Panama Forum

armbandbob
Joined 2013
Posts: 1

11 years ago

1999 Volkswagen Beetle

11 years ago

Hi Everybody
I am a 40 year old British surfer and will shortly be arriving in Panama City having driven and surfed on my own down the Pacific Coast all the way from San Francisco. I bought a Californian plated 1999 Volkswagen Beetle at the end of last year, way back in Oakland to achieve this feat, which is the new shape by the way, and I am hoping to sell the car in Panama City so that I can once again move on with my travels now that I have covered two continents in it. It is a 2litre gasoline engine and the engine really hasn’t missed a beat since I test drove it up to the Napa valley and back.
I paid just short of $5,000 for it in California, bought a brand new Thule roof rack system for $400 to secure my surfboard to and have also spent about another $1,000 sorting out a few things along the way, although some of that was a full service that I treated it to at the Volkswagen dealership in Guatemala City. (All of which I have receipts for.) It has air conditioning, an automatic gearbox, a sunroof, electric windows and I have bought a few tools which I would happily throw in with the purchase. Ideally I would like to recoup the money I have spent, but am realistic about what I may get and wondered if anybody was in the market for a fantastic town car, or perhaps for a motor to go back the other way in.
I have fallen in love with what I call the Little Green Surf Machine as I have driven south since I set off on the 1st of January and would love to find a great home for it. If you are interested or have any questions in relation to the car please email me at [email protected]. I will shortly have a Panamanian telephone number and will update you on that as soon as I am in a town big enough to supply me with a SIM card for my phone.
Of course I have all the paperwork for the car, and to ease the selling process I would also be happy to foot the bill and deal with the necessary paperwork for registering it in Panama should that be needed, but my Spanish is not great so I may need some help and guidance on what is required to do that. Can anybody provide me with any information on that? The address of the office that I must visit first would be a real bonus to know, for example.
On a connected but separate theme, I am also keen to sell the 7’10” surfboard that I bought in Hawaii at the start of my surf odyssey. Does anybody know of a shop in Panama City that buys second hand surfboards, assuming that there is no interest in it from any of the readers here? It was brand new in Hawaii just before Christmas and comes complete with its own board bag, leash and fins. The cost of surcharges for surfboards on airlines means there is no point in taking it onwards with me, so again I am keen to get rid of it.
Also when I arrive in Panama City I expect to be there for a week or so, and possibly longer depending on how long it takes me to offload the car. I would be happy to stay in a hotel or hostel and have a few places listed in my guidebook, but wondered if anybody could recommend an alternate option or possibly has a spare room and would like to get a bit of pocket money from that until I move on into South America, which I hope to do during May.
Finally I won’t know anybody in Panama City so would welcome any opportunity for a friendly face to meet up with for a drink or two, and perhaps show me around. Thanks for reading. I will be happy to repay any information with a drink or two because you cannot beat local knowledge.
Kind regards
Robert Pearson

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