(first posted 8/11/2018) The VW Type 3 (1500/1600) came out in Europe in 1962, but was not sold in the US, VW’s by far largest and most profitable import market until 1966. Needless to say, a lot of hard-core American VW owners, who by this time numbered in the millions, were a bit miffed. The reasons for that, and a lot of detailed background and technical details of the T3 are covered in the C&D in-depth story from May 1964. There’s also a full road test in this issue, which will be posted separately.
This article is a bit long, as they tended to be back then, but if you want a detailed look back in time during VW’s ascendancy in the US, there’s a lot of information here, as well as some vintage ads.
I am no expert so my conclusions are perhaps of little worth but it seems as though VW has made near continuous missteps in the US after they developed beyond the “Bug” and the “Bus”.
That said, if they were only going to send the US their most practical models in the 60s and very early 70s not sending the 1500/1600 in notchback form sort of makes sense. Following the (belated) introduction of the 1500/1600 with the 411/412 was truly moronic.
My uncle and aunt brought back a ’65 Squareback from a European trip. The car had Norwegian plates on it- which I now understand. Uncle Fred loved this little car, even though it was dwarfed by whatever full-sized American luxury car it shared the garage with for the next 30 years.
I bought a rusty and well worn ’64 1500-S Squareback sunroof for around $300 around 1979. This was in SoCal, it had California plates but was solid in the floorpan area, fenders and especially roof were rusted through in places, probably a beach area car for a number of years, I’m guessing. Had 5 lug wheels, drum brakes, and a neat pushbutton control assembly for lights and wipers with a speed rheostat. Twin Solex carbs and higher compression engine on the S.
Interesting VW honored the warranty ( a whole 6 month 6k miles) and would service them as well. I always thought they came from Canada or were European delivery, surprised some authorized dealers sold them along with grey market importers. Sealed beam headlamps and MPG speedo is about all you needed to change before 1968.
They were quite a few pre ’66 Notchback and Squareback’s in SoCal still running around in the ’70’s and 80’s. They were a nice upgrade from a Beetle.
Looks like from the cover there is also a roadtest of the 1500 in this old C/D issue, hope it gets shown on CC sometime down the road. I had a ’66 Fastback that I bought with the engine in a box, after rebuilding the engine it went another 100k miles and still ran well when sold. As the article states, the key to keep them running well was to keep the carbs in sync, needed to be done quite often, but the way they ran when set up properly was worth the effort.
Ah, the days when “federalizing” a car meant plugging in sealed-beam headlamps, a laminated windshield, and English-labelled controls and gauges….
Can you post the Lancia road tests?
I recall seeing a 65 notchback for sale a couple of years ago.
Ah, the good old days. I bought this magazine the month before I graduated from high school. I was driving an old Borgward at the time. I have never owned a Volkswagen. Probably one of the few in my age group who never did. I did have a Fiat Six hundred that a friend had put a Volkswagen engine into. And in the past few years owned an airplane that used a Volkswagen engine. I never owned the car but the engines were easy to work on and easy to keep running right.
VW tried to milk the cash cow that was the Beetle far too long and the Japanese stepped in and took over. It’s my impression that the Types only really became common around 1970 and 1971…just when the Corona, 510, Pinto and Vega made their debut. VW could have have already had this market sewn up with their rep for quality and service, and an already established dealer network but, as Howard said, this was one of their first misssteps. But not their last.
Volkswagen was the leading import in the US until 1975, when the exchange rate made it uncompetitive. Whatever the shortcomings of the Type 3, the 1975 Rabbit was clearly the best designed small car on the US market. Volkswagen still had a well earned reputation for quality and reliability.
My father’s first new car was an mustard orange 1600 automatic wagon in 1970. Previous car was a used white Beetle. He had also contemplated a Fiat 124 wagon and perhaps the Datsun 1600 (510) wagon too. He needed a wagon as he had a small business. He asked a neighbor about their experiences with the 124.
He chose the Volkswagen….
Being a locally assembled car it stupidly missed out on details like a opening rear windows, heated rear window and a larger range of nicer colours. That mustard orange colour was very common… But it for the most part quite reliable, with perhaps some issues with the automatic transmission.
“Clementine.” I remember the color.
I’m wondering if there ever was another magazine cover that had both Lancia & Rambler road tests.
VWs were never cheap here and there was a lot of competition in their price range, more powerful bigger better equipped cars sold for the same money as the Beetle, the few 1500s that did arrive would have been presented a better option for buyers toying with the idea of buying a VW instead of maybe a Cortina or Austin for the same money, Build quality was good on VWs engine durability wasnt so good dealers were scarce and parts were expensive.
A new Beetle cost $1,799 in 1968 plus whatever the dealer could gouge out of the buyer with additional charges and fees, so let’s call it for a nice sounding $1,999.
All prices cited are from American Cars 1960-1972 and are the base model with no options, base engine and manual transmission
Rambler American $1,946
Chevy II $2,222
Dodge Dart $2,323
Ford Falcon $2,252
Plymouth Valiant $2,254
The only close competition would have been the Rambler and foreign cars which I don’t have information about. The 1500 would have had trouble going up against the above prices in 1968 so it’s no wonder it didn’t turn out as popular as the Beetle.
The Fastback was cheaper than all of those exc the American. The biggest obstacle to Fastback sales was the Beetle in the same showroom, because most people who wanted a “Volkswagen” were about as well served with a Beetle as a Fastback, and Volkswagen was tooled to build all the Beetles the market wanted.
The Fastback probably outsold the base Valiant, Falcon, or American two doors (on top of hundreds of thousands of Beetles). The Nova coupe was a little more popular, because it didn’t scream I’M A LOSER! like they did.
Roy Chapin didn’t cut the price of the American because people *wanted* a dorky box.
I recall seeing a VW squareback in 1969-if I remember correctly. It was the only one I ever saw, it was a nice looking vehicle.
The description of the semi-gray market through dealers doesn’t sound right. VW dealers were Teutonic about rules. Ordnung ist ordnung.
I knew of two families that owned squarebacks in 1965. Both were professors with German backgrounds who often returned to the old country for vacations and brought the cars back here. If the cars had been available through dealers “on special request”, they would have been far more common.
I bought a used grey market ’67 Beetle in ’69 before I really understood what grey market cars were. No real problem getting service at the dealer, but buying parts got interesting when the differences between US and home market cars became apparent.
Federalizing consisted of changing headlights, speedometer and adding front lap belts. However, the car was six volt, had a steering column lock, four lug rims, Karmann Ghia front disc brakes with a special single master cylinder, 12v-style 6v generator, regulator, and starter.
Paul, 1964 just about when I started reading these at the public and school library. In that pre-internet era, one did indeed send in the query-coupon (sometimes with required cash) and w-a-i-t.
Somehow my family-friends-neighbors circle never really included a VW owner, so I viewed all this from afar. Today’s essay is a long one, but it sure provided a lot of insider detail on the whole business/economics of the 1500 and international auto business.
Funny to see the Ford Indy engine on the cover as well; just yesterday I came across this technical manual from Ford, something I’d have given my eye-teeth for back in the day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightning72/3977407408/in/photostream/lightbox/
Very interesting article that explains why I saw so many of these notchbacks on the streets and freeways in SoCal when I moved here from the Midwest in 1972. Not sure I’d ever seen one in the metal before but had read about and seen lots of pictures of them.
Dad briefly owned a ’70 Squareback as a commuter. Properly equipped for a traditional American customer it had the fully automatic transmission and dealer installed AC. It was good for the crawl in traffic and just big enough in back for lunchtime naps. It was totaled in an accident that he walked away from without a scratch.
Our “fastback” was a “71”. No ‘a/c”. Did have an auxiliary heater ((fan equipped)) for our cold , wstrn PA winters.
Was an “automatic” too.
Cool car, two trucks, went well in the snow.
My brother striped it with “JC Whitney” package.
Was a “nifty looker”.
“Oops”. Should be “two trunks”, not “two trucks”.
First and only one I’ve seen in the flesh was in 1983 or thereabout. Parked on a side street visible from Morris Ave here in Union NJ. Faded red paint but still in use. Shape reminded me a of Blower hat. I hope it found it’s way into good hands.
As a little kid in the mid ’70’s, I found the styling on these so forgettable, compared to the Beetle. I almost felt a faux grille, would have perhaps given them more character.
Me fascina el sedan VW 1500 y toda la complejidad de poder importarlo en Estados Unidos a través del mercado gris . Para su mayor sorpresa , este elegante clásico de Volkswagen tambien se ensamblaba durante varios años en la Planta Volkswagen de Venezuela , cuando Venezuela era un país con muchos potenciales . Lo que los lectores de Curbside Classic quedamos intrigados al mirar ésta tapa antigua de Car & Drivers , ángulo superior a la derecha : todos tenemos una curiosidad y un deseo morboso de que puedan develar cuáles son esos Lancia que venían a introducir en el mercado norteamericano de aquella época . Porque aún siendo que el VW 1500 sedan era objeto del deseo restringido, el nombre de Lancia era siempre un automóvil doblemente más deseado que un Volkswagen. Y de Lancia se conoce poco , muy poco
I bought a ’64 Notch 1500S (white with red interior) that I spotted outside of a barn in central Colorado in the summer of ’89. It had no rust to speak of but did have a some slight front end body damage and a factory sunroof, lap belts, a push button dash, blaupunkt radio and a single port dual carb engine- not running- with a swing axle manual transaxle. It took me five years to get it in running condition (mostly kept in dry storage until then) and I converted it to 12V. I had a very difficult time getting some parts- with some unobtanium- like door and window seals and the sunroof cables and seal and other parts specific to the early T3s. I recall it had front drum brakes with two slave cylinders per wheel. However, it eventually got it insured and tagged and I had a lot of fun with it for another year or two before being forced to give it up.
It’s not completely ignored in the story, but we’ve all got to remember VW, like other car manufacturers, are in the business of making money. Cars are just the way they make money. I’m not saying I agree, in fact I disagree, but I think VW felt they could make more money doing what they did.
On the human side, in oh, it must have been ’70, I was back in LA for some time during the summer staying with some old neighbors while I was exiled in the midwest. A friend’s Mother had a VW Fastback and trusted me with it while she was at work during the day. My friend, same age, didn’t have his license yet. That was my first time driving a stick. Came pretty easy, I’d driven plenty of Motorcycles so while the hand and foot were reversed, the feel was pretty much the same. Something must have clicked, most recent car I bought which was just a couple of months ago was still a stick. Maybe I’ll like autos when I get older, but I doubt it.
I liked the Typ III’s, the notchback was perhaps the best o the bunch for basic driving needs .
-Nate
“Squareback” gets my vote.
When I discovered, this year, that the 411 and 412 were the first unit construction VW’s I was shocked, and appalled. Clearly VW was a conservative company, but that seemed absurd. Was it hubris? The article clearly points out the loss of German domestic market sales for the 1200 bug. During the American Vietnam War era, the bug sold well in the US as it lost market share in Europe. I am amazed at how VW drove themselves right to the edge of the cliff…
The problem was largely the success of the Beetle stuck them in a blind alley.
As with the Ami body on a 2CV chassis, the 1500 was an expedient but required a lot of additional factory investment, as described.
I once read that the 411/2 would have been on the same chassis design(!) had it not been for the ex-Borgward engineers moving across to Wolfsburg…
VW had a whole range of pretty, Pininfarina-styled prototypes in the 1960s, but they were all hampered by similar blind-alley, air-cooled thinking.
It was fortunate that they’d bought DKW – the Audi 100 was banned by VW but happened anyway. Its success helped compensate for the failure of the 411 Noseybear.
As the crisis deepened, it was more a case of Audi (& NSU) to the rescue.