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For a brief amount of time, I drove a Mk3 Volkswagen GTI. While it didn’t have the VR6, I still have fond memories of that car. It wasn’t the sportiest of hot hatches, nor the fastest, but it did everything well and I had nary a problem with it. Midway through the Mk3 production run, Volkswagen went a bit wild with the paint shop and released the Golf Harlequin. This was part of a design series for VW and an attempt to draw more traffic in the showrooms. There were four versions of the Harlequin, each with a different “base” color. This Harlequin for sale in Washington state has a Ginster Yellow base color and seems to have escaped the ravages of rust that plagued many Mk3 Golfs. It is also refreshing to see one that hasn’t been modified and the mileage is reasonable considering its age.
Here’s another one to add to our collective knowledge of obscure camper vans! I hadn’t heard of Tischer before but it’s not that surprising considering they only made 85 total and only 10 of this XL model. Seems like a reasonable idea – “Volkswagen vans are slow, the campers even slower, the diesels are even slower, so let’s throw a whole RV on the back of one!” I like the idea of space, but to me RVs are about eliminating inconveniences, yet this seems like one seriously inconvenient RV. With an engine swap and a lot of work to fix all the “untried, assume not working” appliances this could be a funny piece of VWeird. Until then, it just seems like a gnarly project.
I typically steer clear of salvage titles for obvious reasons, but this Westy seems deserving of an understanding eye. For starters, I’m guessing that you could sneeze on a 1980 Vanagon and the insurance company would total it. A little engine fire in one of these oldies would certainly do the trick. Some kind soul saw fit to save it, however, and the world is a little better for it. The restoration is a mix of subtle and style, with the classic brown exterior looking stock and the plaid-plaid-plaid upholstery making you think this thing’s top speed is a few orders of magnitude higher than it actually is. The new interior, pop top, and exterior plugs all turn this Westy into a faux time capsule instead of a basket case. It may be aircooled, but this thing looks brand new!
Time for another Wednesday Wheels Roundup, and I have a few neat sets of wheels I stumbled across. First is the super rare and super awesome (but also super priced) Speedline 3-piece wheels for Porsche Turbos. Though they’re listed as 930 wheels, I more often associate them with the 993 Turbo model. They’re not exactly like the Supercup wheels, but they’re not far off. Next is a non-German set of wheels, but a pretty spectacular one – the Clio Williams is one of my favorite hot-hatches, and these would really suit a BMW or Volkswagen 4-lug well, in my opinion. How about the 7 1/4″ width? Next are some rare Carlsson and Abt wheels that need some work but are both hard to find, and we round out the review with some show-ready Style 29 BBS BMW wheels. What are your favorites and why?
We featured this car all the way back in 2012, but when this Volkswagen 412 appeared on eBay again, I knew I had seen this car before. It’s a low mileage example of a not often seen seventies VW, and still needs a bit of finishing touches. For the air-cooled enthusiast looking for a smaller project, this would be a great candidate.
The below post originally appeared on our site May 7, 2012:
