The Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback was sold from 1961 through 1973 in three distinct configurations, the notchback (looks coupish), the squareback (a wagon thing), and the fastback…which is what we have here today. Power comes from Volkswagen’s 1600 cc version of the aircooled flat-4 that was fuel injected starting in 1968. Find this 1969 Volkswagen Type 3 […]
Part AC ME3000 and part Matra 530, this conglomeration of influences is mostly VW, as you may expect. Then something brilliant happened; the VW pancake motor was exchanged for a Mazda rotary, thereby reducing the kit-car-ness by at least 50% and miraculously transforming it into something you want. Find this 1968 Hebina Gazelle for sale […]
You are an Libertarian leaning Republican who loves air cooled Volkswagens, but you can’t drive a Beetle or a “Hippie Bus” because you’ll look like a damn communist. What if you combined the free market vibe of a Volkswagen Squareback with the redneck utility of a pickup truck? You’ve even got a spare Ron Paul […]
Last time we featured VW’s little 2-door wagon from the ’60s, the Type III Squareback, it was this “special” El Caminoized custom. Today let’s take a gander at the opposite end of the spectrum with a slightly scruffy but completely stock and original example of this attempt by VW to break into the automotive mainstream. […]
The VW Type 3 Squareback made big promises over the Beetle: More practicality, more safety, and more technology thanks to fuel injection and an automatic transmission. This one has none of those selling features. However, it is more powerful and eye-stabbingly noticeable – a winning combination around here. Find this 1973 VW Type 3 Squareback […]
The Volkswagen Type 3 was a successor to the popular Type 1 (Beetle), but maintained the Beetle’s basic architecture; rear engine, air cooled flat-4 and affordable price tag. It was a significant update in styling terms and sold new as a notchback, squareback and fastback. It wasn’t ever sold as a pickup truck, so El […]
The Volkswagen Type 3 was an attempt by Volkswagen to repurpose its Beetle components in a new body to expand market share in the early 1960s. The Type 3 variant was known colloquially as the Squareback and sold under the Volkswagen 1500 nameplate in the US, and today has a significant cult following. This 1965 […]
In the late ’50s, Volkswagen was high on its wave of success with its little WWII-era Type 1 (Beetle) and derivative commercial / utility vehicle the Type 2 (aka Bus, Van, Microbus, Kombi, Transporter…). But someone deep in the bowels of Wolfsburg realized that if growth and success were to continue, the company needed a […]