While we can’t predict what car will be lurking in a garage after decades off the road, it’s not wrong to hope that it’s at least interesting. This 1970 Volkswagen Squareback was apparently found in a house after the owner passed away and the realtor had to empty out the contents. It was last registered for roadgoing use in 1981, and had just the one owner who bought it new in 1969. Mileage is documented as being just 26,228, and the one original owner had the decency to drain the gas tank before parking it in 1981. The color is pretty awesome too, an original shade known as Clementine. Find it here on eBay with bidding at $8,201 and the reserve unmet.
The Squareback has always fallen outside of the lines of the conventional aircooled offering, with most enthusiasts going for the typical Beetle or Karmann Ghia. But if you want the unusual combination of a rear engine plus a wagon body, you’re not going to find too many options beyond the Squareback. This one looks excellent wearing perhaps one of the best colors Volkswagen ever offered, and it’s surprising how good the gray-painted steel wheels look against this paint scheme. You can tell this survivor Squareback has been indoors for eons, as the chrome bumpers look perfect and the taillight lenses show next to no fading.
I’ve come across a few Squarebacks that are equipped with the Autostick transmission, which is a bit of a buzzkill. This example has the preferred manual gearbox, and the steering wheel and the seating surfaces look brand new. The gauges are a little cloudy, but that’s the worst I can see. Look at even the adjustment button on the side of the seats – these switches are almost always broken. The dash paint looks quite tidy as well, and even though the exterior has some flaws and some surface rust to sort out, the cabin doesn’t appear to need any work. The seller notes it comes with the original spare, jack and tool pouch, the owner’s manual, and the dealer envelope with several invoices.
The backseat shows virtually no signs of use, which may be accurate if only passenger was the owner by himself. The seller notes he has gone through the fuel system, including installing a new fuel pump, injectors, and lines. Other improvements include a new master cylinder, front calipers, rear wheel cylinders, brake lines, and new tires on freshly powdercoated wheels. The structure is said to be solid, and while there is rust on some of the panels, the floors are free from any major holes or need for panel replacement. The bodywork does show signs of the original owner spraypainting over blemishes, but that just adds to its character. This is a cool find, and a great project for someone who’s been hunting for a Squareback.
Now here’s a forgotten Volkswagen, considering they were pretty ubiquitous back in the 70s. Hope it finds a good home.
My first car was a 72 Beetle in Clementine and it really looks good on the Squareback. When I worked on a few of them in the late 80’s they were all automatics. These rusted really bad in PA where I lived and it looks like this one has seen a few Michigan winters. Seems pretty solid and hopefully whoever buys it doesn’t discover a lot of hidden rust. Bodywork doesn’t come cheap these days. I just took my Corvair to a body shop to schedule body work and paint. It has less rust than this one and will cost me 8K and that’s bringing him the car will all trim and glass removed. Still a good find and presentable enough to leave as is.
Sweet looking Squareback. I haven’t seen one this nice in a long time.
Owned one -72 1600LE Variant just like this one (even the same color) back in 1982. I liked it, comfortable and fun to drive and plenty of space – helped out as the sound guy for a local punk band and could haul a surprising amount of drums, amps and speakers.
Now, after a short ownership I stumbled across a lovely -69 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe and sold the Squareback to finance that purchase. And I must admit that the Fiat was a lot more popular with the young girls that I at that time was eager to meet!
Owned two of the Notchback version of this wagon. Durable, fun, and with the dual carbs, cam, compression upped had plenty of power.
I think Gary Senise drove one of these in blue in the Movie “A Simple Plan.” Unfortunately the movie didn’t do much for the image of this vehicle.
Jennifer Aniston drove one like this in “Rock Star” with Mark Wallberg
I had 2 of these while living in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks. Those mountains were hell on clutches and the salt just devoured the bodies. At one point I had the drives seat held up by a bit of boat oar cross ways under the seat and resting on the frame. I was far from the only one resorting to these kind of tricks.
Clutchless autosticks were only in Beetles. My ’69 1600cc fuel injected/3 speed fully automatic transmission squareback keeps up with traffic! https://i.imgur.com/qnigPmE.jpg
Wrong, despite the link…Sometimes we can not believe all that we read, anywhere. My Grandpa had a blue VW fastback with the automatic. I know this as I drove it at 12 years old many times, after learning how to drive my Mom’s VW bus which had a clutch and 4 speed.
Sorry to disagree here, but your info is 100% wrong.
What is wrong? The link is my car. You remember grandpa’s as an autostick? Type 3.s used the 003 3peed fully automatic. I’ve owned/been driving squarebacks for 15 years. Your 50 year old memory is faulty! Check on TheSamba.com for everything VW as you must need a refresher.
I am 99.999% that about 20 years ago I test drove an autostick 1970 Squareback. The tailgate said “automatic” but it was clutchless but still had to “run” through the gears as was common on the autostick. I ended up buying a 1971 Squareback with a traditional manual transmission.
I owed a similar car in the ’70. Roadholding was a disaster!
Unfortunaly, there is no picture of the engine.
Back in 1999 I purchased a 1971 Squareback that had been parked in a shed in 1980 by a college professor when he retired but had been then purchased in 1999 by the second owner as a “father-son” project until they realized that unlike the Beetle (and to so extent at that time the Bus) there were not a wealth of parts available for Type 3 VW’s (Squareback, Fastback, Notchback). Also, Type 3s had “pockets/voids” up in front fender wheelwells that would gather dirt and grime from road and then when water added would sit as a mixture that would rot out the the fenders from inside out and “inner body” from outside in. Much the same would happen to the rockers (Beetles had running boards that often would rot out but could easily be replaced by bolting on new ones) once weepholes got plugged our once a hole appeared in the rockers and allowed dirt and grime and water to enter and sit (much like any car or truck that experienced the same. And lastly the “safety” bumpers (front and rear) of 1970’s VW’s had “rolled up” rear edges on the bumpers that would gather dirt and grime and when wet would slowly rot from inside out but unlike replacement bumpers available for Beetle and Bus there are not replacement bumpers for Type 3’s readily available and many would then run them without bumpers during the “smooth and custom” era of the 1980’s or they would put fiberglass bumper “blades” on. Sadly my Squareback exhibited all these these “common” Type 3 issues but with time I was able to source the parts needed off donor cars or by attending swap meets over about 15 years and while other personal restorations (two Busses and a Thing plus a Galaxie and a Bronco) and raising a family have taken precedence over getting to my Squareback the past 21 years, it is a project awaiting it’s time in dry storage that I plan to get to in the near future and brought back to it’s stock appearance. Although in this “era” of vehicle wraps I may even get the doors and rear fenders “wrapped” with vinyl woodgrain to make it into a Woodie! I will say though as I get older and realize all the “years” lost enjoying my cars while undertaking or awaiting to restore them, I often wonder if I would have been better just spending the money to have bought them “done” (and at a time such vehicles were actually affordable) and could have been enjoying them all these years and decades!
My grandmother had one of these in the 60s. She drove like a bat out of hell. Grandpa put an 80lb bag of sakrete in the frunk to keep the front end down.
Type 3 never had a autostick they were full auto 3 speed. The autostick was only in beatles and ghias.
Love these (and the fastbacks). This one looks to be in quite nice shape. Wish I had the space for it.
I loved Volkswagen back in the days when it made these quirky little cars. Too bad they went mainstream.
Located in:
Grosse Pointe, Michigan
My 1986 Ford Escort Pony with 4 Speed, hatch back and no radio is my favorite!
I have my great grandfather’s type 3 that has 17,000 original miles and is a true automatic, not the slapstick. Fun cars that are not seen everyday. This one was purchased new in Radford, Virginia and my dad was with him when he purchased it.
In the 1970-71 I had a friend whose folks drove a pair of matched VW squarebacks. We tore them up going up and down the I-95 corridor from Connecticut to New York as the drinking age at the time was 18 in New York. Our favorite past time besides drinking in New York was not paying the toll but actually driving up and faking like we were throwing coins into the basket.as if that would fool the toll authority. Kids are so dumb. I can hear the whine of the little four banger as we accelerated out of the toll booths. Sweet cars,
Ended: Aug 16, 2021
Winning bid:US $10,600.00
[ 59 bids ]
Great looking T3. Also, the Type 3 never came with the Autostick, only the 4spd manual and regular 3spd automatic. Only the Beetle, Super Beetle and Ghia were available with the Autostick. Towing your own gears in any form didn’t fit with the upscale market VW was trying to go after with the Type 3.
I bought a wrecked ’66 fastback 1600 in Germany, pulled the engine and stripped off the generator/fan, then installed Beetle generator/fan and shrouding. I modified the 1600TL badge to read 1600TI to mount on my ’65 Beetle deck lid. Later updated to twin-port heads and manifolds, and installed the Fastback rear axle assembly before shipping home to USA. With the extra 1″ rear track and Porsche rims, it would power drift. Alas, the pan rusted out under the battery, and sills rusted out due to sunroof drain hoses shrinking back up into the body.
My first car,, I had almost the exact same one- 1972, except type II(I believe, or at least so I was told at the time), orange, with a sunroof! Man, though, while that empty front end actually saved me some major trouble(legal, & from thieves.. I was a kid, because police & thieves both never thought to look under the hood), it was also sketchy AF in the rain, or the wind, on the freeway- I remember tightly gripping the wheel & sweating as nonetheless my front end would walk around up to about 6 feet to either side when gusts hit it, or I’d start seriously hydoplaning on any water built up! Good times! Oh, & one last thing- that passive heating system, reliant on the engine heat.. ha ha! That made for some seriously bitter cold winter mornings! It was excellent in the snow, though. Goodness I loved that car, but just before I turned 18, the tranny went out while on an unsanctioned, ill-advised trip to the coast, & when my vindictive, anger prone-overreactive, frankly kinda idiot of an excuse for a father found out, he called someone to tow it away from the Denny’s I’d left it at(with permission)..they gave me like $75 for it😞. If only I’d have had an extra 24 hrs for dad to calm down, he regretted what he’d done by that time, but it was too late.