Who among us has owned a VW Squareback? Mine was an orange ’72 with a strong engine, rot in the heater vents, and one of the least precise gearshifts ever. I loved that car, but my secretary’s son loved it more, so after using it to commute to my bank job for a couple of years, I sold it on. I still miss it! This example is for sale here on facebook Marketplace for $5500, and it’s located in Fairfield, Ohio. It’s seen a few changes from stock – let’s check it out. But first – thanks go out to Ted for this tip!
Top of the “change” list is this 1915 cc engine, likely good for 120 hp and a big upgrade over the 1600 cc factory powerplant at about 60. The seller has a build sheet for the engine; off the shelf these engines cost around $6k give or take. The motor breathes through EMPI 44 mm carburetors. A Freeway Flyer manual takes care of gear changes – be aware that the lower RPMs generated by the Flyer’s top gear can cause engine cooling issues – hopefully that’s been sorted. Disc brakes all around, 17″ wheels, and an aftermarket beam to lower the front end round out the changes from stock. After all this, the listing fails to mention whether this Squareback runs and drives….
The interior needs plenty of work, though the seller has new seat covers and a new black carpet kit for the car (mine was salt ‘n pepper loop). Several parts including another set of wheels and tires also come with the sale. The headliner is in good condition, requiring only a thorough cleaning, and the door panels are said to be decent. A Scat short-shifter has been installed.
The body is a work in progress. That hood is probably from another car – having fussed with aftermarket and “donor car” hood fit myself, I know the new owner is in for a couple hours right there. Meanwhile, at least one front heater channel is letting daylight into the cabin where it shouldn’t (what a big surprise), and the floor pan is heavily rusted though the seller believes it’s salvageable. I like my cars in factory condition, but this build probably has its fans. Is the price low enough to make a call to find out more?
This is one very interesting find. You don’t see many Square Backs. I’ve never driven one, but knew people who owned them. That bigger engine must be a vast improvement. Its interesting too about what you mentioned with the freeway flyer transmission, you’d think theboverdrive would help on the highway, but Volkswagen actually designed theirbair cooled cars to run, they had to in order to stay cool. This is a great find and great write up Michelle. I enjoyed it. Thank you.
I had a 68 squareback when I was in college 74-78. The “pancake” engine was known to leak oil and mine was no exception. I ended up having to rebuild the short block after 2 years but did not have the money for “case savers”, too bad because I blew the engine later, sold it and got a 74 Toyota Celica GT with help from my parents, that’s the car I miss more.
When I was 12, back in 75′ my buddies father had one set up like a work van. He would let us drive it in Manhattan working early mornings maintenance/clean up on over a dozen buildings he had contracts with on the weekends. And, yep, we were always putting oil in it, which was a pain cause we had to empty the back out every time…
I remembered seeing these square backs all over in the Bronx NY. Going to J.H.S 141 i always see this orange one. It was cool looking. But I always wondered what it would to like to stuff a Porsche flat six in there? That would be one bad a** VW! I was lucky growing up in that part of the Bronx. I seen so many cool cars. Great write up Michelle.🐻🇺🇸
I had a 65 squareback and a 65 fastback in Denver. The fastback had been sideswiped so many times it was unusable. The squareback had a major engine fire that melted most of the aluminum. So the engine and gear box went into the squareback, the fastback chassis was sold with the burned engine and “no reverse” gearbox. The fastback body was buried in a hole in my front yard. The squareback ran fine for a number of years!!
Bought a ’72 in ’76 with 29k on it from a friend in Colorado Springs. Had an automatic so pretty slow, but otherwise a very dependable car….no oil leaks! Drove it on a 2 week west coast trip, not a bad road trip car. One of the better cars I’ve owned over the years but, like other VW’s now, too small for today’s traffic.
I’ve been driving my 69 fuel injected/automatic transmission squareback for 18 years. It’s my daily driver and ‘keeps up with traffic’ if you drive it hard! There’s a picture of it on my Facebook profile under Mike Fisher
There’s a video on YouTube with one of these built up as a Gasser. It has two V-Dub engines hooked together in the front connected to a 5-speed manual transmission.
Never owned a Square Back but did own 2 Notch Backs, one here in the US and one in Europe. Loved both of them, especially the Europe one. Built a 110 hp high compression twin carb engine for that one to be able to run with the BMW 2002s in Germany on the Autobahns. Lowered with upgraded brakes and shocks it worked well, Did get eaten alive by a Porsche 3 liter 9ll engined VW Bug though.