Abandoned dealership opens and collectors rub their hands together as they find 3 cars preserved in a time capsule

Back in 2002, a Volkswagen dealership in Estrela, Brazil, closed its doors for the final time. Otmar Essig, the owner of Comercial Gaúcha, knew what was inside, and left his babies there in pristine condition.

What he had inside was a series of Volkswagen Beetles, the iconic car that came from Germany before spreading across the world and becoming one of the most popular vehicles ever made.

Essig, inside his closed dealership, had what collectors now label as a 1986 “Last Series Beetle”, one of an extremely limited series of 850 vehicles that were produced at the end of the lifetime of the old version of the Beetle. Essig’s was showroom spec, and had 0 miles registered on the clock.

‘Not even the factory stickers were missing’

Before the turn of the century, in 1996, the president of Brazil managed to convince Volkswagen to resume production of their iconic model thanks to the introduction of some tax benefits. This gave rise to the Itamar Gold Series - a highly sought-after model. Essig has two in inside Comercial Gaúcha.

The condition of Essig’s cars were almost unbelievable when found, having been sealed in a room with welded doors and protected from sunlight. A report from Razão Automóvel says that “they still had the plastics on the seats and the wax on the bodywork to protect the paintwork before delivery to the customer. Not even the factory stickers were missing.”

“In addition to these three models” writes the report, “there was also a 1996 Volkswagen Santana Quantum 2.0 Evidence van (22 km on the clock) and an original 1975 Volkswagen SP2 with just over 8,000 km covered. The latter does not have its original colour, which was a dark brown, but a silver grey, which Mr. Otmar Essig liked better.”

Essig’s personal car was also present, a Volkswagen Kombi, which he used to return to the dealership before passing away in 2022.

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After his death, the family decided to sell the vehicles and the rest of the estate, and now all the aforementioned models are on display at the FuelTech space in Porto Alegre, where they are regularly visited by motoring enthusiasts. They will soon be sent to their new owner, a Brazilian living in the United States.

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