This May Be One Of The Best Cars Ever Offered On ‘The Price Is Right’

I’m not sure I’ve actually watched an entire episode of The Price Is Right since I was a sick child in the late 1970s or early 1980s, on a black-and-white television wheeled into my room, but those old shows must have made a significant impression, because I remember details and feeling of them well: the thrilled people, wide-eyed and bouncing around, absolutely tackling the slender and somewhat fragile-looking Bob Barker with alarming intensity when they make it on that stage.

Of course, in the hierarchy of Price Is Right prizes, the absolute pinnacle was, of course, a car. The announcement of “a new car!” was enough to make even the most restrained contestant lose their absolute shit, and that was why we watched.

Most of the cars I remember seeing as a kid weren’t anything particularly special: lots of Chevettes and Citations and Escorts, all reasonable and shiny and new, but not really, you know, memorable. But then an Autopian named Jeremy sent me this incredible clip of the show from December 5, 1973. Check out the car that our girl Gwen there is trying to win:

Oh damn. Look at that thing! Here’s how Price Is Right announcer Johnny Olsen described this majestic beast:

“Now when you travel and are coming or going you’ll be recognized as someone with a little class. A very special Volkswagen with a refined front and rear you’d only expect on a luxury car! This special VW comes equipped with: AM/FM radio, classic-painted top and bumper guards. It’s a bonus worth $2,650!”

I have so many thoughts and feelings about all of this, and I think Gwen does, too. Look at this face when they revealed the car:

I think Gwen would have looked fantastic rolling around her stated home base of Compton in that classed-up Beetle. Look at her outfit! It’s so good. Mustard and dark forest green is a great combo, and I think those are cufflinks.

The price given comes to about $19,900 in today’s money, which is still an absolute steal, if you ask me. The fact that The Price Is Right had a car like this on the show is interesting; usually the cars were sourced from local Southern California car dealers. And sure, they had Volkswagens on before, sourced from SoCal VW dealerships, but a dealership wasn’t likely to have such a modified Beetle on the showroom floor?

Let’s take a look at this Beetle in a little more detail. 1973 was the first year of the big-windshield Super Beetle but this is just a standard Beetle, as you can tell by the flat windshield and the fact that these Rolls-Royce-style hood kits weren’t available for the new Super Beetle hoods, at least not yet.

The rear, while not actually shown on the episode, is suggested to be modified, too, so I suspect it has one of those Continental-style rear decklids, as you can see here in the upper right corner of this JC Whitney catalog page:

Honestly, the shape and design of that hood looks as though it likely is that same kit as shown in this JC Whitney ad. Remember, there were many sorts of Beetle dress-up kits in that era, of varying degrees of complexity, but this seems like a straightforward hood/decklid swap.

The painted roof, giving a sort of implied vinyl roof effect is interesting, too. Honestly, I kind of love the whole look of the thing, because I love the tongue-in-cheek nature of all of these Rolls-Royce conversions. They’re inherently a bit silly and fun. But was that the context that Gwen saw the car? Or was she just appreciating the classed-up look unironically? I don’t know if there’s any way to really know.

I bet she was appreciating the additional trunk volume that hood would give her, though:

I mean, it almost doubles the trunk size!

So, who provided this car? Did it actually come from a VW dealer? I’ve never known VW dealerships to put these kind of kits on their cars, but this was SoCal in the early 1970s, so who knows what sort of shenanigans they were getting into? The episode guide describes the car as a

Volkswagen Elegant Beetle (AM/FM radio,
classic painted top, bumper guards)(J) worth $2,650

…but doesn’t give any information about where the car was sourced. Was “Elegant Beetle” the name of some dealership package like this? These Rolls hood kits were very rarely put on brand-new cars; based on what I remember, they were often used when someone needed to replace an accident-damaged hood and thought they’d have some fun. A brand-new Beetle with a kit like this is strange!

Strange and wonderful! Did Gwen win the car? I’m not going to give that away. Watch the clip!