(first posted 4/28/2018) The other day I caught this Volkswagen T3 double cab pickup truck in a temporary parking lot. It represents the last rear engined, rear wheel drive generation of the Transporter. At its introduction in 1979 the T3 was offered with an air cooled 1.6 or 2.0 liter 4-cylinder boxer engine, three years later these were replaced by a water cooled 1.9 liter flat-four with 60 or 78 DIN-hp.
From 1981 onwards the T3 was also offered with a diesel engine, initially a mighty 1,588 cc inline-4 with a maximum power output of 50 DIN-hp. In 1984 a 70 DIN-hp, 1.6 liter turbodiesel became available.
The most powerful factory T3 had a 2.1 liter flat-four with fuel injection; the 112 DIN-hp gasoline engine was introduced in 1984.
This little green truck is powered by a naturally aspirated 1.7 liter inline-4 diesel engine, which superseded the 1.6 D in 1987.
57 German DIN-horses drive the rear wheels of this pure work truck. The standard transmission in all diesels was a 4-speed manual, a 5-speed manual was optional.
Curb weight 1,419 kg, payload capacity 1,081 kg. Add up these numbers and you get a legal maximum GVM of 2,500 kg (5,512 lbs).
That’s not all, you’re also allowed to tow a 1,200 kg trailer. But keep in mind folks, GVM and towing capacity are merely registrations…
A flat-floor, yet no flat-four underneath. Naturally the cargo bed has dropsides.
The airy office. Most meetings were held by burly guys with a strong hands-on mentality.
This is the current T6 Doppelkabine Pritschenwagen ~ double cab pickup truck. Front engine, front wheel drive, and still a bestseller.
Wow, 57 horses pulling a “possible” 5000+ pounds!!!
I live in nearly flat as a frying pan Florida but can not conceive of ever trying that except under conditions when traffic is almost nonexistent.
Like the looks of the T6, but can’t see VW ever bringing them to the US.
My brother drove a 54 hp diesel T3 bus for years, and repeatedly way up into the Rockies. I told him for years to put in a turbo version, with 70 hp, but he claimed that he wasn’t in a hurry and had no need for more power. I’m sure the traffic backed up behind him as he worked his way up into the mountains felt otherwise.
When his engine finally blew up, he did replace it with a 70hp 1.6 turbo. And he was impressed at how much faster it was in the mountains, as well as the flat prairies. A veritable rocket!!
Love these VW pickups, but takes a patient mindset to drive one.
I cannot resist these. If it was, say, double-cab Toyota Dyna, my nose would wrinkle. Even knowing that the Toyo was in a different league for reliability.
Why? Partly it is knowing that the VW has a supple, very comfy independent ride, with rack and pinion steering, partly it is the rolling roar of the flat four (we only got the 2.1 injected, no diesel), partly the 5-inch thick steel the whole is made of. But mainly I suspect it is the looks, an especially cool (and large) Tonka toy.
All this, even though the wasserboxer van I owned briefly was a disaster, which, as I discovered, all the T3 ‘s here were compared to the Japanese alternatives.
I’d still have a D.C. tomorrow.
Others clearly have my issue, because the few double-cab t3’s ever for sale here still command indecent money. And if it’s a Syncro, name what you’d like for it.
Are doppelkabine’s pricey in Holland, or just an old truck, as this one looks like it is still employed?
Be my guest, Justy. I pre-selected T3, prices low to high:
https://www.gaspedaal.nl/volkswagen/transporter?bmax=1990&bmin=1980&srt=pr-a
Brilliant! Thank you. So all the way from not much to about 10-12K euro. Apart from the cheeky last one, albeit with 19,000kms, but 34,000Euro for a diesel bus?!
Here, just one double-cab for sale at the moment, in very nice order. But 290,000kms – and yours for just 20,000Euro.
I’ve always felt the same way about these.
But yes, Dokkas are hot (all generations), and there’s folks who scour Europe for decent ones and import them into the US and resell them for healthy profits.
I’m seeing more of the T4 Dokkas here now.
I remember the diesel powered Westphalia versions of these. One day, circa 1990 I was labouring up the Coquihalla Highway at the steep part before the snow shed, in a Rabbit Diesel 5 speed. I had my foot to the floor and was holding 60 km/h. With two adults and a load of stuff, it wasn’t going any faster than that.
Most everything was passing me, except other econoboxes, which were also mired to the right lane. That went with econobox territory. Then, I saw a black cloud in the distance. A VW Westphalia diesel could only make 50 km/h, no doubt in second gear. I surged past, feeling very proud I wasn’t the slowest thing on that road.
The great Peter Egan had a similar story about a road trip he took in an Isetta. His little vehicle was by far the slowest thing on the road, slow enough that timid drivers who “had never passed another car in their lives” were zooming by, as he put it.
I used to get that feeling in my old 74 VW van. I warmed it over with a weber progressive carb, 009 distributor and some headers. When ever I saw a Hyundai pony, Renault lecar or chevette I could leave them in the rear view mirror.
I noticed in the local online classifieds there is a blue DOCA for sale in pretty good shape for $21 000 CDN out here on Vancouver Island. I thought the price was a bit steep but I hear they are going for big bucks stateside as they were never officially sold there. I can’t remember if it was a diesel or the water boxer. To rich for my blood. Looks like I should have held onto my 86 Vanagon for a few more years as they seem to be going up in value. Although I can’t complain much as I got 50 000 Kms out of it and sold it for $1500 more than I paid for it.
A few years ago I had a 1981 westfalia with the molasses slow 1.6 non turbo diesel. Me and my then girlfriend bought it in the Oslo region of Norway, and immediately decided to promptly take a trip to the north cape. Before it broke, or some such thinking.
Well, there were severe mountain passes, which was excessively steep an really really long. Could only do 2nd gear, not much more than 30 km/h or perhaps 15-20 mph.
That was dang slow. But top speed wasnt more than 49 mph, 52-53 downhill if one let it roll faster than max rpm.
Made it all the way back though, no issues.
An old Mazda 323 coupe passed us going on a lesser grade of uphill, as if it was a baby ferrari, just swoosh and gone.
In the early eighties my future brother-in-law loaned us his W123 330D Mercedes (non-turbo) to drive to Vermont from Montreal for a weekend. It was so slow that a Lada passed us on the way back.
I wish Mercedes woulda built a pickup off the Vito instead of the Nissan navarra
That’s right, there’s no chassis-cab version of the Vito.
Small (size-wise) MB flatbed trucks: Sprinter, Unimog and -Down Under- the G-Class.
Off topic: I hadn’t seen this version of the G-Class before. It looks very desirable.
Here’s one I caugth at a show in NL:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/truck-show-outtake-mercedes-benz-g-class-300-gd-steyr-daimler-puch-mobile-workstation/
I have a Roco HO scale model of one of these, with a canvas top and a removable engine panel so you can see the 4 cylinder diesel.
These are a popular grey import in the US although buyers prefer the 4WD Syncro. I’ve seen 2 or 3 of these in the Portland Oregon area.
Last week at the grocery store I was in the toy aisle and almost bought this…Mini Pre-CC effect!
Hilarious!
I really dont see many twin cab VW pickups here of any model, everything else in twin cab dropsider seems to be in use but not those, vans yes but those are rare and incredibly slow on hills, a VW tradition they could have left behind but didnt,
later model VW vans were a hit with couriers briefly then they all went back to the Toyota store for vans that will run every day all day.
Looks like VW South Africa kept producing and updating the T3 up to 2002, which from 1991 onward got Audi inline-5 engines with a whopping 120 to 135 hp!
Well, I learned a new word in German that I had never heretofore seen – PRITSCHEN. Thanks for the essay and the German lesson. Vielen Danken.
Please allow me to point out:
The basic form of the word (nominative singular) is “Pritsche.”
“Pritschen” is usually the plural form.
Here however — in the compound word “Pritschenwagen”—”Pritschen-” takes on the function usually fulfilled by an adjective. Grammatically, it is the determining word in a so-called determinative compound.
By the way: “Pritsche” is grammatically feminine. Hence, “die Pritsche.”
There was one of these in my small southern Ontario (Canada) town until last year. It was used by a woman who ran a small gardening company. It seems to have moved away and I miss it. I have no idea what engine it had, but it did have a sticker from a Dutch dealer on the back.
I had a T3 that new had been a 12 seater minibus with a 1.6 turbo diesel. I was only the 3rd owner, the second owner had removed all the seats and fitted SAAB seats in the front and a rock’n’roll bed in the back. He had also blown up the 1.6 td, all water cooled T3 had cooling issues, partly due to the complicated system with 2 expansion tanks, several metres of pipework to the front radiator, and on the minibus 2 heaters, neither of which worked properly. In addition the in line 4 diesel engine was a tight fit and the turbo got too hot.
The engine had been replaced with a 1.9 non turbo diesel from a SEAT Ibiza. 70 mph was possible, downhill with a following wind, but usually on a motorway it was 56mph (90kmh) in the left lane with the trucks. Making it even slower was the gearchange, very low first in the 5 speed box was left and down on its own. Set off on a hill and by the time I had negotiated the dog leg change to second the speed would have dropped enough to need first again. And still a hole between 2nd and 3rd in the VW way.
The engine was actually suspended from its mounting because of the way it was tilted over under the load space. When this mounting worked loose and the engine was millimetres from the tarmac I gave up. I did reattach the mounting but no longer felt safe driving. I sold it to some one who said they were going to fit a Subaru engine, but didn’t and sold it on.