While many at Volkswagen in the late fifties were likely in disbelief about how many Beetles they were selling, the handwriting was on the wall. Sooner or later, customer tastes, government mandates, and the need to offer a diversified product line would put the beloved Beetle in the rear-view mirror. The large, cash-rich company thus set forth to build a more conventional-looking automobile that still used many of the earlier car’s parts and design philosophies. These cars were officially called the Volkswagen Type 3, but are better known by their “Squareback” and “Fastback” nicknames in the United States. If you are looking for a decent copy of a Squareback, then this 1969 Volkswagen Type 3 Wagon for sale on Facebook in Alcalde, New Mexico may interest you. Advertised as an original example in very clean condition, this seldom-seen VW is offered for $6,750. Thanks to Zappenduster for the tip!
Volkswagen, with little fanfare, launched the Type 3 in Europe in 1961. On the outside, the styling was very conventional for the time and was in line with the offerings of other European automakers. It could be described as rather nondescript in comparison to the Beetle and its famous thirties silhouette. That conventional styling was supposed to attract more upmarket customers who were looking for a less Spartan choice of transportation. Three body styles were produced, all of them with two doors. A conventional notchback coupe (which never made it to the US), a fastback sedan, and a station wagon.
Underneath, a Volkswagen mechanic would feel at home. An air-cooled Volkswagen flat-four-cylinder engine provided the propulsion and was mounted in the rear. There were changes made to make the cooling system more efficient and displacement started at 1,500 ccs. It later grew to 1,600 ccs, and the robust little engine soon became a favorite with VW tuners. The car also ended up with fuel injection as standard equipment and an automatic transmission as an option. As for the rest of the bits and pieces, it shared more parts with the Beetle than it did not. Even the wheelbase was the same. The whole exercise, in hindsight, seems rather timid. These cars weren’t imported into the United States until 1966 and sales never matched that of the Beetle on these shores. Knowing that the car kind of was a Beetle in sheep’s clothing with a higher price tag may explain the sales disappointments. When Volkswagen got serious about building water-cooled front wheel drive cars in 1973, the Type 3 slid into history.
While you still see a Beetle from time to time, a Squareback is a rare sight these days. The seller of this one starts by telling us that it runs, is all original, and that it does not appear to have any rust. While a close look at the pictures shows a bit of surface rust here and there, the claim that it is not a “rust bucket” is likely true. A picture or two of the underside would have been nice given the reputation for corrosion that these cars carry. Also, when you look carefully at the interior pictures, does it look to you like the car was hosed out? Perhaps the mats were pulled out and given the waterboarding treatment. As for the rest of the interior, there are some issues with wear and the underside of the dash coming loose to attend to. All we are told beyond the above information is that the car will need tires, it would not take much to make it a daily driver, and the odometer reads 05270.
When you talk to folks who owned a Type 3 you hear the usual air-cooled VW complaints of rust, slow speed, and a dislike for the lack of warm air sent forward from the heat exchangers after a few salty winters. You also hear a lot of positives about reliability, handling in the snow and ice, and a general love of the car. While Volkswagen took a while to move completely away from the Beetle, you could consider the Type 3 as the first step on that journey. It is nice to see that at least one good example has survived and is available for a reasonable price.
Did you ever own a Type 3? What are your memories of the car? Would you purchase one again? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Half of the enjoyment of classic cars is the memories they invoke. I don’t remember many of my elementary school friends’ parents’ cars, but I distinctly recall one family had a Type 3 Squareback. It stood out because it was an unusual car in our small town, but also because it was pumpkin orange (probably not the correct color from the VW palette, but an apt description). Thanks for highlighting this one, Jeff.
I forget what precipitated the need for me to ride to high school with a couple of teachers instead of with my Dad (who ran the vocational wing), but I did so for a few months, in the back of a Squareback, sometimes with the back seat down so I could stretch out in the ‘cargo’ area. It was winter (Georgia, so not horribly cold), and the heat from the engine was welcome.
I don’t think you could have a complete VW collection without this variant. Incredibly versatile, it was a minvan before the minivan. This is a good example at a reasonable ask price. I drove a squareback VW for years in the ’80’s. Never seemed unusual at the time. It spent a lot of time floored, and that was during the 55 era. Cant imagine it with todays highway speeds. It was a acceptable place to sleep /live out of when times were tough.
It gave me many miles of low cost driving and was fantastic in the snow with ice and snow tires.
Fuel injection hose leak was frightening, fortunately I smelled it quickly through the heater. A lot of them burned up.
It doesn’t tug at the want to own again strings, it was just a car.
You’re forgetting the Type 2 Microbus, the first real “minivan” sold in the US. And if you thought the squareback was slow, you should drive a type 2!
I had one of those too! And you are right, I meant SUV, the bus was the first mini-van. We carried a brick to put on the gas pedal for trips across the desert!
I had one and although it was fun for a while. It had the engine line bored and kept leaking oil until I sold it. 1978 is when I bought it from my dad.
This is cool I was actually checking to see how far away it is from me. About 19 hours per Google maps price isn’t horrible for what it is my only drawback now is time off to go get it, if this thing was in Seattle you can probably pull $10-$15+ K out of it and in California maybe even more. And with today’s technology on how they get heat and defrost into electric cars like Tesla there are better options for winter driving.
A restored one of these sold on Hemmings within the last month for $25k, if I recall correctly.
I owned a ’72 with automatic throughout the 70’s….a real slug at higher Colorado altitudes, but a great daily driver and never a mechanical problem….just routine maintenance. Took it on a 2 week trip throughout California and it was just fine as a long distance driver.
Great car, and I’d enjoy having another one but it’s size scares me off now, along with other older cars I’d like to have again….MGA, Sprite, regular beetle. Too small vs today’s suv’s, large trucks. Taking your life in your hands…..
My brother had a squareback with an auto trans. What a slug, but it was a small car, so I borrowed it to take my driver’s test when I was 16. Bright red with chrome wheels and spinners. His friends called it a chariot because of the spinners. Yes, I did pass my drivers test.
I have actually owned several used “Squarebacks” and enjoyed them. I lived in NH at the time so snow and cold was common. The heat was not great but better than the various “bugs” I owned. Later we bought a new 1973 VW 412
(Type 4 sedan) with the 4-speed, 1.8L engine with Bosch Fuel injection. VW also made a Squareback model. We enjoyed that AND it had a great gas heater for our ski vacations, but ultimately and alas,, the rust worm ate it.
I grew up in NH had had plenty of Beetles, Karmann Ghias, and a 1961 Bus. My older sister had a fastback around 1970 and I remember test driving a 411 but not buying it. Couldn’t go wrong with any of the VW models, but in NH the lack of a decent heater and rust killed them
Jimbosidecar: Where in NH? I had a imported auto service at the airport in Londonderry from about ’72 to ’83. I probably owned about a hundred cars in those days and VWs have always been a favorite, I also owned a diesel Rabbit (talk about a slug!!), a Passat Quattro wagon, and Audi A-6 Quattro wagon and several Jettas. Still own a 13 year old Jetta that has been a great car, but were getting ready to trade it – probably for a Japanese hybrid.
I always felt my 1973 VW 412 2-door sedan handled pretty well, but I always wanted to lower the suspension a couple of inches (which was pretty easy with the torsion-bar suspension), punch out the engine to about 2.2L, replacing the FI with Webers and swap out the transmission for the 5-speed from a 914-4 Porsche.
I wonder if this one still has its original fuel injection. A lot of these were converted to carbs back in the day because mechanics didn’t know how to diagnose and work on the fuel injection system when there were problems with it.
This one was before fuel injection. I have owned a bunch of these as well as other Volkswagens. My first was a 62 that was brought over by a serviceman. It had been converted to dual webers And other enhancements, including “Dog bone” radial tires. It was a hoot. My last one was a 72 automatic . I bought it not running from the museum where I volunteer. It was donated to the museum after sitting in the garage for a decade or two I got it running and cleaned it up some and is there remember it was featured here on barnfinds. A guy in Florida saw the ad and paid me a generous $7500 for it. He fixed it up some and when His health failed. He sold it back to the guy that donated it to the museum in the first place Back here in California.
Ahhhh memories! I had a blue 68 Squareback, 2nd vehicle I ever owned. Folded the back seat down, put curtains on the side windows, taped together a bunch of carpet squares and lined the cargo area with them. My own mini shag-wagon. 8 track player with speakers in rear hatch. Loved that car…sold it to buy a 70 Mustang ‘Grande’ with a 351C 4spd. Not sure which car I miss more! The fuel injection in my Squareback never gave me any problems, reliably started at any altitude and ran good. As someone else already said, the only thing I didn’t like about it was the ‘heater/defroster’ which really did neither unless you were going 70MPH (which it actually did easily!). If I didn’t have so damn many cars now I’d be all over this one…
My dad had a Type 3 Squareback that somebody converted into a shaggin’ wagon. Outside, the side windows were blanked out and it had fender flares over wide rear wheels. Inside, it had paneling on the side walls, fancy lighting in the back, crushed velour on the ceiling, and carpeting throughout. A fleet of Jeep Station Wagons & OHC Wagoneers, an International crew cab 3/4 ton 4×4 truck, and that VW panel truck – Dad always had something odd in the driveway.
My Dad had a ’70 Square back that he bought at the time I worked at World Wide Volkswagen as a warranty claims adjuster, they were the VW distributor for the Tri State ? area of N.Y. , N. J. , Parts of Connecticut & Pennsylvania, he loved it even more than the ’64 Beetle it replaced. He put well over 200K miles on it and except for a no start problem one time when it was still pretty new he had no issues with it. It was pretty cool when I got him a set of chrome steel wheels plus a set of the mag style wheels . He had his snow tires mounted on the original painted steel wheels . The best part of it according to him was that the heater worked so much better in his square back than in the ’64 Beetle .
Friend stationed in Germany brought back a notchback, word was it was origininally called a “Deviant”, like “Variant”, until it was pointed out to VW that it had a bad connotation to the English speaking world, not just like variant meaning something that differed in some way from the usual.
Neighbor on my paper route (codger flash back) had a Deviant. Def thought that was a rather odd sounding name to a 13YO…
I traded a 1968 Beetle for a ’70 Square Back. I drove it about 30
K miles before wrecking it. I really liked the car, but decided on going American.
My first type 3 a ’67 fastback with factory dual carbs when I was 18. Sold it to go to college. Fast forward 40+ years and I now have a ’66 fastback all original dual carb car. Along with a fuel injected ’71 fastback – lowered a bit. Both weigh a bit more than a bug and handle great. Have been wanting a “squareback” and this looks good. May have to bid on this kind of square gem.
i owned 2 square backs. both were fuel injection with one being converted back to carburetor. that one we would bush ride the heck out of them. we would go plowing little trees down till it shut off . we would let it sit a couple hours and what ever was wrong would reset itself . then it would start right up.we had a blast if we could not climb the hills wed go around them and drive down the hill instead. these were invincible machines i wish i had one for each day in the week. great gas mizers.want to have some fun.buy a squareback . there even room to crash in the back seat area.and the front trunk of a square back will hold a 1/2 barrel of beer …another squareback we had was purchased from a junk yard .the only thing wrong with it was a split intake valve. it was a nice clean ride both automatics. this was my college car. go buy a square back and make your own memories.
My father bought one in 1968, new, when I was 3. The car lasted 10 years and 70+k miles. The FI was a nightmare, the body rusted away to nothing, and the rear hatch never sealed properly, so riding in the back was a gas – literally – as the car pulled in exhaust. I will never own a VW because of my experiences with this one. My parents traded it on a Rabbit, which also rusted away in less than 9 years.
Parents bought one new. We hauled hunting dogs and lose hay in the back. I hated having to sit in the back with my 2 brothers and sister. It was tight and a fight always erupted. Took my driver’s license test in it. The following summer I totaled it when the accelerator pedal stuck on it. Only problem it had. Traded it in, basically the engine on a 69 c-10 to the local VW mechanic, Honest John.
Bought a new ‘67 while living in Germany—last one with carburetors. Loved it. It would roll on the autobahn all day at 85mph. It would go anywhere in the snow. It was my first foreign car. Haven’t owned an American car since.
My brother had one and a fastback also in high school and I was in middle school and he had the biggest back tires that could fit perfectly on the square back and it looked pretty bad a** at the time and I remember that the back hatch steel bars got stuck and my uncle who didn’t know much about how to fix a car got his hand caught in it and a lot of blood 🩸 came out lol 😂 and nobody at the time really knew how to fix the issues with the car and several months later we ended up junking the two cars a quarter mile away from our house and for the time there were still some of those cars left around but now they are like a needle 💉 in a haystack here in Hawaii now, it brings back some precious memories of the late 70s for me! Good luck 👍🍀 with the sale to the new owner! 🤙🏽🤙🏽🍻
Been driving my 69 FI/AT squareback for 17 years. 69’s were all fuel injected.
I’ve been driving my 69 FI/AT squareback for 17 years.
My parents went to the VW dealer in the mid 1960’s for mom the get a new car and get rid of her old Corvair. They looked at one of these and liked it a lot. But at that point there was no auto trans available, so that was the end of that. Mom had tried to learn a stick shift earlier but couldnt master it. She ended up with a 66 Mustang that was a piece of junk. We called it the Clunkstang. Later my sister got an Opel wagon that was a great little car. Sure wished we had gotten that VW.
Owned 2 Notchbacks and loved both of them.
I had a 71 Type 3 fastback. I loved that car. Sold it to a friend when I went in the army and he wrecked it.
A friend’s mom had a green 71 or 72 Squareback. One time, the throttle cabe broke, so he drove while I sat in the back (with the tailgate open) over the engine and worked the throttle so we could get to the dealer. On the way there, we went around a corner, and I gave it the gas. My friend said- “Hey, cut that out!!”
My grandpa owned 3 or 4 squarebacks. 1 of them that he bought was in a flood. He had to redo the floor. Another one he had was a European car that had two sets of head lights. One set was for city driving that you turned on when you got into a city or town that was dimmer than the highway head lights. The speedometer was also in kilometers instead of mph.