Re: [T3] 1966 Sunroof Fastback TL

[Simon Glen <simonglen@bigpond.com>]

JGGullion@aol.com wrote:

> Hey all,
>
> I just bought a 1966 Sunroof Fastback T/L.....my sixth and favorite Fasty so
> far.  I wanted to ask what makes a T/L a T/L?  Thanks.

I understand that "TL" stands for "Touring Limousine" as opposed
to just "L" for the notchback which is just a "Limousine".

However, the way these letters were used by Volkswagen seems to have
had no logic or consistency.  The squareback also had an "L" model
which of course was not a limousine and I think in this case was meant
to mean luxury version.

As for calling it  a "limousine".  Well, I think it is misplaced.  In English
a "limousine" is a large impressive car with a glass partition between the
driver and the passengers in the rear, something usually found in some
Rolls Royces, Daimlers, Cadillacs, Lincolns, Mercedes 600 and other
cars built for use by royalty, presidents, the mega-rich and even Soviet
era Party officials.  I'm not sure exactly what "Limousine" means in
German.

I think the term "Touring" is from the original concept of a "GT" or
"Gran Tourismo" car like a Ferrari or Mercedes 300SL - a car built
for the mega-rich to cruise down to the Riviera in or leisurely tour to
exclusive Alpine resorts like St Moritz .  However, the "GT" term
became debased in the 1960s when applied to cars like the common
little Ford Cortina.  Perhaps, VW tried to conjour up just a little of
the images of  a "Limousine" and a "Gran Tourismo" car with the
fastback by calling it a "TL".  Who knows what the marketing people
at Volkswagen were thinking?

Volkswagen didn't officially refer to Type3s as the "notchback" (or
"Stufenheck") and "fastback" (or "Fliessheck") and "squareback".
These are popular terms for them.  Although, occasionally writers of
sales literature faced reality and condescended to use the terms.
The "squareback" was officially a "Variant" in most markets except
for some places like USA, South Africa and Australia where the Chrysler
Valiant was already a major player in the market and just might be
confused with it. [!!!??]  It was mainly in these markets VW tended to
use the term "squareback".  And, in France the squareback was often
referred to as the "VW Break".  (The term "Variant" is still used to
refer to some current VW wagons like the Golf Variant and Passat
Variant and has also been used by other manufacturers such as Auto
Union.)

Simon Glen
Toowoomba,  Australia.
1964 VW Type32 "Stufenheck"
1969 VW Type42 "Limousine"
1992 VW Type25 "Kastenwagen"


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Too much? Digest! mailto:type3-d-request@vwtype3.org Subj=subscribe