1969 Volkswagen Squareback, 17,000 original miles

Here’s an oddball for you. An all original Volkswagen Type 3 Squareback. The Type 3 range was introduced in 1961, with the Squareback, or Variant as it was known in Europe, appearing a year later. Designed as a larger, more refined option to the perennial Beetle, this model was initially produced at the company’s Wolfsburg plant. Assembly of the Type 3 would move to the newly established Emden plant later in the production run and eventually would be superseded in 1973 by the front engined, water cooled Passat (Dasher in the U.S.). This model features the automatic transmission which was introduced in the 1968 model year. No telling from the description whether or not it features the Bosch fuel injection system, which made this vehicle one of the first volume seller’s with this setup.

The seller’s description:

Fuel injection, automatic trans, only 17,000 miles, all original paint, has a few spots where it has polished through to the primer and various small dings and scratches from the 41 years. Runs and drives like new. Interior to die for, rare red and in fantastic original condition. One in a million, everything is original and in fantastic shape. It’s like stepping back in time. This is a real collectors or museum piece.

The Squareback was the most popular of the Type 3 range, with a little over 1.2 million produced in Germany. The Notchback and Fastback had a production run of 1.3 million, split between the two models. Average retail for run of the mill examples of the Squareback are running right around the low $6,000 range, so this is a bit on the high side of that. In my opinion, if this were about $500 to $1,000 less, this car would prove to be a good value. I’ve seen restored examples go for more, but as they say, they are only original once.

-Paul