BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[VW]](/editions/1998/12/12/VW_150x164.jpg)
Auto Central on Colerain Avenue is selling this Beetle for $12,895.
(Tony Jones photo)
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If it looks like a new Volkswagen Bug, sounds like a new Volkswagen Bug and smells like a new Volkswagen Bug, then it probably is . . .
"A reconditioned car," said Steven Stackhouse, general manager - partner of Auto Central on Colerain, where one nearly new, old-style Volkswagen Beetle is ready for resale and sits on the lot like a silent sentinel of the 1970s.
"But when you look at it, it looks new," Mr. Stackhouse said. Four more Bugs from Mexico are on the way to the Auto Central used car lot to be resold to Tristate drivers.
The one Beetle on the lot has already attracted plenty of attention, he said.
"People are stopping and seeing it and saying it's not reconditioned, this is brand new," Mr. Stackhouse said. "Why does this 1998 new Bug sell so well? It's pulling on memories from 25 years ago."
The Bugs enter the United States as restored vehicles because Miguel Padres, owner of Beetle Mex of Nogales, Ariz., buys old Volkswagens with Arizona titles that were built between 1966 and 1974.
"We take them down to Mexico, take all the old parts off that are no good and then we start putting on parts taken from a new car," Mr. Padres said.
The new cars come from a plant in Puebla, Mexico, which produces about 40,000 Volkswagens annually.
New kswagens are sold for about $7,500 each in Mexico, Mr. Padres said, but won't pass current U.S. emissions standards and can't be imported. Cars more than 25 years old, however, do not have to meet 1998 air pollution standards.
Though customers may believe it is a new car, salesmen make certain that they are aware of its history.
"We are not selling it as a new car," Mr. Stackhouse said. "We are selling as reconditioned. But when you look at it, common sense tells you it's a new car."
On that last point there is disagreement.
The engine, transmission, frame, rear axles and other parts are not new, Mr. Padres said. Those parts of the original car are generally reconditioned or original, he said.
In the past two years his company has sold 60 of the vehicles to dealers in 10 states.
"It is officially a restored vehicle," Mr. Padres said.
"The only problem we've had is with financing. The people who want to buy the car, since they are old vehicles, the finance companies don't want to finance them."
The cars are coming to Ohio with Arizona titles and transactions are legal, Mr. Stackhouse said. The Bug on the lot will sell for $12,895. Others are expected to sell for $11,800.
"You can put a classic plate on it if you want," he said.
Robert Posey, vehicle titles section chief for the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, said he believed the cars should be considered "self-assembled" vehicles.
"Anytime in Ohio when you're taking a frame, a body clip and motor and you're assembling it by somebody other than the manufacturer, it becomes a self-assembled vehicle," he said.
Self-assembled vehicles are not regulated by the bureau and fall under the jurisdiction of the Ohio Highway Patrol. A spokesman for the patrol's office of investigative services based in Blue Ash said he was unaware of any laws being violated and had not investigated the sale because no complaints had been filed.
Mr. Stackhouse said his company was considering becoming a midwestern distributor of the vehicles. But first the other four Bugs have to arrive. Those cars are expected next week.
Regardless of whether the cars are new, reconditioned, classic, used, experienced or previously owned, one thing is certain:
"People are crazy about them," said Tom Spampinato, owner of Auto Central.
![[VW]](/editions/1998/12/12/VW_457x500.jpg)