One of the things I love the most about the car enthusiast hobby is its stunning diversity. I’m referring to both the diverse backgrounds and ethnicities of the community of course, but also the incredible number of niche categories of interest one can immerse themselves in. For me, one of those rabbit holes of fascination is classic emergency and police vehicles. Which leads us to today’s Good Find Friday selection: a 1949 Volkswagen Hebmüller Cabriolet Police Car.

Vintage police cars and fire apparatus have been a staple at car shows and local parades for decades and serve as a reminder of times gone by. Perhaps the owner had a family member that was in law enforcement or had a career in municipal services themselves and that led to their interest in collecting emergency vehicles. Most of these cars are relatively inexpensive American makes and a labor of love to find and restore. But what if you’re a collector of exclusive, high-end cars like those we focus on at Wolf and Mare? 

After World War II, the British military was in charge of the Volkswagen factory as its physical location in Wolfsburg fell within their occupation zone in Germany. The original plan was to use it for military vehicle maintenance, but soon the social and economic value of the plant was realized and the British placed an order for 20,000 cars to stem the acute humanitarian crisis in the area. 

After the situation stabilized and the factory was incorporated as a trust between the government and the State of Lower Saxony, the civilian Volkswagen “Beetle” began official production. One of the post-war infrastructure needs was emergency vehicles and Volkswagen started production of the Type 18A in 1949 to address it. 

Produced on the VW chassis by four different coachbuilders including Hebmüller, Papler, Karmann, and Austro-Tatra, the Type 18 generally featured either steel or fabric doors, a convertible top, and a 25 horsepower Type 1 engine. 

Hebmüller is well-known in VW circles for producing a limited number of early Volkswagen Beetle convertibles called the Type 14A. Though commissioned by VW to produce 2,000 cars, Hebmüller was only able to build 696 units due to a fire in 1949 that bankrupted the company and significantly hurt production.

As a result, Hebmüller Cabriolets are highly prized by Volkswagen collectors and can command asking prices above $200,000.

The car we’re featuring today is even rarer, being a police variant or Polizei Cabriolet constructed by Hebmüller in 1949. Only 483 were built in total by all the coachbuilders, and significantly fewer survive.

This particular car has official Volkswagen authentication according to its selling dealer in Germany, and apparently includes extensive documentation beyond that. Instead of the usual 2, Polizei cabriolets featured 4 doors typically made of canvas, making this steel door version particularly unusual.

The car appears to be remarkably original despite obvious restoration at some point in its past, and retains a 25HP Type 1 engine and mechanical brakes. Fun features include two different police sirens including the familiar two-tone European klaxon, spotlights, and some police ephemera from the time period. 

One Polizei Cabriolet-only feature are the semaphore-style turn signals mounted ahead of the front doors instead of their usual place recessed in the b-pillar of early VWs. Activated by a switch on the dash (turned left or right!) they pop out and glow to warn fellow motorists of your directional intentions.

So what’s the cost of entry for a special car like this? So few change hands publicly or with any frequency that assigning a value requires some digging. A Papler-built model is currently on offer on The Samba for $144,900 which seems a bargain, but the Papler is less rare than the Hebmüller and dates to 1951-52. VWs from the 1940s always command a premium.

We’d estimate having to write a check north of $200,000 to take this beauty home. In terms of bragging rights, you will probably have the only one in North America if you acquire it and it would likely be welcome at nearly any concours event. While owning a police car is not for everybody, they sure bring big smiles to a lot of faces. 

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and listing services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also support overseas purchases and importation. Give us a call or drop us a line!