Robadr caught this VW Type 3 fastback sporting a fine quad exhaust system, as well as its splendid original lime green paint job.
And that’s not all, it’s got a set of very fine BRM Speedwell mags, sold here by Empi. These were the hot wheels to have in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
I did a post on these a couple of years ago when I found a set of them on an old T1 double cab pickup. Those had five spokes, because of the older style five lug wheels.
Not sure of the exact year of this one. 1970? 1971? Someone will be able to pin it down, I assume.
I did a full CC on a Type 3 Fastback, so I’ll spare you the well-known details here.
Nice! Looks great in that color too.
Been a few years since I’ve been to British Columbia. I just have all this pent up travel bug….
Steering wheel places it as a ’72 or ’73. Older ones had a thin wheel with a horn ring.
That’s a mighty handsome looking dash! The gauges each in their own pod is a nice look.
Interesting to compare this car to the earlier dark blue one Paul had in his full CC writeup.
All the typical nice 60s details are gone in this 70s example. As nearly always, the first version of a car type is the most desirable.
In the early seventies a neighbor across the street had a similar dark blue early type Variant. This was replaced a couple of years later by a bright orange late type Variant. We could always hear these arriving a few streets away with their typical engine noise.
That looks like Ravenna Green, a ’73 color, but only for Beetle convertible and Karmann Ghia.
Paintref.com says that color was 1974 too, but doesn’t break down by model. I’m starting to think this is not an original color on the car.
Guessing the interior paint color is the original…that fairly common VW yellow
Fastback’s last model year was ’73. My KG had a complete color change inside and out. The FB shown could have had the same. Cars that old often need a complete new interior and window gaskets with restoration anyway.
I like cars that come in colors, but prefer the colors that aren’t always screaming at me. 🙂
I always liked the VW fastback. Mrs. JPC drove one of those for quite a few years until she bought her first new car (A Plymouth Colt) in 1983.
A poor man’s 356. Love to have one. There was also an aftermarket tachometer which replaced the clock perfectly. I think it was from VDO.
I wish these had sold better, they were better in all respects except for mechanical simplicity *cough* dual carbs *cough* than the Beetle. They seemed to rust more in my experience and they’d become rare as Karmann Ghias by 2000. Owning or driving one to add to my VW experiences would have been fun.
I had a 71 slow as molasses stiff clutch pedal little to no heat and Like 26 mpg
By ’68 the US models had the first successful mass produced electronic fuel injection. Dual carbs gone, gas mileage up, emissions down. Unfortunately, “shade tree” used VW owners and their mechanics were not equipped to repair them, so most now have aftermarket dual carb conversions.
Yes, weren’t these electronic fuel injection models notorious for susceptibility to RF noise causing intermittent operation? I used to hear stories of these stalling out when someone used their garage door opener.
My Dad’s co-worker used to get a European delivered VW and remember one like this (well, maybe a squareback, my memory isn’t great since I heard about it rather than saw their car) back when some VWs still made in Germany. He wasn’t German, had family somewhere in the middle east, but would buy a car there every couple years when he travelled over there and had it shipped back.
Remember the 411 successor to this really well. A co-worker of mine working for Hertz had one probably about 1977 or 1978. He was probably my current age at that time (i.e. much older than I) and probably the most consistent transporter I worked with while I still had that job. He told me not to plan to drive for Hertz for a living (I didn’t, job during college learning to do what became my career…but I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I’d just kept driving..enjoyed it while it lasted, but it was better for young man and the pay was terrible (actually worked out to be less than minimum wage as we were paid by the trip, and unless you drove like a maniac and had back-to-back trips, it was inconsistent way to make money, but helped when that’s what I was qualified to do at that time).
I bought my ’78 Scirocco 40 years ago last month, my first fuel injected car, it seemed to work OK (other than problems with 5th injector used for starting) and actually haven’t owned anything other than fuel injected manual transmission VWs in that whole time. Guess when I find something I like I stick with it pretty much..