Same car... A rear grill is missing here and other small parts as well as the new rims from CHINA were probably the last solution to get the car in style?

Braun & Gold Braun were apparently already very popular for "personalizing" these cars. Matching rims, own LOGO ... "tone in tone" and various other defacements on such a rare collector's car really hurt us in Europe :(

Some cars were actually quite nice, but on closer inspection they didn't have much to do with the original :(

Very nice but also "top tuned device" for individualists ... the original suffers from it

Extremely tuned Beetle - very nicely done but unfortunately lost an original for collectors :(

Millennium, Beetle, Kuwait, tuning, power

Everything fits together really well - but it's no longer an original and of no intereste to a collector :(

This is a typical result of such "Weekly Repairs & Upgrades". Decor gone, no more grill grids - due to lack of parts - .... just sad what was done to the cars!

This version, carefully said is a bit "timeless" and not at all comparable to an original black Cup Edition beetle... right?