Updated

Remember the little old lady from Pasadena who only drove her car to church on Sundays?

Well, Armando Sgroi was an old man from Genoa, Italy, who bought a VW Beetle in 1974 to drive to services when the hills near his home got too tough for him to walk.

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(Silverstone Auctions)

According to Silverstone Auctions, it was a very short trip that Sgroi finally gave up for good in 1978, when it was parked in a barn with less than 56 miles on the odometer.

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(Silverstone Auctions)

It sat there in its original condition, still with the oil and tires supplied by the factory, until it was recently discovered. It’s since been cleaned up, but unmodified, and will soon be auctioned. The metallic blue coupe featuring a 1300 cc engine and the flat under the trunk floor spare tire of the Super Beetle, as it was known in the United States.

This one isn’t stateside. It’s in Denmark, where it will cross the auction block at the Classic Race Aarhus event on May 28th and is expected to attract bids of around $40,000, about twice as much as a 1974 Beetle in top condition that hasn’t been stored in a time capsule is worth today.

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Bringing Beetles back to life: