Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Back in 2019, I took a look at a pretty wild Golf Rallye tribute for sale up in Canada:
While it lacked the viscous coupling all-wheel drive setup and supercharged motor of the original, it was still a very clean build with a slick VR6 transplant. Well, it’s made it to the US and is back for sale – is it a better deal today?
This one’s a bit of a strange duck. And if it doesn’t look familiar to you, don’t worry – it didn’t to me, either. What we’re looking at is a 1969 Volkswagen 1600L, which looks vaguely like the Notchback model offered here in the 1960s. Of course, I said vaguely…because we didn’t get a four-door variant, nor did this styling come here. So what is this wonder? Well, it comes from Brazil, of course, and it underneath a Type 3 just like the Notchback. But the Brazilian version was styled by Márcio Piancastelli, who is probably best known for the designs of the neat Brasilia model and the even neater SP2. The 1600, though, was not a huge design success for him. Nicknamed “Zé do Caixão” – ‘Coffin Joe’, the sedan version would go on to only be sold for three model years before it was discontinued. It was the basis for a larger estate version though, as well as the quite neat Karmann Ghia TC. So let’s take a look at this oddball:
In late 1972, Volkswagen introduced a ‘performance’ version of the Beetle called the GSR. Unlike the Mitsubishi moniker that you may be more familiar with, GSR here stood for ‘Gelb Schwarzer Renner’ – or ‘yellow-black racer’, which is how they were delivered. Output from the 1.6-liter flat-four was a meager 50 horsepower, but the GSR did get styled steel wheels and sport seats.
Fast forward to 2014, and Volkswagen decided to reintroduce the GSR. The R-Line name meant that it was the turbocharged variant, so performance was quite a bit more impressive than the original. The GSR was equipped with a 210-horsepower FSI motor, sport suspension, 19″ wheels, leather upholstery, special trim, a rear spoiler, xenon headlights, a sunroof, and a few special trim pieces to help you stand out.
Hey, remember yesterday’s Gol LS?
I mentioned that they made a pickup version of the Gol as well, which Volkswagen do Brasil sold as the Saveiro. It effectively followed the same recipe as the Rabbit Pickup; chop the front off of the normal car and make a somewhat usable back end. In the case of the Saveiro, the result was even a bit more bizarre-looking than the Sportruck, but nevertheless it’s neat to see one – and it’s perhaps no surprise that the seller of the Gol is also shifting this one:
Looking a bit like an alternate universe version of the early 80s Honda Accord hatchback, the Gol model was Volkswagen do Brasil’s replacement for the Brasilia . Based on a mix of components borrowed from the Audi B1 and B2 models, it initially was quite different than the Fox variants we’d see here in the late 80s. That’s because up front was not a familiar water-cooled engine; the Gol instead received a 1.3-liter flat-four from the Beetle under the front hood. Sound crazy? It was a bit, but it worked, and it was cheap – so it sold pretty well. They also made several different versions, including a Caddy-like ‘pickup‘ – but today we’re looking at an ’83 hatchback that’s already been imported:
