Driving on the motorway along the coastline to Haifa, I found myself having to apply slight pressure to accelerate passed this quite fast Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback.
I was traveling at about 120kph, and it seemed to me the VW was going at no less than 110kph. Now, we all know that this speed is a doddle for any modern car, and naturally, I’ve seen classic cars being driven fast before. Yet I can’t remember when was the last time I saw any of these VW Type 3s or Variants being driven at modern pace. Most likely they’ll be pushing 80-90kph, for fear of breakdown if anything else. Not this one:
Usually this is where I post some photos of the featured classic from various classic car’s meetings. This is slightly different, as I only have photos of Type 3 Variants:
In recent years, the RAT/neglected look has got some followers. Personally I love it- note the upward exhaust
And of course, some Brazilian VWs have also found their way into Israel, like this unusual four dour fastback Type 3, doing it’s best to imitate a Type 4 (412).
Awesome sighting. My parents had a ’71 Type 3 Variant when I was very young, I have such great memories of road trips in that little car. And the heat even worked!
I’ve wanted to get one as a project car, but finding one that hasn’t been restored already and isn’t a rusty basket case isn’t easy.
One of my many automotive regrets is selling my ’69 squareback. It was light blue and in good shape but developed a bad engine knock and, incapable of dealing with the issue at the time, I had to let it go.
It had an automatic stick shift trans that used to confound my redneck friends.
Love the shape of these and the karmann Ghias.
My old ’66 Fastback with it’s stock rebuilt twin Solex single port 1600cc engine could hit 90 MPH (145KM) and would easily cruise all day at 80 MPH (130KM).
Nice to see one in well kept condition using it’s potential.
Did I see a little chrome air ventilation intake (for something?) directly in front of driver on front bonnet?
That’s a mirror.
Oh, of course.
My eyes were playing tricks on me. Thanx.
…
My ’69 Squareback could hit 90 mph, but I only tried it once. It was happy at 60, definitely straining above 60.
Yohai! Thanks for sharing. I remember the first time I went to Israel in 1994 being amazed by the numbers of VW variants I’d never seen in NYC, especially the double-cab Transporters (both air- and water-cooled). It seemed when I last visited (both Israel and Palestine this time), back in 2007, that of course the numbers had dwindled, but that air-cooled VWs in general still existed in higher-than-average concentrations. (That was in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Ramallah.) How common are they in general, in your current day-to-day and area?
Quite common, certainly for 40ish years old cars. And yes, many are still being used on a regular basis. See here :
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/in-motion-classic/in-motion-classic-proof-that-a-lime-green-beetle-can-brighten-up-your-day/
And also here :
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/in-motion-classic/in-motion-classic-vw-t2-truck-still-being-worked/
Those variants would easily do 110kph or 68 mph in the old fashioned way of measuring speed providing of course the engine is in reasonable condition its the old upright engined beetle 1200s that struggle to get past 100kmh, theyre better downhill but on the flat not so much, nice to see an old car being driven not babied.
Great find. Some of the old VW designs are ageless. For me, this includes the Karmann Ghia. Don’t see many of either, even here in Arizona.
The unusual Brazilian type whatever 4 door – both in its original three volume appearance and the one shown here – is the most despised automobile ever built in Brazil, beating even the Dauphine and 1st gen. Dodge 1800. These cars are unamsously considered non-entities to a point where not even hard-core contrarians have a chance to make a point in favor of them.
One of my family’s regrets may be the type III Squareback, bought for my Mom in ‘1970.
The dealer-installed AC worked for perhaps two summers over that car’s lifespan, and many ailments afflicted the Bosch ‘experimental’ fuel injection and over-stressed engine, requiring multiple engine removals, until my parents disposed of the car in the early ’80s.
One of the scariest incidents was when a fuel hose blew off a fitting in traffic, dumping gas all over the engine. Who builds a pressurized fuel injection system without even hose-clamps?
It was the biggest lemon my family ever owned!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Thanks as always for your comments, they’re always welcome.
If I am not mistaken, this car is modified and will do a lot more than 110 km/h…
CC effect yet again: I saw a Type 3 Squareback earlier this week. There not completely gone around here, but it was the first in a month or so, and not one I’ve seen before. Fastbacks are far less common.
For those who feel I’ve been a bit harsh in my criticism of the type III VW, to be fair some of the problems did not originate at VW GMBH in Wolfsburg Germany.
I lay major blame with VWoA, and the dealer that stuck my parents with this car.
Our Squareback was a fully loaded ‘demo’ model. But in our case ‘demo’ must have meant ‘demolition’, as after a few years, the paint on some of the fenders and doors had faded at different rates, revealing that various parts of the car had been repainted.
And the poor AC installation was a ‘hack job’. I mean ‘hack job’ literally, as the ragged bulkhead openings for the AC lines and wiring looked like they were made with an air chisel
Despite everything else, throughout the many years that we owned this car, the automatic transmission performed flawlessly.
And the Blaupunkt Frankfurt mono AM/FM radio installation was wonderful, with better sound than some car stereos in those days.
So hopefully, others didn’t share most of our negative experiences with Volkswagen’s type III.
Happy Motoring, Mark
You can’t blame the dealer for a poor paint job. The car was painted in the factory, right? And the hose clamps, they were removed by the dealer? I know it is hard to imagine the Germans make mistakes, but they do, even today on modern cars (maybe even more)