The current owner, a professional mechanic for a Volkswagen restoration company, took on the car as a passion project. The example we see here is currently under the care of her second owner, having been a barn find rescue.
The configuration, placement, and mounting of the “pancake” engine not only lessened noise and vibration in the cabin, but also enabled the car to offer a rear cargo area, complementing the front boot. Repositioning components, including the cooling fan, allowed the engine to fit in a suitcase-sized, isolated compartment under rear of the car. The engine was based on Volkswagen’s dependable flat four, but re-engineered to be very flat indeed. By the mid-to-late Sixties, they were arguably the most modern vehicles in VW’s line-up: front disc brakes were introduced in 1965, and options included air conditioning, an automatic transmission, and electronic fuel injection– a first for a production vehicle. Offering both more interior and luggage space than the Type 1 Beetle, it came in three standard varieties– the Squareback station wagon, the Fastback, and the Notchback saloon– as well as providing the underpinnings for the Type 34 Karmann Ghia. The Volkswagen Type 3 entered production in 1961, arriving in showrooms in 1962. She’s offered for sale here on eBay, with an asking price of $15,000, though the seller will entertain offers. So I present Bacon, a little yellow 1973 VW Type 3 Fastback. When it comes down to it, some cars just have soul: light or dark, serious or quirky. Age helps, certainly, but age alone doesn’t make it a sure thing. Would you name your Prius? If you have a newer F-150, does it have a name? There’s something about certain cars that inspires their owners to ascribe to them a quality not inherent in a lifeless mass of steel, rubber, and plastic.