[T3] French names Type 3

[Bernard Seront <serontb@wanadoo.fr>]

>From: Greg Merritt <gregm@vwtype3.org>
>> PS: c*x stands for cox or coccinelle.
>
>	...et "coccinelle" veut dire "beetle" ;)
>
>	Comment dit-on "Squareback" "Fastback" et "Notchback" en francais?
>

The Squareback (by far the most common one) is known as "Variant" in Europe
as you know, same in French.

Fastback and Notchback are unknown foreign language terms in France (except
from the VW crowd).
Notchbacks were mainly sold as " VW 1500", Fastbacks as "VW 1600" or "VW
1600 L", and that's what the collective memory remember.

When you try to describe the car to someone you need to start with :

me : "you know, it's like the Variant (you remember the Variant ?, the
"station wagon version" of the beetle!), ok but mine is a sedan"
folk : "Ah yes, the 1600, that was a nice car", => guy refering to the
Fastback
me : " Yes, you're close, but mine is the "3 volumes" style, the back trunk
is horizontal at an angle with the rear window, you remember?"
folk : "wasn't that the early model, the 1500 ? ", => guy already knows a
lot about aicooled VW's.
Then you've got to explain him that the notchback did exist as a 1600 (!),
up to 1973 (!) (for reference the golf started in 1974), and you kill him
for sure by showing the OEM electronic fuel injection, :-).

Ordinary comments about the car are "isn't that an early Skoda, or Lada ?
", :-(. Even worse: "I recognized the engine's noise, it's a Trabant,
.......".

Bernard.

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