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Hiya everyone,
remember that story from the Typ-3-Liebhaber-IG newsletter that
Theo was so kind to translate for us? (Kudos to Aaron for typing, too!)
Well... I just had a very interesting phone conversation today with Patrick
Dickman, the owner (now part-owner) of that Notch w/ serial number number 0
000 054.
Quite a nice fellow. Seems he got into VWs in high school, went
througha couple of Beetles, then a bunch of T3s. He was into the custom
scene for a bit (see cover of 11/93 db&hVWs), then "converted" to a
stock-resto guy. Now calls himself a "purist." :) He had a gig for a
while restoring T3s for Japanese customers, but he felt that they would
budget him too little $$$ to do the job spot-on perfect, and that left a
bad taste in his mouth.
He has lots of NOS, new & used T3 parts (including NOS fender
beading! Wow!). He is willing to part with it, but only to folks who are
serious & passionate about restoring their older T3s.
Car #54? It's now here in the U.S.; he had it shipped over from
Germany. As the article described, it's really in sad shape. In his
estimate, maybe 5% of it is salvageable!!! He's now part-owner with his
buddy Gregg; it's definitely a long-term (decades???) project.
While Patrick's still passionate about T3s, it sounds as though
only the real exotic stuff still excites him ("I've seen or owned every
accessory..."). At the ripe old age of 24, no less.(!) One of his big
interests is a mysterious "Canadian special" interior, circa 1966. These
included red interiors and beige interiors where even the stock dash pads &
rear rubber mats matched the interior color--*everything* inside, it sounds
like, was red or beige or etc. He says that they were only produced for
about 6 mos. Anybody know anything about these?
He had a neat little story about the T3 convertible prototype in
the Wolfsburg museum. He attended the last Bad Camberg ('57 & earlier
once-every-4-years VW meet in Germany) and met up w/ other T3 fans. They
visited the factory museum, and the curator unlocked the T3 'vert & left
them alone with it! Yowzers. Wait! The story gets funnier. First, he
said that he wasn't impressed by the car; he didn't like the condition,
saying that it had obviously been repainted. Also, the factory loans it
out to Typ-3-Liebhaber so that they can trailer it to meets; people sit in
it & get their pix taken for like $0.50 apiece or something. Pays for the
transportation. (!)
He says that folks can feel free to give him a call to chat T3s,
see what he has in the way of parts (so long as you can convince him that
they're going to a good home), or inquire about suggestions for restos. He
lives in the Stockton/Modesto area of California. (Emily--bet he'd be a
good resource for your '64 Notch; Todd--bet he'd go nuts over your original
'66 Fastback!) Here's his contact info:
------------------------------------------------------------
PATRICK DICKMAN
BEFORE 10PM HOME # (209)848-VWT3 PACIFIC
ANYTIME CELL # (209)471-8878 STANDARD
VOICE MAIL SAME AS CELL# TIME
------------------------------------------------------------
He doesn't have email; has used a computer twice in his life, the
second time being for the purpose of checking out the T3 web pages. (Said
it took him 2 hours to figure out how to enter the URL into the browser!
Yow!) Looks like phone contact is your best bet.
Like I said, a real nice fellow. He services for free a '66 T3
driven by a local proverbial one-owner little old lady, just because he
loves the cars. Give him a buzz; his T3 enthusiasm is contagious!
Cheers,
-Greg
'71 squareback
'63 Beetle