Re: 78 Squareback

[Theo Thepen <thepen@pi.net>]

Hi you all,
This message about a '78 squareback made me remember something way back in the back 
of my mind that I think might shed some light on what we might have here. I got 
most of my NOS stuff through a German guy (Hans Geschwatz) in Wunsdorf near Kassel. 
I think I gave his address to some of the people on the list some time ago. As most 
of you probably know, or should know, most type 3's were not produced in Wolfsburg, 
but at the VW plant in Kassel. VW, as most car manufacturers, actually guarantee 
parts supply for ten years after the end of production of a model. In the early 
seventies VW was in some trouble as the beetle was getting outdated. However the 
introduction of the 'Golf', or rabbit as it is known in the States, saved the 
company from bankruptcy. As sales of the new Golf, which was also produced at 
Kassel, boomed they needed space at the production facilities. So in 75-76 they 
sold off large amounts of their spare parts for the 'old' type 3, in Kassel, and 
that's where my friend in Germany got his bussiness from. He bought most of the 
parts and these were not the odd spare parts, but included several chassis, bodies, 
etc. In the mid eighties VW sold off all their remaining type 3 stuff, mainly 
'late' model parts, which he also has. I know him since I got involved in type 3's 
about 12 years ago and at that time it was a small two men shop. 
So much for historical background. He told me that when he started there was not a 
great demand for these parts, especially not the chassis and bodies. So around 
77-79 they built some cars out of these parts, if I remember correctly 7 notches, 8 
fastbacks and 15 squarebacks. The starting point for him were the chassis, and 
bodies he had. All the other parts like front/rear suspension, engines, wheels, etc 
were either proper type 3 or other VW parts he alraedy had. The chassis he had only 
had the first three digits not the other digits. Getting these cars on the road and 
registered was a problem as they were small production. Strictly speaking they 
should have gotten official approval which means that each car had to be checked by 
the registration department. To avoid this they 'made up' the VIN to fall within 
the approval for type 3's, basically continuing VW numbering with a wide margin. 
For the four digit part they used area codes around Kassel, which are between 
3000-3999 As a personal touch the last three digits were 'Porsche' numbers like 
356/911/912. As they didn't have (or rather didn't want to use) enough proper type 
3 engines, so some had engines that were a mix between type three, the short block 
at least, and type 1/2/4, carbs, cooling, etc. Most were 1600cc with a single carb, 
which were never produced for type 3 by VW !. The rear suspension was mostly as in 
the early type 3, swing axle. Another characteristic is that they were all dark 
blue, an 'Opel' colour, the interiors varied. I've been trying to get in contact 
with him over the last couple of days, but he is sort of very hard to find. I got 
someone at the shop but they didn't know anything about these cars. When I visited 
him last time he still had one of these notches.
Can Matt comfirm whether the car he has fits with what I described above ?? It 
should be a dark blue early type car. As you are new to type 3's, that's the one 
with the 'short round' nose, small wrap around front indicators and chrome bumpers. 
The engine can either be a normal type 3 style or a mix, but always a type 3 short 
block, meaning they have an oilfill tube like all type 3's.
Let me know whether it fits, I'll try to get in contact with Hans to get more info 
on these cars. I just wonder how that car got to the US ??
Cheers,
Theo